Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

D Tholen

Publications and source records attributed to D Tholen.

13 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

An algorithm for finding the linear region in a nonlinear data set.

Finding the linear reportable range is an important procedure for each method in clinical chemistry. One is often called upon to limit the reportable range in order to find the linear region. Limiting the reportable range by visual techniques is subjective, may introduce bias and is not programmable. Using Kroll and Emancipator's polynomial method for linearity, we compare the residuals of a test to determine whether eliminating a point from one end or the other of the data set worsens or improves the data sets' linearity. In an example of urinary cortisol, the root mean squares of the residuals improve by 2% when the lowest point is removed, 39% when the highest point is removed and 82% when the two highest points are removed. The latter data set is the most linear.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1995

Proficiency test performance and experience with College of American Pathologists' programs.

We examined rates of unacceptable results in a large interlaboratory proficiency test program, which is designed for small hospitals, clinics, and physician offices. The objective was to see whether rates of unacceptable results decrease as laboratories gain experience in interlaboratory comparison programs. We examined data from the College of American Pathologists' Excel Surveys, 1987 through 1993, in the areas of chemistry, hematology, immunology, and blood bank. The data for laboratories with consistent participation show consistent and statistically significant improvement in performance for the first 3 to 4 years of proficiency testing. The data for all participants also suggest that laboratories with more experience with proficiency testing have lower rates of unacceptable results, and that these rates tend to decrease with each year of experience. These conclusions support the findings of other researchers who have documented the benefits of interlaboratory comparison programs and proficiency testing.

Pathology↗
PubMed1991

Academic manpower survey of 1990: II. Kinetics in the United States (from the Joint Task Force on Pathology Manpower ASCP/CAP/APC).

Survey data obtained from chairmen of United States departments of pathology shows a continued shortage of faculty, especially those with the MD or MD/PhD degree. Losses of such faculty by responding departments during the 12 months prior to the survey were distributed as follows: retirement, 40 (15.6% of total); disability/death, 19 (7.4%); termination, 23 (8.9%); resignation, 172 (69.3%); and other, 3 (1.2%). Resignations were due primarily to decisions to join another university (41.4%) or to enter private practice (42.5%); a small proportion were due to individuals who left academe for a pathology position in government or industry, or left both academe and pathology for another field. Comparison with a similar survey performed in 1984 suggests that the manpower situation in academic pathology is worsening, especially with respect to physician faculty. An assessment of those factors known to influence manpower kinetics suggests that it will continue to deteriorate for the foreseeable future with an adverse impact on all sectors of pathology.

Education, Medical↗
PubMed1991

Academic manpower survey of 1990: I. Descriptors of departments of pathology in the United States (from the Joint Task Force on Pathology Manpower ASCP/CAP/APC).

A survey of chairmen of United States departments of pathology (97% response rate) augmented with data from the Association of American Medical Colleges shows that roughly two thirds (65%) of departmental faculty are physicians, the great majority of whom are pathologists. Most of the remainder are persons with solely the PhD degree (26.4% of faculty). The composition of departments of pathology in terms of age, gender, ethnic origin, academic rank, and tenure status is also reported. In contrast to a comparable survey performed 5 years previously, the present report shows that in 1989, departments of pathology contained (1) 20.6% more faculty positions, (2) a greater proportion of faculty members with a PhD degree, (3) greater numbers of open positions, and (4) a probable increase in the proportion of faculty that are female and that are of an ethnic minority.

Faculty, Medical↗
PubMed1990

National Pathology Manpower Survey of 1988. Manpower needs in community hospitals and private laboratory practice.

The survey of manpower in community hospital and private laboratory practice of pathology of 1988 presented herein verifies the conclusions of the 1986 survey that a growing deficit of manpower in this sphere of practice is highly likely in the next few years. It appears that the deficit will be even larger than that predicted by the 1986 survey. Steps are urgently needed to increase the flow of graduating medical students, especially those of top quality, into our specialty.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Some characteristics of the community practice of pathology in the United States. National Manpower Survey of 1987.

An evaluation of 629 pathologists engaged in community hospital and private laboratory practice and representing 601 pathology practices of varying size shows surprising uniformity in the distribution of professional effort. On average, pathologists in community practice distribute their effort as follows: surgical pathology, 34.6%; autopsy pathology, 6.7%; cytology, 8.8%; clinical pathology, 18.0%; teaching, 6.0%; research and development, 2.3%; laboratory administration, 17.5%; hospital administration, 2.9%; and other, 3.2%. The average community pathologist is male, 52 years of age, and a graduate of an American medical school (60%). When surveyed in 1986, community pathologists worked an average of 50 hours per week and retired at an average age of 62 years.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1988

Special report--National Manpower Survey of 1987. Manpower needs in community hospital and private laboratory practice of pathology.

A new survey of manpower requirements in the community hospital and private laboratory practice of pathology has been completed and analyzed. The survey used a new instrument, the National Pathology Manpower Database, which will be useful in conducting longitudinal surveys. This instrument will permit organized pathology to monitor changes in pathology manpower needs in the years ahead, which are likely to be fraught with change. The results of this survey foretell a significant deficit of pathologists in community hospital and private laboratory practice within the next five years.

American Medical Association↗
PubMed1981

Social support and post-burn adjustment.

Interviews were conducted with 314 persons who had sustained burns and were treated at a major burn center between 1956 and 1976. The interviews covered standard socioeconomic data and post-burn life patterns including the number of weeks lost to employment or education. The data indicate that social support is both directly and indirectly related to patients' post-burn adjustment. Measures of social support from family, friends, and peers were significantly related to several subjectively assessed outcomes, such as life satisfaction, self-esteem and participation in social and recreational activities. There was also evidence that social support moderates the rehabilitation process independent of the severity of the burn injury. The findings tend to challenge the commonly held belief that psychosocial rehabilitation needs are monotonically related to the severity of the injury.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Improvements in burn care, 1965 to 1979.

Data from the National Burn Information Exchange indicate that the quality of burn care in the United States is improving in the participating health care facilities. Case reports of 37,442 patients collected between 1965 and 1979 from 120 burn care facilities have been examined. These data show that overall survival rates are increasing and hospitalization times are decreasing at all levels of burn severity. The changes are associated with a trend toward more timely wound closure for full-thickness burns and are evident in the majority of hospitals studied. Tables of current survival rates and hospitalization times, by patient age and size of burn, are presented.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Self-esteem of severely burned patients.

As a part of a retrospective rehabilitation study conducted in 1977, 320 persons treated at a major burn center between 1956 and 1976 were interviewed by professional survey research interviewers using a specially developed 519-item questionnaire that included standard socioeconomic data along with information about the person's life pattern subsequent to the burn. In addition, several complex dimensions of personality were measured through multiple indicators rather than by single items. According to the midpoint of the scale of Coopersmith's Self-Esteem Inventory, 85% of the respondents had adequate to high self-esteem. Although the size of the burn and part of the body burned did not seem to significantly affect self-esteem, age when burned and time since burn did. Disfigured females had significantly lower self-esteem than disfigured males. Social support, life satisfaction, involvement in social and recreational activities and employment were found to influence the group as a whole. Respondents with low self-esteem spent twice as many days in bed and missed considerably more days of work in the year prior to the study than did those with moderate or high self-esteem. The findings in this study indicate with some certainty that the majority of burned people make a successful adjustment following even large and disfiguring injuries and that successful rehabilitation is long-term and episodic in nature.

Adult↗