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Biomedical subjects

G J Caranasos

Publications and source records attributed to G J Caranasos.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Reduction of caregiver stress by respite care: a pilot study.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether providing respite care to persons with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias decreased stress and mood disturbances in caregivers. Caregivers of persons receiving respite care (n = 7), and not receiving respite care (n = 8) were tested at entry into the study and at 5 weeks and 10 weeks, using the Profile of Mood States and the Relative's Stress Scale. Using repeated measures analysis of variance, a downward trend for study subjects and an upward trend for controls was found for Relative's Stress Scores. Similar trends were found on the Personal Distress Subscale of the Relative's Stress Scale. No difference occurred in rates of institutionalization between those receiving and not receiving day care. Our study suggests that respite care for demented persons living at home significantly reduces the stress among caregivers.

Affect↗
PubMed1992

Neuropsychiatric effects of drugs in the elderly.

Since the elderly consume large numbers of drugs, drug-induced disease must be high on the list as a suspected cause of changes in behavior. Neuropsychiatric side effects of drugs in the elderly are not rare events. While proceeding to investigate medical, neurological, and psychiatric causes of a change in the cognitive status or behavior in an elderly patient, it is important to consider a possible psychotoxic drug as an offender or co-offender. Failing to do so may lead to inappropriate testing and further unnecessary and possibly deleterious therapeutic measures. In the case of dementia, the worst treatment would be institutionalization before identifying a drug as the cause of the cognitive dysfunction.

Aged↗
PubMed1991

Problems with gait in older persons.

Gait problems are frequently encountered in elderly patients. Assessment can be made with tests that do not require complex equipment or excessive amounts of time. Most gait disorders result from the interplay of many factors but can respond to medical management, physical therapy, gait training, and correct use of adaptive devices.

Aged↗
PubMed1989

Medication compliance in the elderly.

Patient compliance with physician's medication instructions has been a growing concern for nearly two decades. Elderly patients are thought to have more difficulty following prescription instructions because they generally have more medications prescribed, often suffer from cognitive decline, and frequently have physical limitations such as failing eyesight and hearing. Exhibiting a genuine concern to patients for the importance of drug therapy and adherence to directions is the first step to improve compliance. Providing adequate verbal and written medication instruction, and implementing routine assessment of medication compliance should greatly improve response to drug therapy and decrease adverse effects.

Aged↗
PubMed1989

Evaluating the interview performance of internal medicine interns.

Limited primary data are available to indicate in which areas physicians' interview performances are deficient. Videotaped recordings of 48 house officers performing a complete medical history were evaluated using a checklist to assess content, questioning technique, and interview style. Frequent deficiencies included inadequate social, psychiatric, and drug reaction histories. Several house officers demonstrated a marked tendency toward an overly directed interview style. The use of a detailed checklist during the observation of a complete medical history facilitates both accurate evaluation and specific detailed feedback to house officers.

Clinical Competence↗
PubMed1989

Health team networking: Alzheimer's disease care.

The expected increased incidence of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias in the next century will impact heavily on the care of physicians to involved families. Physicians alone cannot provide the assistance required by these families and need to access other health professionals and resources to assist these families. Responding to the desperate need for information by families concerned with Alzheimer's disease, physicians and other health professionals in North Central Florida networked to develop, implement, and evaluate a responsive strategy, a community forum on Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. The two-hour daytime program with small discussion groups and a panel of experts for a question-answer session was highly successful and replicated.

Aged↗
PubMed1976

Drug-associated deaths of medical inpatients.

Of 7,423 medical inpatients, 16 (0.22%) died of drug-associated causes. The overall mortality for all medical inpatients was 6.5%. Eleven of the 16 patients who died of drug-associated causes had been terminally ill; the rest had been seriously ill before the fatal drug reaction occurred. Half of the patients had had either hematologic malignant changes or lupus nephritis. Antineoplastic drugs, azathioprine, prednisone, and heparin sodium were the most frequently implicated drugs. In other studies, we have found widely differing incidences of fatal drug reactions, due to a number of different drugs; these disparities are probably related to variations in the types of illnesses amoung different hospital populations and to varying interpretations of the term "drug-associated death." Extrapolation from the available data to a national incidence of drug-associated deaths is not possible. Drug-associated deaths are relatively uncommon and usually occur in the cases of severely or terminally ill patients treated with potentially highly toxic drugs.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Acute bacterial sialadenitis: a study of 29 cases and review.

Acute bacterial parotitis (ABP) used to be described as a nosocomial postoperative infection associated with a high mortality. A review of the literature on acute bacterial sialadenitis (ABS) revealed Staphylococcus aureus as the most common pathogen. Between 1970 and 1988, 17 patients with ABP and 12 with acute bacterial submandibular sialadenitis (ABSS) were admitted to a university hospital. Cultures of purulent discharge from the salivary ducts of these patients revealed S. aureus in 53% and viridans streptococci in 31%. During the study period, only six nosocomial cases of ABP occurred out of 289,234 admissions. S. aureus was the organism isolated most frequently in the nosocomial cases. There were no deaths, and all patients recovered following antibiotic treatment without surgical drainage. Advances in antimicrobial therapy and fluid management of hospitalized patients have made nosocomial ABS a rare disease with a favorable prognosis. S. aureus remains the most common pathogen causing ABS even in nosocomially infected patients who are not critically ill.

Adolescent↗