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Biomedical subjects

J Brocklehurst

Publications and source records attributed to J Brocklehurst.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

Autonomy for elderly people in long-term care.

A cross-sectional view of the extent to which residents in long-term care exercise autonomy has been obtained from an audit using the Royal College of Physicians' CARE scheme (Continuous Assessment Review and Evaluation) in 17 long-term care facilities among 298 residents. Most centres have procedures in place to enable residents to exercise choice, on information or services provided and how to complain, but only half provide opportunities to comment on policy and procedures and planned changes. There was a high level of personal care plans but many of these were disappointing in their detailed content; less than half of the residents had a key worker; a series of indicators of choice scored reasonably high in nursing homes but lower in hospitals; independent advocates are in evidence where patients' mental competence is in question. The established use of care plans should provide a foundation for improvements in this aspect of the quality of care. Such audits could form the basis for a national quality system in long-term care.

Aged

After the fall.

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Accidental Falls

Incontinence.

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Aged

Restoring health.

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Activities of Daily Living

The aging game: a new teaching method in geriatric medicine.

The aging game, a simple yet effective educational method for teaching gerontology and geriatric medicine, is described. Groups of up to 20 students participate. A series of 100 cards bearing statements about old age, some of which are true and some of which are false, are distributed among them. By exchanging cards and by gradual grouping of the students, the participants endeavor to secure a hand in which all the statements are true. The game ends with all cards being reviewed by the teacher and the participants together. The aging game has been used with physicians, medical students, nurses, therapists, social workers and mixed groups of health professionals. A modified version has been used in pre-retirement education and public education on aging.

Geriatrics

Sensitive assay for plasminogen activator of transformed cells.

A sensitive in situ assay for the plasminogen activator of transformed cells is described; it uses the fluorogenic molecule 3',6'-bis(4-guanidinobenzoyloxy)-5-(N'-4-carboxylphenyl)thioureidospiro[isobenz ofuran-1(3H),9'-[9H]xanthen]-3-one. This fluorescein derivative is an excellent active-site titrant of the esterase activity of plasmin. When transformed cells are incubated with purified plasminogen and the resulting plasmin is titrated with the fluorogenic substrate, the amount of plasmin formed is linearly proportional to time and cell number. The assay is sensitive enough to detect quantitatively the plasminogen activator activity of as few as 250 transformed cells. This substrate should be useful in studying quantitatively the correlation between increased levels of plasminogen activator activity and cellular transformation and as a general active site titrant of serine proteases.

Animals

The correlation of the computer quantitated treadmill exercise electrocardiogram with cinearteriographic assessment of coronary artery disease.

One hundred and twenty-five consecutive patients being submitted for coronary cinearteriography were subjected to preliminary graded exercise testing using a Quinton treadmill and ECG data computer. Patients with disease of the left main coronary artery are at particular risk during coronary arteriography and it was hoped that exercise testing might identify these patients. This hope was not realised. A satisfactory end point to the exercise test was either the attainment of 85% of the maximal heart rate assessed for age, or ST segment depression greater than 2 mm. Exercise induced angina also formed an end point to the test and was considered a positive result. Results were determined by McHenry's discriminant analysis. The sensitivity of the exercise test was 66, 88 and 92% for one, two and three vessel disease respectively. Specificity was at least 83%. Exercise induced ST segment elevation occurred in four patients all of whom had previous extensive anterior wall infarction. Exercise testing is without risk in patients with ischaemic heart disease provided well defined precautions are taken.

Cineangiography