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Biomedical subjects

K Little

Publications and source records attributed to K Little.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1987

Early emergency care study: the potential and benefits of advanced prehospital care.

Of 26358 patients taken by ambulance to the accident and emergency departments of two large hospitals, 1185 were admitted to resuscitation areas. The scope for ambulance staff to employ a range of advanced techniques at the scene of incidents was assessed by using information relating to the condition of patients when they were picked up by the ambulance and on admission, time in transit, details from hospital records, and outcome at three months. For non-survivors further assessment was made of the benefit, in terms of survival, which might have accrued had advanced techniques been used. The results of the assessment of benefit were compared with estimates of benefit from other studies. In cases of cardiopulmonary arrest the potential to save lives was less optimistic than earlier estimates, and in cases of trauma the potential to save lives was negligible.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1986

The urgency distribution of an accident and emergency department's workload.

The perceived urgency of 2000 consecutive patients attending the Accident and Emergency Department of the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, was assessed using a Linear Analogue Scale. Each patient was assessed by the receptionist, the receiving nurse and the treating doctor. The distribution of urgency rating produced for this patient group was shown to be comparable for each status of assessor, and to correlate with other outcome criteria such as admission and referral rates. The linear scale was also shown to correlate with retrospective assessment using a time-guided category scale. The accident and emergency department workload is predominantly of low urgency (90% less than 5 on a 0-10 scale). Older patients tend to have higher urgency ratings than younger patients and those referred by ambulance, either via general practitioner or 999 calls, have similarly higher urgency distributions. This study provides a basis for the development of a guided category scale for functional triage of accident and emergency departments. Other scoring systems have attempted to similarly quantify the medical component of the workload (Coira & Rothstein, 1983; Peel et al., 1962). However, the complexity of many of these scales, together with the difficulty in usage of so many different scales, begs a reappraisal of the overall triage of patients attending the emergency department. The aim of this study was to look at the perceived urgency distribution of patients presenting to the emergency department. We wished to compare the relative assessment of urgency by various levels of treating staff and to compare those assessments with the referral and outcome of these patients to provide the basis for the development of a comparative Triage Scale.

Accidents↗
PubMed1984

Sports injuries in an accident and emergency department.

Over a one year period, 2270 sports injuries were seen in the Accident and Emergency Department at the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh. This represented 3.9% of the total new patients seen in that year. Football and rugby were the most frequent sports responsible for injury. Seventy-eight per cent of injured persons were 26 or under and 88.7% of injuries occurred in men. The two months with the most sports injuries were September and February; 74% (1683) patients stated they trained at least once a week and 85% (1895) played the sport in which they were injured at least once a week. Players who did not train were less likely to incur a severe injury than those who did. Fourteen per cent of the injuries were the result of foul play, but again foul play was less likely to cause a serious injury; 41% of injuries were to the lower limb; 45% of injuries were fractures, dislocations, lacerations and head injuries; 7% of patients required admission to hospital and 22% were referred to a clinic. Seventy-seven per cent of the referrals were to the orthopaedic department. The relevance of these figures to the accident and emergency workload is discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1982

An embedded fingernail.

A case of an embedded fingernail is reported. The increased curvature of the nail plates is considered aetiologically important. Treatment was by the method first described by Winograd for an embedded toenail.

Aged↗
PubMed1980

Alcohol and the emergency service patient.

To determine the prevalence of alcohol use in casualty patients breath-alcohol analysis was performed on 702 patients attending the accident and emergency department of a large teaching hospital during the evening. Forty per cent of patients had consumed alcohol before attending and 32% had a blood alcohol concentration exceeding 17.4 mmol/l (80 mg/100 ml). Clinical assessment of intoxication resulted in a false-negative diagnosis in 10% of inebriated patients, indicating that an objective measurement of the blood alcohol concentration by a test, such as breath-alcohol analysis, may be of additional value. These findings confirm that a high proportion of emergency-service patients are affected by alcohol and suggest that alcoholism treatment facilities need to be integrated with accident and emergency services.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Casualty x-rays.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Emergency Service, Hospital↗
PubMed1977

A new method of applying the Sips equation.

The Sips equation is frequently used in immunochemistry to describe the relationship between antibody-binding site concentration (n0[Ab]), antigen concentration, intrinsic affinity constant (K), and the heterogeneity index (a) of the affinity constant. Usually n0[Ab] is determined before calculating the remaining parameters (K and a). A new method is proposed which does not require knowledge of n0[Ab] nor an extensive calculation to determine K and a. The method can also be used to determine the antibody-binding site concentration without purified antibody or ligand saturation of the binding sites. This method can be applied to any antibody which binds a monovalent ligand and which can be obtained at a concentration greater than 1/K. Since the Sips equation can be applied to any ordinary chemical reaction by setting a=1, the proposed method can be used generally to determine the affinity constant and the initial concentration of one of the reactants.

Animals↗
PubMed1976

Copper toxicity: evidence for the conversion of cupric to cuprous copper in vivo under anaerobic conditions.

We have determined the toxicity to cells of Escherichia coli B of cupric copper applied under aerobic and anaerobic conditions in two ways. The growth of cells in liquid medium incorporating cupric copper shows differential inhibition, comparing aerobic and anaerobic conditions--toxicity being greater under anoxia. The growth of colonies upon agar plates incorporating cupric copper does not show such a differential effect. We conclude that colonies on plates are largely anoxic even when incubated aerobically. EPR spectra of cells obtained at various times after application of cupric copper under anoxic conditions indicate the conversion of a considerable proportion of the Cu(II) to a non-paramagnetic species, probably Cu(I). We demonstrate that Cu(I) is more toxic than Cu(II) to cells when applied under anoxic conditions and conclude that the difference in toxicity of Cu(II) applied to cells under aerobic and anaerobic conditions results from the greater extent of reduction of Cu(II) to Cu(I) under anaerobic conditions.

Aerobiosis↗