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Biomedical subjects

K McMahon

Publications and source records attributed to K McMahon.

27 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1992

Evaluation of the use and usefulness of telephone consultations in one general practice.

In one practice with 14,000 patients an advice line was set aside at designated times to enable patients to speak directly to a doctor on the telephone. The aim of this study was to determine who used the line, why they called, the conditions callers presented with, the action taken by the doctor and whether patients and doctors thought the service was a good idea. A total of 277 calls were made during the five month study period. Responses to a questionnaire were received from doctors for all 277 calls and from 152 patients. It was found that most calls lasted about three minutes. Most of the callers (59%) were known to the doctor taking the call. Users of the advice line were most likely to be women, married people and people with children. Equal numbers of calls were received about new and existing problems. The most frequent reason for calling was to obtain the result of a test (21% of calls). The most frequent diagnosis by the doctors was chronic complaints for which the patient was already receiving treatment (19%). The data from patients and doctors were similar. In 30% of cases callers were advised to take medicine, mostly a prescription to be collected (16%), while a few callers received a home visit (7%). Doctors thought they provided reassurance in 26% of cases while callers thought they had received reassurance in 43% of cases. If the advice line had not been available three quarters of the respondents would have made an appointment and 13% would have asked the doctor to make a home visit.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1988

The accuracy of selective magnetic resonance imaging compared with the findings of arthroscopy of the knee.

The results of selective magnetic resonance imaging of the knee were compared with those of arthroscopy in a prospective series of fifty patients. A specifically designed protocol for imaging, producing T1 sagittal images interleaved at four millimeters while the patient's foot was in 20 degrees of external rotation, was utilized. This technique, called selective magnetic resonance imaging, yielded excellent visualization of the posterior cruciate ligament, medial meniscus, and lateral meniscus in all patients. However, in only 76 per cent of the patients was the anterior cruciate ligament well visualized. Compared with arthroscopy, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of selective magnetic resonance imaging were, respectively, 95.8, 100, and 98 per cent for tears of the medial meniscus; 66.7, 95.1, and 90 per cent for tears of the lateral meniscus; undefined, 100, and 100 per cent for tears of the posterior cruciate ligament; and 100, 96.9, and 97.3 per cent for tears of the anterior cruciate ligament, when that ligament was well visualized. Our selective sequence can be performed in fifteen minutes at a cost that is comparable with that of arthrography. It is totally non-invasive and requires no exposure to ionizing radiation. Selective magnetic resonance imaging can be a safe and valuable adjunct to the clinical evaluation of the knee and an aid to efficient preoperative planning.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Clinic-based interventions to promote breast and cervical cancer screening.

BACKGROUND: Breast and cervical cancer continue to claim the lives of women. Early detection modalities for these cancers are available; however, utilization rates are far from optimal. Studies have documented the motivating effect that physician recommendations have on compliance with preventive health behaviors. The goal of this study was to develop and implement strategies to improve the use of cervical and breast cancer screening among African-American women age 40 and older who resided in low-income housing communities. METHODS: Baseline surveys among clinic providers and a random sample of women in the target population indicated areas to be included in intervention material. Community health center-based strategies included educational interventions for providers and patients, follow-up interventions for abnormal screening tests, and the implementation of a computer tracking system. Pap smear and mammogram utilization rates at the health center were tracked throughout the project period to assess the effect of the clinic-based interventions. RESULTS: Both Pap smear and mammography rates increased over time. Fifteen cases of breast cancer and 1 case of invasive cervical cancer have been detected. Compliance rates for follow-up for cervical dysplasia have increased from 50 to 90%. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that clinic-based interventions can improve the use of breast and cervical cancer screening and follow-up among low-income women.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Brain activity during the encoding, retention, and retrieval of stimulus representations.

Studies of delayed nonmatching-to-sample (DNMS) performance following lesions of the monkey cortex have revealed a critical circuit of brain regions involved in forming memories and retaining and retrieving stimulus representations. Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we measured brain activity in 10 healthy human participants during performance of a trial-unique visual DNMS task using novel barcode stimuli. The event-related design enabled the identification of activity during the different phases of the task (encoding, retention, and retrieval). Several brain regions identified by monkey studies as being important for successful DNMS performance showed selective activity during the different phases, including the mediodorsal thalamic nucleus (encoding), ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (retention), and perirhinal cortex (retrieval). Regions showing sustained activity within trials included the ventromedial and dorsal prefrontal cortices and occipital cortex. The present study shows the utility of investigating performance on tasks derived from animal models to assist in the identification of brain regions involved in human recognition memory.

Adult↗