Biomedical subjects

Katherine Hall

Publications and source records attributed to Katherine Hall.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Avoiding and fixing medical errors in general practice: prevention strategies reported in the Linnaeus Collaboration's Primary Care International Study of Medical Errors.

AIM: To report tactics for avoiding and remedying medical errors observed by general practitioners in New Zealand and five other countries. METHODS: The Primary Care International Study of Medical Errors collected 66 reports of medical errors in New Zealand and 363 reports from general practitioners in Australia, Canada, England, the Netherlands, and the United States. Strategies for avoiding and overcoming errors were grouped by themes, for New Zealand and the five other countries combined. RESULTS: In all New Zealand reports and 336 (92.6%) reports from other countries, doctors offered at least one error prevention idea. The largest category of suggestions was 'more diligence' (New Zealand: 69.7% of reports, other countries: 55.3%). Other strategies were: 'provide care differently' (New Zealand 22.7%, other countries 36.4%); 'improve communication' (19.7% and 17.8% of reports); 'education' (7.8% and 11.0% of reports); and 'more resources' (12.1% and 14.0% of reports). CONCLUSIONS: In general practitioners' medical errors reports, a culture of individual blame is more evident than recognised need for systems design. A minority of reports contained specific, pragmatic suggestions for changing healthcare systems to protect patients' safety. Error reporting systems may be a practical way to generate innovative solutions to potentially harmful problems facing general practice patients.

Australia↗

PubMed2004

A three-dimensional MRI analysis of knee kinematics.

PURPOSE: To quantify normal, in vivo tibio-femoral knee joint kinematics in multiple weight bearing positions using non-invasive, high-resolution MRI and discuss the potential of developing future kinematic methods to assess patients with abnormal joint pathologies. METHODS: Ten volunteers with clinically normal knees pushed inferiorly on the footplate of a weight bearing apparatus inside the MR scanner. The volunteers held the weight (133 N) for five scans as the knee motion was evaluated from 0 degrees to 60 degrees of flexion. Full extension was set as the zero point for all measured parameters. Using 3D reconstructions, tibia motion relative to the femur and flexion angle was measured as varus-valgus angle, axial rotation, anterior-posterior translation, and medial-lateral translation. Medial and lateral compartment tibio-femoral contact areas were examined and centroids of the contract areas were calculated. RESULTS: Tibial internal rotation averaged 4.8 degrees at 40 degrees of flexion and then decreased. Tibial valgus increased by 8 degrees at 60 degrees of flexion. Femoral roll back also increased to 18.5 mm average at 60 degrees of flexion, while the tibia translated medially 2.5 mm. Medial compartment femoro-tibial contact area started at 374 mm2 and decreased to 308 mm2 with flexion of 60 degrees, while lateral compartment contact area did not change significantly from 276 mm2. CONCLUSIONS: Results correlate with previous studies of knee kinematics while providing greater three-dimensional detail. MR imaging allows excellent non-invasive evaluation of knee joint kinematics with weight bearing. This tool may potentially be used for assessing knee kinematics in patients with knee pathology.

Biomechanical Phenomena↗

PubMed2003

Magnetic resonance imaging of patellofemoral kinematics with weight-bearing.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies of the patellofemoral joint have been limited by the use of invasive techniques, measurements under non-weight-bearing conditions, cadaveric specimens, or computerized models. It has been shown that soft tissue and bone can be accurately quantified with magnetic resonance imaging. The present study was designed to define the relationship between the patellofemoral contact area and patellofemoral kinematics in vivo. METHODS: Ten subjects with clinically normal knee joints were scanned with high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging while they pushed a constant weight (133 N) on the foot-plate of a custom-designed load-bearing apparatus. Images were obtained at five positions of flexion between -10 degrees and 60 degrees. Three-dimensional reconstructions were used to measure the patellofemoral cartilage contact area, patellar centroid, patellar medial and inferior translation, patellar medial and inferior tilt, and patellar varus-valgus rotation. All translation and area measurements were normalized on the basis of the interepicondylar distance. Random-effects models of quadratic regressions were used to evaluate the data. RESULTS: The mean contact area ranged from 126 mm(2) in extension to 560 mm(2) at 60 degrees of flexion. The patella translated inferiorly to a maximum distance of 34 mm at 60 degrees of flexion and translated medially to a maximum distance of 3.2 mm at 30 degrees of flexion before returning to nearly 0 mm at 60 degrees of flexion. The patella tilted inferiorly to a mean of nearly 35 degrees at 60 degrees of flexion and medially to a maximum of 4.2 degrees at 30 degrees of flexion. By 60 degrees of flexion, the centroid of the contact area had shifted to an inferior and posterior maximum of 20 and 10 mm, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: We found that lateral patellar subluxation and tilt occurred in these normal knees at full extension and the patella was reduced into the trochlear groove at 30 degrees of flexion. Therefore, we believe that lateral patellar tilt and subluxation observed during arthroscopy of the extended knee may not represent a pathological condition.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Medical decision-making: an argument for narrative and metaphor.

This study examines the processes of decision-making used by intensive care (critical care) specialists. Ninety-nine specialists completed a questionnaire involving three clinical cases, using a novel methodology investigating the role of uncertainty and temporal-related factors, and exploring a range of ethical issues. Validation and triangulation of the results was done via a comparison study with a medically lay, but highly informed group of 37 law students. For both study groups, constructing reasons for a decision was largely an interpretative and imaginative exercise that went beyond the data (as presented), commonly resulting in different reasons supporting the same conclusions and similar reasons supporting opposite conclusions. The skills of ethical imagination and interpretation were related to an individual's prior lived experience, construed in the broadest sense. Application of these skills of ethical imagination and interpretation always occurred, to some degree, in a state of uncertainty and almost always involved temporal relationships. Using these results, a theory of ethical decision-making is proffered. Three levels or types of reasoning processes may be present. Type I decision-making involves the application of rules, usually in a deductive fashion. Type II decision-making is characterised by a process where a plurality of reasons are balanced, weighed and sifted with each other. Type III decision-making is intimately linked with respondents lived experiences and 'crafts' the content of type I and II reasoning processes, via the application of ethical imagination and interpretation. Relationships between these three types of reasoning processes, and with narrative ethics, are also discussed.

Anecdotes as Topic↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Intensive care ethics in evolution.

The ethics of treating the seriously and critically ill have not been static throughout the ages. Twentieth century medicine has inherited from the nineteenth century a science which places an inappropriate weight on diagnosis over prognosis and management, combined with a seventeenth century duty to prolong life. However other earlier ethical traditions, both Hippocratic and Christian, respected both the limitations of medicine and emphasised the importance of prognosis. This paper outlines some of the historical precedents for the treatment of the critically ill, and also how the current paradigm limits clinical practice and causes ethical tensions. An understanding that other paradigms have been ethically acceptable in the past allows wider consideration and acceptance of alternatives for the future. However future alternatives will also have to address the role of technology, given its importance in this area of medicine.

Biomedical Technology↗