A research agenda for family physicians.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to L E Cluff.
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The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program was developed to allow selected physician clinicians to acquire certain skills which are not part of the usual physician's repertoire. Begun in 1969 with support from the Carnegie Corporation and the Commonwealth Fund, funding has been provided since 1973 by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. By June 1981, 309 physicians had completed their training as clinical scholars, and a majority were pursuing careers in academic medicine. This paper recounts the factors and forces which led to the initiation and development of the program, its successes and failures, the problems faced, the achievements of clinical scholar alumni, and the program's current status.
Elderly people, particularly those over age 75, are subject to problems of access to needed health services, of the appropriateness of these services in relation to their needs, and of increasing infirmity, disability and dependency, with loss of their natural support systems. The proportion of health expenditures deployed to deal with the institutionalization and long-term requirements of elderly people is increasing in a national climate characterized by tightening constraints on public expenditures for health care under Medicare and Medicaid. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has accepted objectives and roles to find better ways to use what we already know to improve elderly people's access to health care, to improve their functional effectiveness, and to make their health care more affordable. The results of some of the programs it has supported represent innovative approaches and demonstrate ways in which we may accomplish these objectives.
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Effects of multiple drug administration on adverse drug reactions were studied in 10,518 patients hospitalized on a general medical service during a five-year period. Nine index drug groups, including analgesic, antacid, antiarrhythmic, antimicrobic, anticoagulant, antihypertensive, anti-inflammatory, diuretic, and sedative-tranquilizer drugs, were selected for study. The average number of adverse drug reactions for the anticoagulant and antihypertensive drug groups was higher (p less than 0.05) than for all other drug groups when classified by the number of drugs being taken concurrently (i.e., 0 to 5, 6 to 10, etc.). The rate of reaction for anticoagulant and antihypertensive drug groups was higher (p less than 0.001) than the rate for other drug groups studied. These data suggest a higher risk of adverse drug reactions for patients receiving multiple drugs. The increased risk may result from drug interactions.
The current circumstances associated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteremia are reviewed in 108 episodes to assess the impact of new antimicrobial drugs on this infection. Since 1961, Pseudomonas bacteremia has apparently become more frequent with proportional increases in middle-aged patients. The respiratory tract has become the major source of infection. Clinical features are not characteristic, but infected patients are almost uniformly severely ill before blood stream invasion occurs. The use of gentamicin, carbenicillin and colistin has not changed the outcome of Pseudomonas bacteremia. Although better than no antimicrobial treatment, these drugs cannot be shown to be superior to any other available antibiotics. A reassessment is needed to evaluate the relationship between the in vitro action and the effectiveness of antibiotics in the treatment of Pseudomonas infection and the use of gentamicin, carbenicillin and colistin in these bacteremias. In view of the poor results with antibiotics, investigation into immunologic prophylaxis and therapy is needed. At the present time, control of the patients' underlying disease contributes most towards assuring survival with Pseudomonas bacteremia.
During a three-year period of prospective epidemiologic surveillance for adverse drug reactions in a pediatric population, 72 (2.0%) of 3,556 medical admissions were the result of adverse drug reactions. Antineoplastic drugs were most frequently cited as causing a reaction leading to admission. Approximately 40% of the reactions were severe, and four reactions contributed to death.
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.
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