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Biomedical subjects

M Giuffre

Publications and source records attributed to M Giuffre.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

Reading research critically: assessing the validity and reliability of research instrumentation--Part 2.

Accurate measurement of research variables is necessary so that research consumers can trust that it is the research intervention that affected the change in the outcome variable, not some extraneous error component. Reliability is the accuracy with which the research instruments measure the variable that they are designed to measure. A number of known threats to instrument reliability should be anticipated by the researcher and looked for the consumer. These threats are presented in this article.

Bias↗
PubMed1995

Reading research critically: results--Part 1.

Nurses in PACUS as well as other areas of nursing are increasingly being asked to incorporate research into their clinical practices. Unfortunately, many nurses have limited formal education in research and are not adequately prepared to critically analyze the quality of the research they are reading. This is especially true when it comes to the statistical analysis section of the published research report. This article lays the foundation for understanding the statistical analysis most commonly seen in results sections of research publications in nursing journals.

Data Interpretation, Statistical↗
PubMed1995

Investigating the reliability and validity of the infrared tympanic thermometer: a learning experience.

This series of articles to date has discussed points that readers should be looking for when reading and critiquing a researcher article. This article presents a brief report of a research project investigating the reliability and validity of the infrared tympanic thermometer (ITT) in afebrile subjects. Using four subjects and 40 temperature diads, the ability of the ITT to predict the subjects' temperatures obtained with a mercury thermometer was very poor (regression coefficient = .39). Test-retest reliability using the same data set resulted in an equally poor correlation coefficient (r = .19). A critique of the methodology of the study is provided as a learning experience.

Humans↗
PubMed1995

Reading research critically: results--bivariate regression analysis.

Regression is an analysis tool used in much of the research we read, and the terminology can be daunting. In reality, bivariate regression analysis is simply an extension of correlational analysis. This article was written to help the reader understand bivariate regression analysis.

Bias↗
PubMed1994

Reading research critically: statistical significance.

Statistical significance pertains to the probability that a finding of difference between two groups in a study has occurred by chance. Unfortunately, statistical significance often is confused with significance. This article discusses the meaning of statistical significance, how it differs from significance, and when it can be misleading.

Data Interpretation, Statistical↗
PubMed1994

Reading research critically: threats to internal validity.

Internal validity refers to the extent to which it is possible to attribute the change in the dependent or outcome variable in a study to manipulation in the independent variable. This article will discuss the frequent threats to internal validity and how to recognize them.

Bias↗
PubMed1994

Reading research critically: the review of the literature.

Postanesthesia nurses are being asked to incorporate research into their clinical practices. Unfortunately, many nurses are not adequately prepared to critically analyze the quality of the research they are reading. This article, which provides hints for reading review of the literature, is the first of a series regarding reading research critically.

Language↗
PubMed1991

Rewarming postoperative patients: lights, blankets, or forced warm air.

This study was designed to determine if the forced warm air system is more effective than warmed cotton blankets or radiant heat lamps for rewarming postoperative patients. PACU admission temperatures were taken on 370 adult patients. The study population of 90 patients with admission temperatures of 35 degrees C (95 degrees F) or less was randomly assigned to one of three intervention groups: (b) warmed cotton blankets, (L) radiant heat lamps, or (A) forced warm air. Oral or axillary temperatures were monitored every 15 minutes and the warming intervention continued until the patient reached the discharge criteria of 36 degrees C (96.8 degrees F). The three groups were comparable for sex, age, admitting temperature, OR time, and OR fluid. The mean rewarming times for patients who shivered were similar for all groups. For those patients who did not shiver, those treated with forced warm air rewarmed significantly faster than patients in the other groups. Nonshivering patients treated with forced warm air were ready for discharge somewhat sooner than those treated with either of the other two interventions.

Body Temperature Regulation↗
PubMed1991

Postoperative joint replacement pain: description and opioid requirement.

The present research was designed to describe the character, severity, and factors associated with postoperative pain following total hip replacement (THR) and total knee replacement (TKR) surgery, and to identify amounts of opioid required to relieve that pain. It was the investigators' intention to investigate the impact of age on severity of pain and amount of opioid required after surgery. Complete data were obtained on 29 white subjects, 16 of whom were men. Subjects' ages ranged from 27 to 88 years (mean, 66). The mean age for the men was 61 years and the mean age for the women was 72 years. Twelve subjects underwent THR and 17 underwent TKR. Eight patients received general anesthesia and 21 received spinal anesthesia. Pain was described using the McGill Pain Questionnaire-Short Form and quantified using a visual analogue scale. Amount of opioid required to relieve pain over 24 hours was recorded using a patient-controlled analgesia pump. Data analysis indicated that most patients do not report their pain as being controlled when discharged from the PACU, and that patients who receive spinal anesthesia require more postoperative opioid to control pain than patients who receive general anesthesia. In general, patients who undergo TKR experience more pain than patients who undergo THR. Pain was described as moderate to severe aching. As age increases, patients self-administer less postoperative opioid, but they do not report less postoperative pain.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Evaluating needlestick injuries in nursing personnel. Development of a questionnaire.

1. Needlestick injuries are the most common type of occupational injury experienced by nursing personnel. Sixty percent to 90% of needlestick injuries in medical centers are incurred by nurses. 2. Future increases in patient acuity and more advanced technology are likely to increase the risk of nurses experiencing accidental needlesticks. 3. Needle devices that require disassembly of equipment, especially those related to intravenous piggybacks and prefilled cartridge syringes, are placing nurses at an increased risk for injury. 4. Needle-less devices or devices which keep the needle recessed except during intended use have been designed. The assessment instrument can identify needlestick injury incidence and trends and can be used to evaluate and justify the increased costs of purchasing new safety equipment.

Accidents, Occupational↗
PubMed1990

The relationship between axillary and core body temperature measurements.

The goal of this study was to assess the accuracy of the axillary site as an indicator of core body temperature. Data from 30 core body temperatures, 30 electronic axillary temperatures, and 30 mercury-in-glass axillary temperatures in nonpostoperative intensive care unit patients are reported. Core and axillary temperatures were simultaneously measured in each patient. The correlation between core and axillary-mercury was r = 0.90. The mean difference between core and axillary-mercury was 0.35 degrees F (0.19 degrees C). The correlation between core and axillary-electronic was r = .87. The mean difference between core and axillary-electronic was 0.6 degrees F (0.33 degrees C). Only three, or 5%, of the 60 core-axillary pairs met the expected 2 degrees F (1.2 degrees C) difference. These findings support the accuracy of axillary temperature measurement as a reflection of core body temperature measurement in nonpostoperative patients. These researchers suggest that mercury thermometers be used in cases where small differences in temperature are clinically meaningful.

Axilla↗
PubMed1987

Evaluation of the Ohmeda 3700 pulse oximeter: steady-state and transient response characteristics.

The authors determined the accuracy of the Ohmeda 3700 (version J) pulse oximeter in healthy volunteers rendered hypoxic (SaO2 from 60-98%) by breathing mixtures of O2 in N2. When equipped with an ear probe, the pulse oximeter reading (y) reliably predicted arterial saturation (x) under steady-state conditions (y = 1.05x - 4.66, r = 0.98) as well as when oxygen saturation was rapidly decreasing (y = 1.05x - 6.38, r = 0.96). Conversely, when equipped with a finger probe, the oximeter tended to significantly underestimate steady-state arterial saturation (y = 1.21x - 19.1, r = 0.98, P less than 0.001). In response to this information, the manufacturer modified the oximeter's software (version XJ1), resulting in improved agreement between oximeter readings and arterial values (y = 0.96x + 4.59, r = 0.99). Despite the close correlation between steady-state oximeter readings and arterial saturation, the 99% prediction limits for both the ear and finger probes (version XJ1) were +/- 8%. Finger probe readings did not reliably reflect radial arterial oxygenation during rapid desaturation (y = 0.55x + 45.2, r = 0.78). This may be related to the time required to "arterialize" the blood in the finger; during acute resaturation, we found that the ear- to finger-probe delay was 24.0 +/- 2.3 s (means +/- SE, P less than 0.001).

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Temperature and temperature measurement after induced hypothermia.

This study was designed to assess factors associated with afterdrop, the fall in core temperature following completion of cardiac surgery, and determine the validity of noninvasive measures of temperature to predict core temperature in the severely hypothermic patient. Twenty-five postcardiac surgery patients served as subjects. Core temperature was measured using the pulmonary artery, bladder, and esophageal sites. The less invasive measures included a tympanic membrane thermometer, oral and axillary electronic thermometers, and a forehead surface temperature indicator. Temperatures were recorded every 10 minutes for 2 hours. End-of-surgery temperatures ranged from 30.3-38.3 degrees C (86.5-100.9 degrees F) with a mean of 36.02 degrees C (96.84 degrees F). Temperature change over the next hour ranged from a rise of 2.5 degrees C (4.5 degrees F) to a fall of 4.1 degrees C (7.2 degrees F). Factors associated with afterdrop included age, end-of-surgery temperature (both positively) and body mass (negatively). No noninvasive measure appeared to be a valid indicator of core temperature in these hypothermic patients.

Aged↗