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Biomedical subjects

P McCormack

Publications and source records attributed to P McCormack.

59 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1977

Teeside coronary survey--fatality and comparative severity of patients treated at home, in the hospital ward, and in the coronary care unit after myocardial infarction.

An epidemiological survey of myocardial infarction in Teesside County Borough was completed between April 1972 and April 1973. Cases were notified and divided into those who had suffered a 'definite', 'possible', or 'not' myocardial infarction. Severity factors were measured in the 'definite' cases and the distribution of the various factors studied among home, ward, and coronary care unit treated cases. Increasing severity was found to be related to increased fatality. The fatality of patients treated at home was less than that of those treated in the ward or the coronary care unit. Those who survived to be treated at home were not less severe than those who survived in a comparable group to be treated in hospital using the objective criteria described in the assessment of severity. It is emphasised that the results must be interpreted with caution as other essentially subjective criteria not so easily measurable, but which might have been of considerable influence in the assessment of severity, were not measured in this study.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1976

Anxiety after a heart attack.

An objective measurement of anxiety at defined intervals after the onset of acute cardiac symptoms was made in 203 men admitted to the Coronary Care Unit, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, and in 83 patients in a Teesside coronary survey. Of the Teesside patients, 50 were treated at home, 22 were admitted initially to a coronary care unit, and 11 were admitted directly to a general medical ward. In the Edinburgh patients the level of anxiety was high early in the illness, fell rapidly, and rose again towards the end of their stay in hospital. At 4 months it was that of a normal population. After transfer from the coronary care unit the group was not more anxious than other patients in the ward. Reaction to the illness was unrelated to its physical severity. Patients who reacted badly at the beginning were less likely to return to work. The pattern of anxiety in the Teesside patients resembled that of the Edinburgh group, and reaction to illness was largely independent of physical aspects. Treatment in hospital, either through a coronary care unit initially or in a medical ward, did not increase emotional distress. At 3 months patients treated initially in a coronary care unit were less anxious than the others. Throughout the period of study the Teesside patients were more anxious than the Edinburgh patients and outcome was not related to anxiety. Social and environmental differences may account for this.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Prescribing practices in an Irish Long Term Care Setting.

The elderly constitute 11.4% of the Irish Population and are prescribed 47% GMS prescription medications. Polypharmacy is well described in studies as being the norm and not the exception in the elderly. A long term care setting represents a particular group of these patients having medical problems that are both complex in nature and copious in number. Prescribing practices have not been well documented in the Irish Long Term Care setting. We therefore determined a need to describe prescribing patterns in the Irish Long Term Care Setting. Seventy-six patients were identified in two Long Term Care units. Data collected per patient included type of diagnosis, age, and medication prescribed. Paired data was available on 52 patients at baseline and again at six months. The impact of regular consultant review on prescribing was assessed during this period. We found that the average age of the residents was 80.9 years. Female residents accounted for 75% of the patients and males 25%. There was an average of 8.8 diagnoses per patient. At baseline there was an average of 9.2 medications prescribed per patient. The vast majority of prescriptions were for CNS preparations (42%), followed by Cardiovascular (16%) Gastrointestinal (16%) and Respiratory (6%). Medication prescribed changed in nature but numerically was not reduced by regular consultant review. The number of scheduled medications did not change over six months of review, at 5.5 per patient. However there was an increase in the number of PRN prescriptions from 3.7 to 4.25 per patient. We concluded that there is a higher than expected number of medications prescribed to patients in Long Term Care. On the basis of this descriptive study we recommend that standards be set for Prescribing in Long Term Care.

Aged↗