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Biomedical subjects

P Sheridan

Publications and source records attributed to P Sheridan.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Why patients consult and what happens when they do.

OBJECTIVE: To study patients' perceptions of why they consulted the doctor, how ill they thought they were, and what happened in the consultation. To compare patients' perceptions before and after the consultation and to compare these perceptions with those of the doctor. DESIGN: Patients filled in a questionnaire before and after the consultation. The doctor filled a questionnaire in after the consultation. SETTING: Three general practices in Bedfordshire and one in Hertfordshire. PATIENTS: 500 consecutive patients consulting in each practice. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Changes in patients' perceptions and differences between the perceptions of patients and doctors. RESULTS: Doctors perceived patients to be less ill than the patients themselves did. Patients from social classes IV and V and children perceived themselves to be more ill than the average. Patients perceived themselves to be less ill after the consultation. A third of patients attended because doctors had told them to, and a quarter of patients had already tried to treat their problem themselves when they attended the consultation. Doctors' perceptions of the consultation emphasised listening, supporting, and giving advice. Patients' perceptions emphasised prescribing, reassuring, and referring to a consultant. Doctors perceived that they listened, examined, and gave advice less to social classes IV and V than to social classes I, II, and III and gave explanations more often to men than to women. Patients perceived external factors rather than lifestyle factors as being more important in causing their problems. CONCLUSION: Doctors' perceptions of patients' problems differed from those of patients expressed both before and after their consultation. Doctors' and patients' perceptions also differed about the consultation itself. The consultation reassured some patients.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed1990

Safety of protamine sulfate administration in vasectomized men.

The majority of vasectomized men develop antibodies against different sperm antigens, including protamine. Due to the fact that salmon protamine is used clinically for heparin reversal and that a cross-reactivity has been observed between human and salmon protamine, vasectomized men may be at risk for adverse reactions to protamine sulfate. In order to explore this possibility, serum samples were analyzed for the presence of anti-sperm and anti-protamine antibodies in 20 vasectomized and 20 non-vasectomized men (controls) about to undergo major heart surgery requiring heparin reversal. The patients were closely monitored for any possible reaction following the injection of protamine. Anti-sperm antibodies were detected in the serum of 15 of the vasectomized men whereas only two of the non-vasectomized subjects had this type of antibody. Twenty-five percent of the vasectomized men presented with anti-protamine antibodies; in the control group, none of the patients had developed this type of antibody. Following the administration of protamine sulfate, none of the patients in either group showed any adverse reaction to the drug. It is concluded that vasectomized men are not at increased risk towards adverse reactions following the injection of protamine sulfate.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Interpretation of laboratory tests of thyroid function in chronic active hepatitis.

Because the incidence of thyroid disorder is much greater than expected in chronic active hepatitis we have evaluated routine in vivo and in vitro tests of thyroid function in forty one clinically euthryoid patients with chronic active hepatitis and in five patients with chronic active hepatitis and concomitant or previous clinical thyroid disease. Serum thyroxine, thyroid hormone binding, triiodothyronine, thyrotrophin releasing hormone tests and thyroidal uptake of radio-iodine all gave misleading information in some clinically euthyroid patients with chronic active hepatitis. However, the free thyroxine index calculated from the serum thyroxine and thyroid hormone binding level gave results that accorded with the clinical impression in all but two of the euthyroid patients whose results were borderline and subsequently normal and in all but one of those with past or current thyroid disorder. This suggests that anomalies of protein binding accounted for abnormal results in thyroxine and thyroid hormone binding levels.

Adolescent↗