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Biomedical subjects

T Waterston

Publications and source records attributed to T Waterston.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Health service support of breast feeding--are we practising what we preach?

OBJECTIVE: To ascertain the attitudes of health professionals and breast feeding mothers to breast feeding and their views on current practice. DESIGN: Questionnaire to all midwives and health visitors and to breast feeding mothers in Newcastle upon Tyne. SETTING: Maternity units and community in Newcastle upon Tyne. SUBJECTS: 127 hospital midwives, 23 community midwives, 63 health visitors, and 50 first time breast feeding mothers. RESULTS: Optimum practice guidelines were not followed. 30 (60%) mothers said they were separated from their babies on the first night after birth. 82 (42%) professionals said that breast fed babies were frequently given water to drink. 28 (56%) babies in the mothers survey had received food or water other than breast milk; 19 of these had been given water. Professionals expressed mainly positive attitudes towards breast feeding in general but less positive attitudes to specific issues such as the beneficial effects on child health and the value of voluntary organisations in breast feeding promotion and management. CONCLUSIONS: Although many health workers are in favour of breast feeding there is conflict among the professions working most closely with breast feeding mothers. Good breast feeding support requires closer attention to monitoring hospital practices and continued training on good lactation management.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1991

Management of childhood diarrhoea by pharmacists and parents: is Britain lagging behind the Third World?

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the role of community pharmacists in providing advice and treatment for children with diarrhoea; to investigate mothers' responses to diarrhoea in their children. DESIGN: Cross sectional questionnaire study of a random selection of community pharmacists and of mothers attending child health clinics. Pharmacists were interviewed and given a questionnaire and a separate group was visited by a researcher posing as a parent; mothers were interviewed at the clinic. SETTING: Newcastle upon Tyne. SUBJECTS: 20 pharmacists were interviewed and visits by a researcher posing as a parent were carried out to 10 different pharmacists; 58 mothers were interviewed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Advice given by pharmacists was contrasted with standard advice on management of diarrhoea in children. RESULTS: Half of the pharmacists interviewed and 70% of pharmacists visited by a researcher posing as a parent recommended inappropriate treatment of childhood diarrhoea (such as antidiarrhoeal drugs and withholding breast milk), and only 30% at interview stated that they would ask for the age of the child. Mothers' knowledge of home treatment was inadequate. All pharmacists in the posed visits recommended a purchased treatment. CONCLUSION: Pharmacists are widely used by parents for consultation for children's ailments but their advice is not always appropriate; hence they should be given more consistent training in recognising and managing clinical problems. Medical advice on management of diarrhoea is also inconsistent and should be modified to conform to the guidelines of the World Health Organisation.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1990

Kwashiorkor.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Child↗
PubMed1990

Screening children from overseas for infections: is it justified?

OBJECTIVES: To investigate current practice of screening children from abroad for infections after coming to the United Kingdom, and to make recommendations for future practice. DESIGN: A review of literature and a questionnaire sent to all health authorities and boards in the United Kingdom. SETTING: All health authorities and boards in the United Kingdom. SUBJECTS: 167 Health authorities or boards that completed questionnaires (response rate 80%), 59 of which used a screening programme. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Response to questionnaire on policies for screening children for infections on their return from overseas. RESULTS: 12 Of the 59 authorities screened all children and one screened only those from the West Indian subcontinent. 13 Authorities excluded children from school while awaiting results; 58 screened for tuberculosis and four for diphtheria. CONCLUSIONS: There is a wide variation in screening policies around the country with no national consensus. Screening for diphtheria, typhoid, and salmonellosis is hard to justify and is probably not effective. Screening for tuberculosis, however, is supported by many authorities, is widely practised, and probably is effective. There is a strong case for rationalisation of screening.

Child↗
PubMed1988

A critical incident study in child health.

The critical incident technique is an objective method of analysing doctors' professional behaviour. It extracts the skills which should be taught and assessed in any training programme. In such a study in child health, 438 incidents were collected from general practitioners, paediatricians and others, and analysed according to the problem, the disease, the setting, the skill and the attitude involved. Most of the problems concerned non-specific symptoms (e.g. 'unwell baby', 'fever') and the main skill categories (each with many subheadings) were clinical management (especially at home), the diagnostic process and interpersonal skills. Training of doctors in child health should emphasize the competencies highlighted in this study.

Clinical Competence↗
PubMed1987

Teaching primary health care: some lessons from Zimbabwe.

A new teaching programme for fourth-year medical students in child health in Harare, Zimbabwe is outlined. A 2-week attachment to a rural district-level hospital is intended to orient the students to primary health care and to the practice of clinical medicine in a low resource environment. The attachment has become popular with students and it is hoped that it will improve attitudes of teaching staff in the medical school towards primary health care.

Education, Medical, Undergraduate↗