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Biomedical subjects

T Waterston

Publications and source records attributed to T Waterston.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1994

Sending parents outpatient letters about their children: parents' and general practitioners' views.

Parents' cooperation is essential to ensuring implementation of effective healthcare management of children, and complete openness should exist between paediatricians and parents. One method of achieving this is to send parents a copy of the outpatient letter to the general practitioner (GP) after the child's outpatient consultation. To determine the views of parents and GPs a pilot survey was conducted in two general children's outpatient clinics in hospitals in Newcastle upon Tyne. In March and April 1991 a postal questionnaire was sent to 57 parents of children attending the clinics, and a similar questionnaire to their GPs to elicit, respectively, parents' understanding of the letter and perception of its helpfulness, and GPs' views on the value of sending the letters to parents. Completed questionnaires were received from 34(60%) parents and 47(82%) GPs; 26(45%) respondents were matched pairs. 27(79%) parents said they understood all of the letter, 19(56%) that it helped their understanding, 32(94%) felt it was a good idea, and 31(91%) made positive comments. In all, 29(61%) GPs favoured the idea and six (13%) did not. Eleven (23%) said they would be concerned if this became routine practice, and 20(74%) of the 27 providing comments were doubtful or negative; several considered that they should communicate information to parents. The views in the matched pairs were dissimilar: parents were universally in favour whereas many GPs had reservations. The authors concluded that sending the letters improved parents' satisfaction with communication, and they recommend that paediatricians consider adopting this practice.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Health professionals and South Africa: supporting change in the health sector.

Now that political change is on the way in South Africa, what should be the position of doctors who are invited to visit the country? Does the "academic boycott" still have relevance? Waterston and Zwi review the case for and against an academic boycott policy, using evidence collected during the recent visit by Physicians for Human Rights (UK) and the Johannes Wier Foundation. The health system in South Africa is still inequitable, and despite progress towards desegregation in hospitals there is little momentum towards universal provision of primary health care, especially in the rapidly growing townships around big cities. The authors consider that pressure on the government should be maintained by outside organisations but that support directed towards appropriate health care should be encouraged, particularly in public health and primary health care.

Attitude↗
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↗