The home ventilator market has grown in size and complexity. The aim of this study was to determine if common home ventilators are user-friendly for trained intensive care unit (ICU) physicians. Eleven ventilator models were tested by 13 ICU physicians without practical experience in home mechanical ventilation. Six tests were defined (start-up, unlocking, mode and setting recognition, mode cha...

There has been a surge of interest in the role of inflammation in causation of atherosclerosis and acute coronary syndromes. This interest is spurred both by pathological studies showing that ruptured coronary plaques manifest inflammatory characteristics1 and by the demonstration that inflammatory biomarkers in the plasma correlate with risk for acute coronary syndromes.2,3 Among the biomarker...

PURPOSE To identify factors associated with physician performance in a comprehensive competence assessment. METHOD The authors conducted a retrospective analysis of 683 physicians referred for assessment at the Center for Personalized Education for Physicians from 2000 to 2010, who were evaluated as either safe or unsafe to return to practice. Multivariate logistic regression was used to dete...

OBJECTIVE To assess the clinical performance of a representative non-volunteer sample of family physicians in metropolitan Montreal, Que. DESIGN Assessment of clinical performance was based on inspection visits to offices, peer review of medical records, and chart-stimulated recall interviews. The procedure was the one usually followed by the Professional Inspection Committee of the Collège d...

BACKGROUND Assessment of health-related status has been shown to vary between patients and physicians, although the degree of patient-physician discordance in the assessment of the change in status is unknown. METHODS Ninety-nine patients with shoulder dysfunction underwent a standardized physician examination and completed several self-reported questionnaires. All patients were prescribed th...

AIM To determine the criteria considered important by Dutch rheumatologists in judging whether a patient with ankylosing spondylitis should start tumour necrosis factor (TNF) blocking therapy. METHODS 19 Dutch rheumatologists were asked to prioritise various demographic and clinical features for their importance in judging whether a patient should be treated with TNF blocking therapy. In addi...

A decade ago, sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 24% of the global disease burden but was served by only 4% of the global health workforce. The chronic shortage of medical doctors has led other health professionals especially nurses to perform the role of healthcare providers. These health workers have been variously named clinical officers, health officers, physician assistants, nurse practition...