"Do not resuscitate" (DNR) decisions were examined in a medical intensive care unit (MICU) of a 1,000-bed hospital. Seventy-one (14%) of 506 study patients were designated DNR; nine survived hospitalization. Severity of illness, age, and prior health…
This article identifies and lists the problems of children with complex medical conditions and/or complex home health case needs. Five categories of seriously chronically ill children are identified and programs to meet their needs discussed. The…
As the hospice movement comes of age, it must be as accountable for the quality of its services as other health care delivery systems. To this end, the Hospice Program of the Butler County (Pennsylvania) Visiting Nurses Association has begun a more…
Ongoing interest in the improvement of pain management with opioid analgesics had led to the investigation of sublingual opioid absorption. The present report determined the percent absorption of selected opioid analgesics from the oral cavity of…
A 1-year birth cohort from northern Finland comprised 12,058 children, 96% of all live-born infants born in the region in 1966. The development and morbidity of these children were followed up to the age of 14 years. Altogether, 40 children (25 boys…
Results of a longitudinal study of the effects of bereaved parents' participation in a self-help group and in psychotherapy are presented. Active self-help group participants evidenced unique changes in attitudes about bereavement. Reasons for lack…
An increasing body of research suggests that the death of a child results in a unique form of bereavement for surviving parents. A study reviewed research findings on parental bereavement, including those from the author's ongoing longitudinal study.…
This report describes 7 patients, aged 30 to 43 years, suffering from a mild variant of Sanfilippo B-disease. Somatic findings in these patients are unremarkable. Dementia and behavioral disturbances occurred late in the course of the disease. All 7…
An 8-yr-old girl with cerebral palsy who was chronically malnourished presented with functional duodenal obstruction (superior mesenteric artery or cast syndrome) proven by barium meal. Six months of feeding through a fluoroscopically positioned…
The purposes of this study were to replicate a recent report of the positive effects of hand splinting on the stereotypic hand movement of children with Rett syndrome and to evaluate the generality of these results to a different setting. Two…
Surveyed 32 people (average age 63 yrs) whose homes were damaged or destroyed by a fire immediately after the fire and 1 yr later, to examine the prediction that finding positive meaning in that traumatic event would be associated with better coping…
A retrospective study was undertaken of 25 families and their 26 ill children attending the first children's hospice in the United Kingdom. The study examined the family's perceptions of the care offered and the impact of chronic and life threatening…
Much of the discussion since the Arthur case has centred round the rights of handicapped infants to medical treatment. Little has centred round the question of how far one person can rightly be required to sacrifice her life for another, when she has…
Plasma beta-endorphin, cortisol and total opioid-like activities were measured upon arrival at the hospital in ten patients with extensive trauma and in a state of shock and 11 patients with minor injury. Patients in a state of shock had…
Twenty-one patients with the diagnosis of mucopolysaccharidosis or mucolipidosis and a history of respiratory complaints or thorough respiratory evaluation were studied retrospectively. Anatomic factors affecting respiratory status included: (i)…
A chart review was conducted of the records of 90 children and 90 adults, randomly selected and matched for sex and diagnosis, to investigate analgesic usage. Four diagnostic categories (hernias, appendectomies, burns, and fractured femurs) at two…
What are social work's unique roles and functions in behalf of patients and their families in hospice care? The question is answered in the first phase of a Joint Research Project of social work faculty, hospice social workers and graduate social…
When an infant dies at the height of the mother-child attachment period, the experience is traumatic and shattering for the mother. Examining successful resolution of this loss requires a distinction between adjustment to the external reality of loss…
Contrasting predictors of depression among 101 men and 214 women providing care to spouses suffering from Alzheimer's Disease indicated that the sole predictor for husbands was ill health, whereas for wives less emotional investment was also…
The Pediatric Risk of Mortality (PRISM) score was developed from the Physiologic Stability Index (PSI) to reduce the number of physiologic variables required for pediatric ICU (PICU) mortality risk assessment and to obtain an objective weighting of…
We describe a male infant of Austrian ancestry, the main clinical features including attacks of dyspnea due to laryngomalacia, severe mental and motor retardation, pronounced splenohepatomegaly and vacuolisation of peripheral lymphocytes. The…
In spite of the many possible methods of pain control in the burned child satisfactory pain management may still be a problem, at times formidable. The most fruitful approach would seem to be frequent assessment of pain in the individual patient with…
This paper reviews some of the recent empirical studies validating the Circumplex Model and describes the newly developed self-report measure, FACES III. Studies testing hypotheses derived from the Circumplex Model regarding the three dimensions of…
Although most clinicians agree that patients should be informed about treatment alternatives, little is known about the way patients perceive probabilistic information about treatment outcomes and how it influences the choices they make. The purpose…
The purpose of this multiple baseline study was to examine the effect of bilateral hand splints on the persistent stereotypic hand movements of three adolescent girls with Rett syndrome. Among the most characteristic features of Rett syndrome are…
