Aerial measurement of radioxenon concentration off the west coast of Vancouver Island following the Fukushima reactor accident.

In response to the Fukushima nuclear reactor accident, on March 20th, 2011, Natural Resources Canada conducted aerial radiation surveys over water just off the west coast of Vancouver Island. Dose-rate levels were found to be consistent with background radiation, however a clear signal due to (133)Xe was observed. Methods to extract (133)Xe count rates from the measured spectra, and to determine the corresponding (133)Xe activity concentration, were developed. The measurements indicate that (133)Xe concentrations on average lie in the range of 30-70 Bq/m(3).

Of Rain Men and Snowcakes : the Presentation; Pathology; Aetiology and Management of Autistic Spectrum Disorder

Over the past two decades; both the prevalence and our understanding of autism have increased exponentially. Autism encompasses a group of behaviourally defined develop- mental disorders; collectively known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD); which appear to be caused by the impact of environment during early life on genetically induced susceptibility. As paediatricians are consulted first by most parents of children with developmental delay; they should be able to discuss the pathology; aetiology and manage- ment of the disorder. Although much remains to be understood; research over the last 20 years has shown that this disorder is treatable; and that early medical/biomedical and behavioural intervention greatly improves the quality of life and outcomes of children with ASD

Improving outcomes for patients hospitalized with CHF.

Congestive Heart Failure is a costly debilitating medical condition that affects millions of elderly people. This Clinical Practice Improvement study was under taken to determine how variation in patient characteristics and clinical processes impact patient outcomes including length of stay, total charges, and increased severity of illness during hospitalization. The AHCPR Guideline for Heart Failure was used to evaluate clinical care. Data on patient characteristics including severity of illness and process of care were analyzed to determine which variables had the greatest impact on outcomes of care. Results showed that patient characteristics including comorbidities, severity of illness, and noncompliance with diet were significantly related to longer lengths of stay, higher charges, and/or increased severity (all covariates, p < .05). In addition, process of care variables including medication use and patient education significantly (p < .05) impacted outcomes of care. Findings have implications for the development of practice guidelines designed to improve patient outcomes associated with CHF hospitalizations.

The role of aromatherapy in nursing care.

Aromatherapy is the fastest growing of all complementary therapies among nurses in the United States. Although aromatherapy has been used by the public for recreation for thousands of years and by nurses throughout the world during the last 15 years, it is only in the last few years that aromatherapy has become recognized by US State Boards of Nursing as a legitimate part of holistic nursing. Aromatherapy is now set to become one of the most popular tools that nurses can use to enhance their nursing care and simultaneously empower themselves. This article explores the potential role of aromatherapy in nursing, highlights four essential oils, and suggests practical ways that nurses can begin using this gentle therapy.

Use of aromatherapy as a complementary treatment for chronic pain.

Chronic pain consumes approximately $70 billion per year and affects some 80 million Americans. Increasingly, aromatherapy has been used as part of an integrated, multidisciplinary approach to pain management. This therapy is thought to enhance the parasympathetic response through the effects of touch and smell, encouraging relaxation at a deep level. Relaxation has been shown to alter perceptions of pain. Even if one ignores the possibility that essential oils have pharmacologically active ingredients--or the potential pharmacokinetic potentization of conventional drugs by essential oils--aromatherapy might possibly play a role in the management of chronic pain through relaxation. Clinical trials are in the early stages, but evidence suggests that aromatherapy might be used as a complementary therapy for managing chronic pain. As such, this article examines the potential role of clinical aromatherapy as a complementary therapy in the care of patients with chronic pain. Although the use of aromatherapy is not restricted to nursing, at least 1 state board of nursing has recognized the therapeutic value of aromatherapy and voted to accept it as part of holistic nursing care.

Aromatherapy in perianesthesia nursing.

Complementary therapies are being used by nurses across America to enhance patient care. Aroma-therapy is a tool for holistic nursing that appears to enhance pain control and could prove to be a useful addition to peri-anesthesia nursing practice. This report addresses the emergence of non-conventional therapies and examines the potential role for aroma-therapy in peri-anesthesia pain management. Tables provide information about essential oils and application methods.

The status of complementary/alternative medicine in the United Kingdom.

This paper provides an overview of the growth of complementary/alternative medicine in the United Kingdom, its relevance to nurses, the relationship between holism and complementary therapies, and a call for more research.

Aromatherapy.

Jane Buckle presents the results of a randomised, double-blind trial of two essential oils of two different species of lavender, topically applied on post-cardiotomy patients. The emotional and behavioural stress levels of 28 patients were evaluated pre- and post-treatment on two consecutive days. The therapeutic effects of the two lavenders appeared to be different: one was almost twice as effective as the other, thereby disproving the hypothesis that aromatherapy, using topical application of essential oils, is effective purely because of touch, massage or placebo.

Severity of illness and resource use differences among white and black hospitalized elderly.

BACKGROUND: Disparities between races in access to health care services continue to exist. We examined differences in illness severity, charges, and length of stay between white and black hospitalized elderly. METHODS: The study sample was 1184 elderly patients. Data using the Computerized Severity Index were collected for admission, maximum throughout the stay, and discharge. RESULTS: Blacks were admitted significantly more severely ill than whites. At discharge, 96% were severity level 1. At each severity level, blacks had significantly shorter hospitalizations and lower charges. The differences were not explained by disease, surgery, age, sex, hospital, and payer. CONCLUSIONS: Admission severity disparities may exist because of patients' decisions to seek care or provider admitting practices. We need to study whether differences in severity-adjusted resource use are due to underutilization for blacks or overutilization for whites.

Nursing care classification: a conceptual model.

Economic constraints, the information explosion, and advancement of scientific theories have resulted in the need for nurses to document their unique contribution to health care through validation of nursing resources consumed by patients. However, various classification systems have not predicted nursing resources well. This study reviews the theoretical frameworks, reliability, validity, and utility of nursing acuity and severity systems. It proposes a conceptual model for a new nursing classification system to be used for the validation of nursing resources, as the basis of a reimbursement system for nursing services, and for multiple practical and theoretical applications.

The relationship between severity of illness and hospital length of stay and mortality.

To address the question of quantification of severity of illness on a wide scale, the Computerized Severity Index (CSI) was developed by a research team at the Johns Hopkins University. This article describes an initial assessment of some aspects of the validity and reliability of the CSI on a sample of 2,378 patients within 27 high-volume DRGs from five teaching hospitals. The 27 DRGs predicted 27% of the variation in LOS, while DRGs adjusted for Admission CSI scores predicted 38% and DRGs adjusted for Maximum CSI scores throughout the hospital stay predicted 54% of this variation. Thus, the Maximum CSI score increased the predictability of DRGs by 100%. We explored the impact of including a 7-day cutoff criterion along with the Maximum CSI score similar to a criterion used in an alternative severity of illness measure. The DRG/Maximum CSI score's predictive power increased to 63% when the 7-day cutoff was added to the CSI definition. The Admission CSI score was used to predict in-hospital mortality and correlated R = 0.603 with mortality. The reliability of Admission and Maximum CSI data collection was high, with agreement of 95% and kappa statistics of 0.88 and 0.90, respectively.