Rehabilitation resident academic productivity. Report on 1993 graduates.

A survey was designed to explore the relationship among elective time (ET), residency research requirement (RR), mandatory research rotation (MR), and academic productivity for the 1993 graduating residency class. Sixty-seven of the 75 rehabilitation residency program directors listed in the 1993 Directory of Graduate Medical Education Programs responded (89% response rate). Data from 60 programs, representing 283 graduating residents, were analyzed (80% usable response rate). A resident was operationally defined as "active" if that individual submitted either articles (SART) for publication or abstracts (SABS) for oral/poster presentation during the training years; residents with accepted articles (AART) and/or abstracts (AABS) were defined as "productive." Odds ratios and chi 2 statistics were calculated for each study risk variable (ET, RR, MR) and the corresponding outcome variables (SART, SABS, AART, AABS). One hundred and fifty-nine residents (56%) submitted abstracts; 86 (30%) submitted articles; of these residents, 134 (47%) and 54 (19%) had their work accepted, respectively. Research was required by 26/60 (43%) programs. Research elective time was available in 41/60 (68%) programs; only 44/203 (22%) residents used this time for research. Residents who had research required had a 1.9 times greater likelihood of submitting both abstracts (P < 0.008) and articles (P < 0.014). No other study relationship was found to be significant. The study results suggest that implementing a research requirement in the residency training curriculum may lead to an increase in resident research activity.

Assessment of risk factors for pneumonia in dysphagic children: significance of videofluoroscopic swallowing evaluation.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between aspiration, as identified by videofluoroscopic swallowing (VFS) study, and pneumonia in children with suspected dysphagia. Data were retrospectively collected and analysed from 142 children referred for VFS over a one-year period. The median age was 33 months. Aspiration was identified in 44 per cent of the children studied. A history of pneumonia within one year of the VFS was found in 35 per cent. Aspiration, gastro-oesophageal reflux, and age one year or less were significant risk factors for pneumonia. Children with traumatic brain-injury were at less risk for pneumonia than all other children with suspected dysphagia. These results lend objective support to the previously suspected relationship between aspiration and pneumonia in this patient population.

Reliability determination of F mean response latency.

Two hundred consecutive ulnar F wave latencies were evaluated in 30 healthy controls (C) and in 9 patients with mild neuropathy (N). The primary study objective was to determine the F wave sample size required to obtain a reliable F mean latency. A secondary objective was to explore the diagnostic utility of three F wave parameters: the minimal F wave latency (Fmin), the average F wave latency (Fmean), and the minimal-maximal F wave latency difference (Frange). For the control group, the Fmean reliability estimates as measured by intraclass correlation coefficients were 0.87, 0.97, and 0.99 with 1, 5, and 10 responses, respectively; for the N group, the corresponding values were 0.73, 0.93, and 0.96. Fmean was abnormal in 89% of the subjects with mild neuropathy whereas Frange and Fmin were abnormal in 67% and 33%, respectively. The study suggests (1) a reliable F mean latency can be obtained by averaging ten F responses; and (2) Fmean and Frange offers promise in increasing the diagnostic utility of the F response in identifying mild neuropathies.