| 1. |
- Balch, Graeme, et al.
(författare)
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Oral corticosteroids for painful acute otitis externa (swimmer's ear): A triple-blind randomised controlled trial.
- 2019
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Ingår i: Australian journal of general practice. - 2208-7958. ; 48:8, s. 565-572
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Acute otitis externa is often painful. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of 10 mg oral prednisolone twice daily for four days in addition to conventional therapy.Patients attending general practice clinics in Far North Queensland, Australia, for acute painful otitis externa were given a study capsule with either 10 mg prednisone or placebo.Seventy-three patients were randomised. Results from 19 patients in the intervention group and 11 patients in the control group were analysed. Oral corticosteroids did not decrease the time to being completely pain-free but decreased the time for pain to reduce from more than 'moderate pain' to less than 'moderate pain', from 3.7 days to 2.4 days (P= 0.012, log rank test).Oral corticosteroids seem to be effective in reducing more than 'moderate pain' to less than 'moderate pain'. However, this result needs to be confirmed in a larger trial.
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| 2. |
- Gunnarsson, Ronny K, 1955, et al.
(författare)
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Effect of promoting current local research activities on large monitors on the population's interest in health-related research: a randomised controlled trial.
- 2019
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Ingår i: BMJ open. - : BMJ. - 2044-6055. ; 9:8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The objectives of this study were threefold: to estimate people's interest in health-related research, to understand to what extent people appreciate being actively informed about current local health-related research and to investigate whether their interest can be influenced by advertising local current health-related research using large TV monitors.Randomised controlled trial using a stepped wedge design.The emergency department waiting room at two public hospitals in northern Queensland, Australia.Waiting patients and their accompanying friends and relatives in the emergency department waiting room not requiring immediate medical attention.A TV monitor advertising local current health-related research.OR for the effect of intervention on changing the interest in health-related research compared with a control group while adjusting for gender, age and socioeconomic standard.The intervention significantly increased the short-term interest in health-related research with an OR of 1.3 (1.1-1.7, p=0.0063). We also noted that being female and being older was correlated to a higher interest in health-related research CONCLUSIONS: This study found that proactive information significantly increased the general populations' interest in health-related research. There are reasonable set up costs involved but the costs for maintaining the system were very low. Hence, it seems reasonable that research-active organisations should give much higher priority to this type of activity.ACTRN12617001085369.
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| 3. |
- Gunnarsson, Ronny K, 1955, et al.
(författare)
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Improving antibiotics targeting using PCR point-of-care testing for group A streptococci in patients with uncomplicated acute sore throat
- 2021
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Ingår i: Australian Journal of General Practice. - 2208-794X .- 2208-7958. ; 50:1-2, s. 76-83
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background and objective Evidence supports some beneficial effects of antibiotics prescribed to patients with a sore throat and proven presence of group A streptococci (GAS). Methods A total of 283 patients were included from North and North-West Queensland, Australia, at their first presentation for uncomplicated acute sore throat. Patterns of antibiotic prescribing were explored before and after testing for GAS using a rapid point-of-care polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. Results The results of the study showed the Australian Therapeutic Guidelines were often not adhered to. The PCR test reduced the proportion of patients prescribed antibiotics from 46% to 40%. The decision to prescribe antibiotics was changed in 30% of patients (P <0.001): before testing only 40% of patients prescribed antibiotics had a positive GAS PCR while this increased to 97% after testing. Discussion An easy-to-use point-of-care test to detect GAS allows better targeting of antibiotic prescribing in patients with an uncomplicated acute sore throat.
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| 4. |
- Paw, Ekta, et al.
(författare)
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Effectiveness of fibrin glue in skin graft survival: A systematic review and meta-analysis
- 2020
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Ingår i: Annals of Medicine and Surgery. - : Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health). - 2049-0801. ; 56, s. 48-55
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- © 2020 Background: The objective of this study is to assess the current literature on the effectiveness of fibrin glue on survival of skin grafts. Fibrin glue is a possible alternative to secure skin grafts instead of traditional methods (i.e. sutures or staples). Methods: Data Sources: MEDLINE, Scopus, Embase, Informit, CINAHL and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, no limit on the earliest date of publication. Study eligibility criteria: Randomised, non-randomised controlled trials and cohort studies. Participants: and Interventions: Participants were patients with skin grafting/skin transplantation. The intervention was fibrin glue in any form (bovine, human pooled plasma or autologous) and comparator any form of affixing skin grafts (e.g. sutures or staples). Study Appraisal and Synthesis Methods: Studies were appraised using the Cochrane risk of bias tool and assessed for clinical heterogeneity. Effect sizes were calculated and illustrated with forest plots. Results: 190 publications were narrowed to 15 relevant publications, of which eight were pooled in meta-analysis. The outcomes examined were: graft survival by percentage; graft survival reported as events; post-operative incidence of haematoma or seroma; pain reported after dressing changes via a visual analogue scale; length of stay in days (Glass's delta 2 was 0.48 95% CI 0.09, 0.97); and surgical time in minutes. Only length of stay showed a difference between groups and it favoured fibrin glue. Conclusions: While there may be benefits to the use of fibrin glue in skin graft patients, it is difficult to conclude this from the current evidence. Limitations were significant heterogeneity in outcomes measured and exclusion off non-English papers.
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