The pediatric medical-psychiatric unit in a psychiatric hospital.

Interest in the development of pediatric medical-psychiatric units continues to grow, driven by clinical, financial, and interdisciplinary considerations. While virtually all of the pediatric medical-psychiatric units reported in the literature to date have arisen in the pediatric setting, there are considerations that may encourage the development of such programs in the psychiatric setting. The authors report on the development and characteristics of a pediatric medical-psychiatric specialty inpatient unit developed in a psychiatric hospital.

Name that tone. The proliferation of alarms in the intensive care unit.

The proliferation of alarms on equipment in ICUs contributes to a level of noise that can disturb both patient and staff. To determine whether these alarms are identifiable by sound alone to our ICU staff, we recorded 33 audio signals commonly heard on the ward, 10 of which we defined as critical alarms. One hundred subjects (25 physicians, 41 nurses, and 34 respiratory therapists) listened individually in a quiet room to the tape recording that consisted of 10 s of audible followed by a 10-s pause for a written response.

An adolescent psychiatric unit for difficult medical patients.

While the combined psychiatric and medical treatment of patients is highly desirable, such treatment of more complex medical patients in a psychiatric milieu has been difficult to accomplish. This paper describes the creation of and experience with a psychiatric unit for adolescents with both difficult medical and psychiatric problems. Useful aspects of the structure of such a unit are discussed, and case examples are presented.

Acute ultrastructural changes of cornea after excimer laser ablation.

Corneal ultrastructural changes induced by an argon fluoride excimer laser using different parameters were investigated. Twenty-eight rabbit corneas were ablated at light doses per pulse and repetition rates ranging from 25-800 mJ/cm2 and 1-100 Hz, respectively, at four different total light doses (25-150 J/cm2). Transmission electron microscopy showed that corneal ablations done at subthreshold light doses per pulse with repetition rates higher than 30 Hz and with an exposure more than 100 sec caused significant surface coagulation and an increase in pseudomembrane thickness.

Malignant spinal cord tumors: a review and case presentation.

Since malignant spinal cord tumors constitute such a small percentage of spinal cord lesions, nurses may be unaware of the challenging needs of this group of patients. Often young and previously healthy, these people face a rapidly progressive and dismal disease course. Presentation and complaints are related to the location and growth rate of the tumor.