Patient-surrogate agreement of predictors of decision delay among patients with acute myocardial infarction: a questionnaire survey.

Background: Studies that assessed predictors of patient delay to seek healthcare for acute myocardial infarction lack generalization to all patient population as it investigated patients who survived coronary events.

Objectives: To evaluate utility of using surrogates to proxy patients who cannot be interviewed and to examine patients-surrogate agreement.

Design: A cross-sectional descriptive survey study.

Predictors of decision delay to seeking health care among Jordanians with acute myocardial infarction.

Purpose: To identify predictors of decision delay time for health care seeking among Jordanians with acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

Design: The study was a cross-sectional descriptive survey. A convenience sample of Jordanians with AMI were interviewed at the coronary care units of two teaching hospitals in Jordan.

Predictors of pre-hospital delay among patients with acute myocardial infarction.

Objective: To evaluate current literature on predictors of pre-hospital delay among patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

Methods: Medline, CINHAL, and Psych Info databases were searched using keywords: attitude to illness/health, health beliefs, help/health seeking behavior, health behavior, psychosocial factors, treatment delay, socioeconomic factors, time factors, pre-hospital delay, and symptoms. These keywords were combined with AMI to identify literature published during 1995-2008.

The wider scope of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery.

In the past, rudimentary devices were used to look closely into the chest; currently, advanced video technology, computers, and high-tech electronics are being used to perform many surgical procedures that formerly required a large, open incision. The goal of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) is the same as for comparable open procedures, but it is accomplished with less pain, less patient morbidity, and a shorter hospital stay. In addition to evaluating and treating thoracic injuries, VATS has demonstrated effectiveness in detecting and managing many other conditions, such as pleural disease, interstitial lung disease, and thoracic malignancies.