Clinical inquiries. How should you treat trochanteric bursitis?

Conservative measures--followed by corticosteroid injection, if necessary--are best. Conservative therapy includes rest, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and stretching exercises focused on the lower back and sacroiliac joints. Patients whose symptoms persist despite conservative therapy are likely to benefit from an injection of 24 mg betamethasone and 1% lidocaine (or equivalent) into the inflamed bursa.

Approach to leg edema of unclear etiology.

A common challenge for primary care physicians is to determine the cause and find an effective treatment for leg edema of unclear etiology. We were unable to find existing practice guidelines that address this problem in a comprehensive manner. This article provides clinically oriented recommendations for the management of leg edema in adults.

Answering physicians' clinical questions: obstacles and potential solutions.

Objective: To identify the most frequent obstacles preventing physicians from answering their patient-care questions and the most requested improvements to clinical information resources.

Design: Qualitative analysis of questions asked by 48 randomly selected generalist physicians during ambulatory care.

Measurements: Frequency of reported obstacles to answering patient-care questions and recommendations from physicians for improving clinical information resources.

Blood cultures not helpful for community-acquired pneumonia.

Blood cultures rarely contribute to the management of uncomplicated community-acquired pneumonia. A positive blood culture has no relation to the severity of the illness or to patient outcomes. Physicians should order blood cultures only for those patients with severe illness and for those in whom initial therapy fails.

Obstacles to answering doctors' questions about patient care with evidence: qualitative study.

Objective: To describe the obstacles encountered when attempting to answer doctors' questions with evidence.

Design: Qualitative study.

Setting: General practices in Iowa.