Once-daily omeprazole/sodium bicarbonate heals severe refractory reflux esophagitis with morning or nighttime dosing.

Background: Morning dose or twice-daily proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use is often prescribed to heal severe reflux esophagitis.

Aim: Compare the effect of single dose morning (control arm) versus nighttime (experimental arm) omeprazole/sodium bicarbonate (Zegerid(®)) (IR-OME) on esophagitis and gastroesophageal reflux symptoms.

Methods: Adult outpatients with Los Angeles grade C or D esophagitis were allocated to open-label 40 mg IR-OME once a day for 8 weeks in a prospective, randomized, parallel design, single center study.

Validity of overall self-rated health as an outcome measure in small samples: a pilot study involving a case series.

Objective: A single-item measure of overall self-rated health (SRH) commonly is used in population surveys, but has not been used in small pilot projects. The purpose of this study was to assess the validity of SRH in small samples.

Design: We used data from a prospective, observational weight-loss project to compare change in SRH with change in body weight and physical activity (PA) (minutes) over 30 days (n = 34).

Provider satisfaction with virtual specialist consultations in a family medicine department.

Virtual consultations (VCs) are being ordered by primary care physicians in 1 large multispecialty clinic, replacing face-to-face visits with specialists. Virtual consultations involve electronic communication between physicians, including exchanging medical information. The purpose of this study was to assess provider satisfaction with VCs via e-mail survey.

Obesity and symptom burden in family medicine patients.

Background: Medical visits are initiated by patients in search of symptom relief. The extent to which obesity independently increases the risk of common symptoms is unknown.

Objectives: To assess how obesity affects symptom burden among family medicine patients, after adjustment for severity of illness, via retrospective analysis of electronic medical records pertaining to 1738 adult family medicine patients treated in a large family medicine department in Rochester, Minnesota, USA.

Overall self-rated health: a new quality indicator for primary care.

Rationale, Aims And Objectives: Patient 'empowerment' gives patients choices about their own care and about the outcomes they would most prefer. Many patients can be presumed to regard overall self-rated health as an important outcome. Therefore, overall self-rated health can be considered a relevant and important outcome measure for a patient-centred medical clinic.

Accuracy of rapid strep testing in patients who have had recent streptococcal pharyngitis.

Background: Some clinicians have questioned the accuracy of rapid diagnosis of group A streptococcal pharyngitis by commercial immunochemical antigen test kits in the setting of recent streptococcal pharyngitis, believing that the false-positive rate was increased because of presumed antigen persistence.

Methods: We studied 443 patients--211 cases--who had clinical pharyngitis diagnosed as group A beta-hemolytic streptococcus infection in the past 28 days and compared them with 232 control patients who had symptoms of pharyngitis but no recent diagnosis of streptococcal pharyngitis. Our aim was narrowly focused to compare the rapid strep test with the culture method we used in our clinical practice.