Impact of teaching interventions on nurse compliance with hand disinfection.

The impact of teaching interventions and the availability of additional dispensers for alcoholic hand disinfection was measured during three study periods. A nursing care system of relevant nursing interventions was found to be a useful tool for the assessment of compliance with hand hygiene requirements if combined with an analysis of hand disinfectant use. This study shows that compliance with hand disinfection can be improved through targeted teaching and supportive structural improvements, and that this positive impact may persist even after targeted teaching activities have ended.

[Sudden coma in a 20-year-old man].

A 20-year-old male patient was brought to the emergency department by Emergency Medical Services after having been found unconscious. Upon arrival the patient was comatose with a GCS of 3, his vital signs were stable (with blood pressure 100/54 mmHg, heart rate 48 per minute, respiration rate 12 per minute and oxygen saturation 98% on room air). Both pupils were 3 mm, symmetric, and only minimally responsive.

[Logistics of antidotes in Switzerland].

Antidotal compounds are principally classified into three groups. The most important compounds are available in all hospitals and pharmacies. They guarantee the basic supply of antidotes in all part of Switzerland.

[The effect of food intake on drug action].

Interactions between medicaments and food are only incompletely documented--despite their frequent occurrence. Food can influence the effect of medicaments in a variety of ways: the effect of the medicament can be delayed or weakened; in some cases the effect may also be increased. The interactions between the kinetics of medicaments and food are described in the present survey.

Effect of fish oil on blood pressure and serum lipids in hypertension and hyperlipidaemia.

We studied the antihypertensive and hypolipidaemic effects of fish oil containing eico-sapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid in a capsule preparation in patients with mild to moderate essential hypertension and in patients with hypercholesterolaemia. In addition, we used two independent procedures to analyse changes in blood pressure, casual and self-recorded blood pressure measurements. A very moderate blood pressure lowering effect of fish oil was confirmed in this study, and a slight antihyperlipidaemic effect in plasma triglycerides was demonstrated.

Antibody determination in an ongoing hepatitis B vaccination program.

In an interim analysis of our ongoing immunization program against hepatitis B (HB), started in early 1982, we tested 283 serum samples from 77 female and 110 male vaccinees for antibody to HB surface antigen (anti-HBs). We compared two methods, Anti-HBs EIA (ROCHE) (method 1), which is a neutralization test, and AUSABR EIA (method 2), which is a double-antigen-sandwich test. The nonresponder rate (after the 12-month booster dose of Hevac B Pasteur) was 4% in females with both methods, in males 15% measured with method 1 and 11% measured with method 2.