Starson v. Swayze: the Supreme Court speaks out (not all that clearly) on the question of "capacity".

Objectives: The decision in Starson v. Swayze interpreting the "understanding" requirement for capacity in the Ontario Health Care Consent Act (HCCA) provoked concern and criticism from psychiatric quarters. This article seeks to explain the decision and its implications for Ontario and other provinces.

Detection of ureaplasma DNA in endotracheal samples is associated with bronchopulmonary dysplasia after adjustment for multiple risk factors.

Microorganisms are hypothesized to contribute to the pathogenesis of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants. This hypothesis remains controversial. We sought to determine whether endotracheal colonization with Ureaplasma sp.

PCR methods in clinical investigations of human ureaplasmas: a minireview.

Human ureaplasmas are small, cell-wall-deficient organisms that are implicated in many human infections. Due to their small size and fastidious growth requirements, ureaplasmal infections are hard to diagnose clinically, and ureaplasmal disease is difficult to study in clinical samples. Standard culture methods for ureaplasmas are technically challenging, and 3 to 5 days are required to identify this pathogen.

Implementing potentially better practices to improve neonatal outcomes after reducing postnatal dexamethasone use in infants born between 501 and 1250 grams.

Objective: The purpose of this article is to describe how a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) was able to reduce substantially the use of postnatal dexamethasone in infants born between 501 and 1250 g while at the same time implementing a group of potentially better practices (PBPs) in an attempt to decrease the incidence and severity of chronic lung disease (CLD).

Methods: This study was both a retrospective chart review and an ongoing multicenter evidence-based investigation associated with the Vermont Oxford Network Neonatal Intensive Care Quality Improvement Collaborative (NIC/Q 2000). The NICU specifically made the reduction of CLD and dexamethasone use a priority and thus formulated a list of PBPs that could improve clinical outcomes across 3 time periods: era 1, standard NICU care that antedated the quality improvement project; era 2, gradual implementation of the PBPs; and era 3, full implementation of the PBPs.