The patient is a female in her 60s with a remote history of a near-total thyroidectomy in 1997 for multinodular goitre. At the initial operation, she sustained a left recurrent laryngeal nerve injury. A devascularised parathyroid gland was autotransplanted into the right sternocleidomastoid muscle.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFunctional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) are an extremely common set of more than 50 disorders characterized by persistent and recurring gastrointestinal symptoms. Most of these patients can be diagnosed and managed by primary care physicians. Treatment includes patient education and reassurance, eliminating triggers, dietary modification, and pharmacologic management.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Family medicine residency programs vary in the extent of training offered on opioid use disorder (OUD) in their curricula. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of OUD education and buprenorphine waiver provision on postresidency buprenorphine prescribing patterns.
Methods: Three North Carolina family medicine residency programs differed in the extent to which they taught OUD, including buprenorphine waiver provision.
A 61-year-old male patient being treated with intravenous antibiotics for left foot osteomyelitis presented to the hospital septic, with several days of worsening abdominal pain, bloating and watery bowel movements. Investigation revealed that the patient had severe, treatment-resistant colitis. He was initially treated with oral vancomycin and intravenous metronidazole, which was switched to oral fidaxomicin.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Media representation of vaccine side effects impacts the success of immunization programs globally. Exposure to the media can cause individuals to feel hesitant toward, or even refuse, vaccines. This study aimed to explore the impact of the media on beliefs and behaviors regarding vaccines and vaccine side effects in an urban clinic in Vietnam.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntiretroviral therapy (ART) improves the health and well-being of people living with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV, PLWH), and reduces their risk of transmitting the virus to sexual partners. However, patterns of sexual risk behavior among HIV-positive patients taking ART in Vietnam remain largely unknown. In this study, we sought to examine sexual risk behaviors and their associated factors among HIV-positive patients receiving ART in northern Vietnam.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: With the rise in methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) for drug users in Vietnam, there has been growing interest in understanding if and how often MMT patients engage in concurrent illicit drug use while on methadone therapy in various settings. This study examined factors associated with concurrent opioid use among patients on MMT in a mountainous area in Vietnam.
Setting: One urban and one rural MMT clinics in Tuyen Quang province.
This report describes the model of specialty clinics implemented at Stanford University's two student-run free clinics, Arbor Free Clinic and Pacific Free Clinic, in the San Francisco Bay Area. We describe our patient demographic characteristics and the specialty services provided. We discuss challenges in implementing specialty care at student-run free clinics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSubst Abuse Treat Prev Policy
August 2017
Background: Methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) improves patients' ability to access HIV-related services and reduces needle sharing and other risky HIV-related behaviors. However, patients may continue to engage in risky sexual practices. In this study, we evaluate sexual behaviors of MMT patients in a mountainous province in Northern Vietnam.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: A major measure of treatment success for drug users undergoing rehabilitation is the ability to enter the workforce and generate income. This study examines the absenteeism and productivity among people who inject drugs (PWID) enrolled in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) in Northern Vietnam.
Setting: We conducted a cross-sectional study in two clinics in Tuyen Quang province.
Background: Methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) patients face unique costs associated with their healthcare expenditures. As such, it is important that these patients have access to health insurance (HI) to help them pay for both routine and unforeseen health services. In this study, we explored factors related to health insurance enrollment and utilization among MMT patients, to move Vietnam closer to universal coverage among this patient population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The expansion of methadone maintenance treatment in mountainous areas in still limited and little is known about its health impacts on drug users. This study aimed to examine health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and health care access among patients engaging in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) in Tuyen Quang, a mountainous province in Vietnam.
Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey with 241 patients conveniently recruited in two MMT clinics (Son Duong and Tuyen Quang).
Background And Objectives: The patient-centered care model for health care delivery encourages medical providers to respect patients' preferences and give patients more autonomy over their health care decisions. This approach has gained importance within US medical school curricula. Yet, little is known about student perspectives on both patient-centered care and the benefits and challenges that lie therein.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGrandparent caregivers are vital to the survival of grandchildren who are orphaned and who have been affected by HIV/AIDS. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand the meaning of HIV as a disease among grandparents raising grandchildren orphaned by HIV/AIDS in northern Vietnam and to gain insight into how this understanding affected grandparents' relationships and health-seeking decisions. Results indicated that grandparents had knowledge deficits about the biomedical aspects of the disease and often hid their grandchildren's HIV status or preferred not to seek testing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: The HIV pandemic disproportionately impacts young women. Worldwide, young women aged 15-24 are infected with HIV at rates twice that of young men, and young women alone account for nearly a quarter of all new HIV infections. The incommensurate HIV incidence in young - often poor - women underscores how social and economic inequalities shape the HIV epidemic.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis article brings together two American qualitative researchers and two Vietnamese interpreters who investigated the social impacts of HIV/AIDS in Vietnam from the standpoint of the local community. As cultural outsiders with limited Vietnamese language skills, the researchers relied on the insights and expertise of the interpreters to the extent that interpreter roles expanded to become co-researchers. We explain the guidelines we used to work in partnership in the field.
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