Characteristics and outcomes of malpractice claims after tonsillectomy.

Objective: To characterize the background and outcomes of tonsillectomy malpractice claims.

Methods: Review of 69 New York State insurance claims (Part I) and 87 national court trials (Part II) alleging injury after tonsillectomy.

Results: Part I.

Malpractice litigation after surgical injury of the spinal accessory nerve: an evidence-based analysis.

Objective: To review the background, case characteristics, and outcomes of malpractice litigation resulting from surgical injury of the spinal accessory nerve.

Design: Retrospective review of indemnity insurance cases (part 1) and court trials (part 2) between January 1, 1985, and January 1, 2007. In part 1, records of the Medical Liability Mutual Insurance Company identified 41 lawsuits in New York State; part 2 was a review of a national legal database (WestLaw) that identified 81 court trials.

Computerized smoking cessation program for the worksite: treatment outcome and feasibility.

This study demonstrated the effectiveness of a computer-delivered smoking cessation program for the worksite. 58 VA Medical Center employees were randomly assigned to a computer group (computerized nicotine fading and stop-smoking contest) or a contest-only group. In comparison with the contest-only group, the computer group had nonsignificantly higher abstinence rates across follow-up, had marginally lower CO levels at the 3- and 6-month follow-ups, and smoked cigarettes with lower nicotine levels at the 10-day and 6-month follow-ups.

Self-efficacy and relapse among inpatient drug and alcohol abusers: a predictor of outcome.

Monthly intreatment ratings of self-efficacy to avoid drug and alcohol abuse were examined among 419 substance abuse inpatients of a residential treatment community. Posttreatment interviews were conducted with 81 patients approximately 6 months following discharge to assess the relationship between self-efficacy and relapse. As expected, self-efficacy increased during treatment and was higher among abstainers than relapsers at follow-up.

Tobacco smoking: a comparison between alcohol and drug abuse inpatients.

This study compared the tobacco smoking of alcohol and drug abuse patients. The subjects were male inpatients (67 alcohol, 60 drug, and 13 mixed alcohol and drug abusers) of a Veterans Administration substance abuse program who had completed the Tolerance Questionnaire (Fagerstrom, 1978) and the Michigan Alcohol Screening Test (Skinner, 1979) as part of routine intake assessment procedures. As expected, an extremely high percentage (89.

Understanding and similarity in relation to marital satisfaction.

This investigation assessed the relation of understanding and similarity of spouses to marital satisfaction by use of the MMPI. The satisfactorily married couples predicted significantly more of their spouses' responses than did the unsatisfactorily married couples. This significantly greater accuracy of prediction was not enhanced by the significantly greater similarity exhibited by the satisfactorily married couples.