Cultural Awareness: Nursing Care of Iraqi Patients.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to describe the cultural factors that have an impact on military nursing care for Iraqi patients. The results were part of a larger study in which the purpose was to understand nurses' experiences of delivery of care for Iraqi patients.

Method: Three focus groups, consisting of military registered nurses and licensed practical nurses, were used to generate rich descriptions of experiences in a military combat support hospital in Iraq.

Left ventricular myocardial injury and syncope due to pulmonary embolism in a soldier: normal coronaries and novel pathologic electrocardiogram signs.

Objective: We present a soldier with a pulmonary embolism presenting with syncope during an ischemic stress test, subsequently found to have normal coronary arteries (CA).

Case: A 49-year-old soldier had 3 months history of exertional chest pain, shortness of breath, syncope, and malaise. He passed out during a stress echocardiogram and had a positive troponin level.

Presentation, diagnoses, mechanisms of injury, and treatment of soldiers injured in Operation Iraqi Freedom: an epidemiological study conducted at two military pain management centers.

Unlabelled: In recent military conflicts the major source of soldier attrition has not been battle injuries but more mundane causes similar to those encountered in civilian life. In an effort to determine the pain conditions affecting soldiers during wartime, we conducted an observational study among 162 soldiers medically evacuated from Operation Iraqi Freedom who were referred to 2 large pain treatment centers located outside the theaters of combat. Fifty-three percent of soldiers presented with either radicular (n = 49) or axial (n = 37) low back pain, with lumbar herniated disk being the most frequently diagnosed condition (24%).

The intravenous ketamine test: a predictive response tool for oral dextromethorphan treatment in neuropathic pain.

IV infusion tests performed to predict subsequent response to oral analgesics are an increasingly popular method used to enhance medical care and conserve resources. Because no infusion test is completely accurate, the potential benefits of these tests must be weighed against the frustration and waste in resources encountered with false-positive results, and the failure to use a potentially beneficial treatment with false-negative results. In recent years, drugs that act antagonistically at N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors have been shown to be valuable adjuncts in the treatment of pain.