Teaching patients about telemetry.

For patients on telemetry monitoring, knowledge is power--and comfort. This article describes how two nurses developed informational materials to help busy nurses give patients the information they need to set their minds at rest about telemetry.

Balloon endometrial ablation as a safe alternative to hysterectomy.

Each year, 600,000 hysterectomies are performed in the United States, costing an estimated $4 billion. Approximately 50% of these hysterectomies are performed for menorrhagia or abnormal uterine bleeding. Menorrhagia can have a negative impact on a woman's lifestyle and self-perception, often leading her to seek definitive treatment.

Transdermal estrogen and prevention of osteoporosis.

Transdermal delivery of estrogen is an alternative to the oral route in patients receiving hormone replacement therapy for the prevention of osteoporosis. Both transdermal and oral regimens have been shown to be effective. They can be prescribed as either cyclical or continuous regimens.

Formulation-based treatment of a complex phobia.

This case study describes the treatment of a 22-year-old woman presenting with a complex balloon phobia. She was first treated by the empirically proven method of in vivo exposure and then by a course of behavior therapy based upon the case formulation. Although the exposure resulted in some decrease in phobic symptoms, the formulation-based treatment produced significantly greater clinical improvement in the phobia and also impacted other problem areas.

Impact of endocervical specimen quality on apparent prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis infections diagnosed using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method.

Duplicate endocervical swabs were collected from 1824 patients for detection of Chlamydia trachomatis. Specimen pairs were combined into 400 microL of 0.9% saline solution.

The urine chemistry survey--series 2. 5 years' experience with an interlaboratory comparison program.

We have reviewed 5 years' experience with the College of American Pathologists Urine Chemistry Survey--Series 2. Analytes studied include aldosterone, total free catecholamines, the fractionated catecholamines norepinephrine, epinephrine, and dopamine, total catecholamines, estriol, 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid, 17-ketogenic steroids, 17-ketosteroids, vanillylmandelic acid, cortisol, metanephrines, coproporphyrin, and uroporphyrin. Interlaboratory precision achieved by participants did not reach levels reported by various investigators, but their studies do not reflect actual clinical laboratory conditions.