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Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are frequently encountered in clinical medicine. According to the Centers for Disease Control, approximately 2.8 million infections with Chlamydia trachomatis1 and 700,000 infections with Neisseria gonorrhea2 occur annually in the United States. Viral sexually transmitted diseases are frequently incurable, so prevalence data are a better measure of the overall burden of disease.
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A patient handover, or handoff, in health care can be defined as the transfer of information, professional responsibility, and accountability between individuals and teams. Handoffs represent a time of particular patient vulnerability to complications and medical errors, and with the current focus on safety an increasing amount of attention has been devoted to characterizing and improving them.
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Great strides have been made over the last couple of decades in the management of acute myocardial infarction (AMI), and widespread implementation of such interventions as aspirin, beta-blockers, and prompt reperfusion therapy has contributed to substantially reduced mortality from this leading killer.
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Investigators representing three professional societies carried out a point-prevalence assessment of the use of systemic antifungal therapy (SAT) in patients in ICUs in France and Belgium on December 8, 2008.
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Investigators at the University of Iowa hospital collected culture samples from vinyl privacy curtains at 30 inpatient locations, half of them in the medical and surgical ICUs. Curtains at each location were sampled twice weekly.
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This study was conducted to evaluate the impact of a formal audit and feedback program targeted at broad-spectrum antibiotic use in critically ill patients.
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In this issue: Drug shortages; metformin and cancer prevention; migraine prevention guidelines; and FDA actions.