Evaluation of a new pediatric intraosseous needle insertion device for low-resource settings.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The Near Needle Holder (NNH) (Near Manufacturing, Camrose, Alberta, Canada) is a reusable tool to introduce a standard hollow needle for pediatric intraosseous (IO) infusion. We compared the NNH to the Cook Dieckmann (Cook Critical Care, Bloomington, IN) manual IO needle in a simulation setting. METHODS: Study subjects were 32 physicians, nurses, and medical students participating in a trauma course in Guyana. After watching a training video and practicing under supervision, subjects were observed inserting each device into a pediatric leg model using a randomized crossover design. Outcome measures were time to successful insertion, technical complications, ease of use, and safety of each device. RESULTS: The mean time for IO insertion (32 ± 13 seconds) was similar for both devices (P = .92). Subjects rated the NNH device equivalent in ease of use to the Cook IO needle but slightly lower in perceived safety to the user. CONCLUSIONS: After training, all subjects successfully inserted the NNH IO device in a simulation environment, and most rated it as easy to use and safe. The NNH is a significant advance because IO needles are often not available in emergency departments in developing countries. Further studies are needed to evaluate clinical effectiveness of the NNH.

Setting priorities for teaching and learning: an innovative needs assessment for a new family medicine program in Lao PDR.

Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) is a small, tropical, landlocked country in southeast Asia. It is one of the least developed countries in the region, and its socioeconomic indicators are among the lowest 25% in the world. The World Health Organization has long called for increased equity in primary health care access around the world. To meet this need in Lao PDR, the Family Medicine Specialist Program was developed, a Lao-generated postgraduate training program designed to produce community-oriented primary care practitioners to serve the rural, remote areas of Lao PDR, where 80% of the population lives. An innovative method of needs assessment was required to determine the health care priorities to be met by this new program. Through the use of a modified Delphi technique, local key leaders in medical education, clinical specialists, and teachers were consulted to develop prioritized objectives for the hospital-based curriculum of the program. By setting priorities for teaching and learning in the unique and needy circumstances of Lao PDR, a novel approach to curriculum planning in a low-income country was explored and ultimately formed the foundation of the new curriculum. This process served to direct the allocation of scarce resources during implementation of this groundbreaking program. More importantly, this model of needs assessment could potentially be used to customize medical curricula in other low-income countries facing challenges similar to those in Lao PDR.

Review of a Canadian forum on international surgery: the Bethune Round Table.

The Bethune Round Table is an annual conference on international surgery that is unique in North America. Hosted by the Office of International Surgery at the University of Toronto, the conference provides a forum for profiling the global realities of surgical need, particularly as they relate to vulnerable and disadvantaged people of low-income countries. The 2004 Bethune Round Table, drawing on input from 4 continents, highlighted "emerging directions". Presentations and discussions focused on the themes of current surgical realities, the implications for surgical education, the role of specialized surgical services and the function of surgical partnerships.

Intestinal thromboangiitis obliterans in a woman: a case report and discussion of chronic ischemic changes.

Although traditionally regarded as a disease of distal extremities, mesenteric vasculature can also manifest thromboangiitis obliterans (TAO). There are 31 cases of intestinal TAO in the English literature and the majority of subjects are male. However, cases of women with TAO are becoming more common, coinciding with an increased incidence of smoking in this sex. We describe the sixth case of a female patient with classic extremity manifestations paralleled by paroxysms of abdominal angina. Intestinal TAO can mimic extremity disease of smoldering chronic ischemia punctuated by unpredictable acute episodes of gangrene. In the present case, chronic ischemia manifested as partial bowel obstruction due to stricture deformity of the ileum and profound adipocyte atrophy of mesentery.