Do attendees at sexual health and HIV clinics prefer to be called in by name or number?

Calling patients in from the waiting area is an important aspect of the initial medical encounter. According to national and international guidelines, clinics should decide on an appropriate way of calling patients in from the waiting room for consultations; however, no preference is actually recommended. A survey was carried out to see if patients were happy to be called in by number, first name, surname, full name, or title (Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms) followed by surname. One hundred unselected patients were drawn from each clinic including; a genito-urinary medicine (GUM), a co-located GUM (cGUM) and co-located reproductive health (cRH), an HIV and a reproductive health (RH) clinic. Patients from the GUM, cGUM, cRH and RH clinics preferred to be called in by number rather than full name or title. Patients from the cRH clinic also preferred number to first name. In contrast, patients from the HIV clinics preferred to be called in by first name rather than number, surname, full name or title. Following this survey it would appear that number would be the most popular method of calling patients in sexual and reproductive health clinics and first name is the choice in HIV clinics.

Nematic-isotropic phase transition in diblock fused-sphere chain fluids.

A density-functional theory for the isotropic-nematic phase transition in fluids of rigid or semiflexible fused hard-sphere chains, developed previously by the authors, is extended to diblock chains each consisting of both a rigid and a flexible part. The theory is compared with recent Monte Carlo simulation results of McBride et al. The theoretical results for the variation of pressure and nematic order parameter with density agree well with the simulation data over density ranges where the simulations find isotropic and nematic phases.

Contraception prior to counselling for termination of pregnancy.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigates the methods of contraception used by women attending for pregnancy counselling at the time of an unintended pregnancy. METHOD: Women attending three pregnancy counselling clinics in Birmingham were asked to fill in a questionnaire which was designed to obtain demographic data and history of women's methods of contraception, prior to attending for termination of pregnancy. RESULTS: The contraceptive methods used most widely by women presenting for termination of pregnancy were the condom (n = 188; 43%) and the oral contraceptive pill (n = 96; 22%). A proportion of women did not use any contraception (n = 117; 27%). Women who had undergone a previous termination of pregnancy (32%) [corrected] had similar contraceptive patterns to those with no history of termination of pregnancy. Women aged 19 and under were less likely to be using contraception (non-users 30/90; 33%) compared with women aged 20 and over (non-users 82/324; 25%), but this difference was not statistically significant. Forty per cent (n = 31) of Afro-Caribbeans did not use any contraception; this was statistically significant when compared with the percentage of Caucasians not using contraception. Only 30% of those eligible had actually presented for post-coital emergency contraception. However, the uptake of emergency contraception was similar in the different age groups. CONCLUSION: Effective contraception is important in the prevention of unwanted pregnancies and, although it will not prevent all conceptions, it will contribute significantly to a reduction in unintended pregnancies. This study indicates that there is a need to consider and be sensitive to the different cultural needs of ethnic groups in the development and presentation of future contraceptives.

"Empty" sella: review of 76 cases.

We reviewed 76 cases of the empty sella syndrome. Headache was the chief complaint in 47 cases (62%), and 45 patients (60%) presented with signs and symptoms related to increased intracranial pressure and/or pituitary dysfunction. The CSF pressure was elevated in 35 of the 62 patients who had lumbar puncture, suggesting that increased intracranial pressure may play an important role in the pathogenesis of "empty" sella.