Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Definitions The WHO-sponsored ‘Global initiative for chronic obstructive lung disease’ (http://www.goldcopd.com) defines COPD as ‘a preventable and treatable disease with some significant extrapulmonary effects that…
Peripheral Blood Film Features (Fig. 20.1) reticulocytes (active marrow) – haemolysis or chronic blood loss anisocytes (variation in red cell size) or poikilocytes (variation in red cell shape) – iron…
Introduction Diagnostic accuracy when assessing patients with cardiovascular disease relies heavily on the medical history. Many patients with ischaemic heart disease have few or no physical signs and a characteristic…
Key Features of Assessment Tools Reliability: reflects the reproducibility of the assessment tool and the accuracy with which a score is being measured. It is higher in written assessments such…
Examination of the Abdomen General observation: note is the patient in pain? evidence of weight loss Inspect tongue, mouth, teeth and throat limbs for evidence of IV drug use Examine…
Acute Hepatitis This refers to inflammation of the liver with little or no fibrosis and little or no nodular regeneration. There may be minor distortion of lobular architecture. If there…
