LO Polishing Flashcards
Define medical error
- Failure to complete intended plan, or wrong plan
- Unintended act
- Deviations from process of care
- Acts of omission or commission that contributes (or may contribute) to unintended consequences
Describe the Swiss Cheese model of error analysis
For an error to propagate through a system, it needs to occur at corresponding points throughout each layer of the system.
What are the four types of abuse?
- Physical
- Sexual
- Psychological
- Neglect
What are inborn errors of immunity (including the exact kind of change(s) that cause them)? What do they predispose to?
- IEI are genetically determined, inborn errors of immunity
- They can be widely heterogeneous, and can have variable clinical phenotype
- They predispose to recurrent/unusual infections, as well as increased risk of malignancy/immune regulation (interesting that these two link together)
How do we record visual acuity readings on the Snellen chart?
- Distance / Lowest Line Read
(Memory trick: lowest line read goes on lowest line [denominator])
What are the three core principles of evidence based medicine?
- Best available Evidence
- Prominent Values of the patient
- Best available Expertise
(EVE -> progenitor of all healing)
Outline the 5-step “AAAAE” framework of evidence based medicine
- Ask (what’s the question)
- Acquire (gather the evidence together)
- Appraise and Interpret (how good is the evidence)
- Apply (put it into practice)
- Evaluate (how did the evidence fare?)
Outline the PICO framework for the “Ask” component of evidence based medicine.
P: Problem/patient/population -> scope of research
I: Intervention -> what are we analysing?
C: Control/comparison -> what are we comparing to (other treatment/no treatment at all)
O: Outcome -> what metric are we tracking?
Describe the hierarchy of evidence in evidence-based medicine
- At the top sits filtered information (meta-analyses, systematic reviews, critically appraised sources)
- Below sits unfilitered information (randomised control trials, cohort studies, case control studies)
How do in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo medical treatments help us to identify novel medical treatments?
- In vitro: mechanistic studies into disease processes and treatment effects
- Ex vivo: validate findings from in vitro studies, determine effects of substances on certain tissue (e.g. personalised oncological treatment)
- In vivo: comprehensive toxicology screening, determining right dosing regimen
What diseases do we test for on heelprick?
- G6PD
- Cystic fibrosis
- Amino acid metabolism disorders
- Congenital thyroid disorders
- Spinal muscular atrophy
Using Sauj’s criteria, list some useful paediatric history questions
- Before birth: maternal age, infections, complications, exposures, abnormal screening results, prev pregnancies
- Birth: gestational age, presentation, complications, interventions (e.g. forceps, vacuum)
- Neonate: apgar, birth weight, head circ, ?NICU (and why), age of baby discharge from hospital
