Volume 99, Issue 1

To determine the relationship between the timing of a hysterectomy performed during the menstrual cycle phase and the postoperative complication rate in women who had undergone surgery for dysfunctional uterine bleeding, the authors .examined the charts of 24 patients for the 3-month period immediately after the hysterectomy. Twelve of the women were in the follicular phase, and 12 were in the luteal phase at the time they had undergone the hysterectomy. Patients were classified by operative pathology report. No significant differences (P ~ 0.05) were found between the two groups with respect to age, weight, para status, pathology, preoperative and postoperative hemoglobin levels, operation time, blood loss, days before return to full functioning, days in hospital, and uterine morphology. Further prospective studies with longer follow-up time are needed to obtain more conclusive indications regarding the optimal timing of hysterectomy during the menstrual cycle.

This study was performed to determine if a simulated legal deposition increases emergency medicine (EM) residents' knowledge, self-confidence, and understanding of a legal deposition. This prospective study included a convenience sample of EM 1-3 residents. A knowledge and a self-assessment pretest weregiven, followed by a didactic session moderated by local attorneys, followed by knowledge and a self-assessment posttest. The total time involved was 2 hours. The mean score on the knowledge pretest was 4.5 and 5.25 on the posttest. Using a paried t-test, the authors found this difference to be statistically signifi:cant. (P < 0.01) Using HoteUing's T2 test, the authors compared presimulation and postsimulation self-assessment questions. The results r~vealed that there was a difference between these scores (P < 0.001). Participants in the deposition significantly improved their self-assessment ranking and knowledge inventory test scores by participating in a simulated legal deposition.

State policy makers, healthcare professionals, and advocates have been asking various iterations of the question, Do we have too many or too few physicians? In order to address this question, a relative-needs analysis ~as conducted for the state of Oklahoma. Six projection-needs studies were used for comparison with Oklahoma's supply of practicing physicians. This analysis found that Oklahoma did not have a surplus of primary care physicians. While the national average for primary care physicians per 100,000 was 79, Oklahoma's ratio was 68. This analysis also compares not only the number of physicians in Oklahoma per 100,000 population, it also discusses the proportion of primary care physicians in the physician workforce. Primary care physicians were found to be neither oversupplied nor undersupplied in Oklahoma. Oklahoma was found to be closer to national planning model goals than most states in the United States. Because this study combines both allopathic and osteopathic physicians and includes only those physicians in active practice, it is unique in comparison to many other studies concerning physician workforce needs.