Medical Issues

Evaluation of discharge letters of patients who went against medical advice from the emergency department: A complete audit cycle Krishna Prasad, Linu Sekhar Current Medical Issues 2019 17(1):1-5 Aim: The aim was to evaluate the discharge letters of patients who went “against medical advice” (AMA) from the emergency department (ED) before and after the introduction of a preformatted discharge letter in a tertiary care center in India. Methods: A prospective clinical audit of case sheets of 200 patients who presented to the ED and later went AMA were evaluated in two different time frames. The discharge letters of the first 100 case sheets were evaluated during September–October 2018 time period, and the second 100 case sheets were evaluated during February–March 2019 time period after the introduction of a preformatted discharge letter. Descriptive analysis was used to measure frequency and percentages. Results: The proportions of data recorded in the discharge letters of patients who went AMA before and after the use of a preformatted discharge letter are: cases where discharge letter was given, 74% versus 89%; cases where discharge letter was written by the concerned department, 67.5% versus 93.25%; cases where clinical details were mentioned completely, 86% versus 100%; cases where time of discharge was mentioned, 19% versus 89%; and the cases where name of the doctor who was discharging the patient was mentioned, 20% versus 86.5%. Conclusions: The audit highlighted the shortcomings in the “discharge against medical advice” letters which were rectified using preformatted discharge letters. This was evident from the data analyzed from the second audit cycle. Provision of a standard uniform preformatted discharge letter to every patient leaving the ED would be a step forward in ED current practices and quality improvement.

Suggested protocol for the management of leprosy by primary health-care clinicians Rajkumar Ramasamy Current Medical Issues 2019 17(1):6-9 The new WHO guideline for the management of leprosy may not address all the grass roots realities of treating and preventing leprosy effectively in India. I suggest the addition of supervised doses of ROM as a part of addressing these problems.

Inferior vena cava filters – An overview Sasank Kalipatnapu, Sunil Agarwal Current Medical Issues 2019 17(1):10-11 Inferior Vena Cava Filters have been proven to prevent pulmonary embolism in patients with deep venous thrombosis with contraindications for anticoagulation. This short review aims to provide an overview of the current indications and guidelines for the usage of these devices.

Prednisone for the prevention of paradoxical tuberculosis-associated immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome Current Medical Issues 2019 17(1):12-14

History of Medicine Current Medical Issues 2019 17(1):15-17

Drug Dialogues Current Medical Issues 2019 17(1):18-19

Medical News Current Medical Issues 2019 17(1):20-22

Devotional Current Medical Issues 2019 17(1):23-23