Objective To investigate the reading habits of authors of articles published in the Chinese Journal of Evidence-Based Medicine (CJEBM) and to compare the findings with those from other surveys. Methods A total of 512 questionnaires were sent to authors who had contributed to CJEBM over the past 7 years. Results A total of 129 questionnaires were returned (response rate 31.6%). The replies showed that the main purpose of reading literature was to keep up with the latest developments in medicine (94% of replies). The main reading material was medical journals (86%). Most respondents (57%) spent more than 3 hours a week reading journals. The biggest problem identified by authors was the lack of full text papers, but the first choice was the electronic versions of the literature. More than half of the authors (57%) said that they spent less time reading than in the past. Conclusion Effective reading of the medical literature is a basic requirement in the practice of evidence-based medicine. It is necessary and important for clinicians and healthcare providers to improve their reading skills and methods.
Objective To discuss the influence of combination of 64 multi-slice spiral computer tomography (MSCT) and serum amyloid A protein (SAA) for preoperative assessment on colon cancer surgery strategy. Methods Ｔhe examination data of 110 patients diagnosed definitely as colon cancer in the West China Hospital of Sichuan University from Nov. 2007 to Nov. 2008 were studied prospectively, and randomly assigned into the MSCT+SAA group and MSCT group, respectively. Both MSCT and SAA combinative assessment were made for preoperative evaluation in MSCT+SAA group, while only MSCT was made preoperatively in MSCT group. Furthermore, the preoperative staging and prediction of operative procedures were compared with postoperative pathologic staging and practical of operative procedures, respectively. Results According to the inclusion criteria, 99 colon cancer patients were actually included into MSCT+SAA group (n=49) and MSCT group (n=50). The baseline characteristics of two groups were statistically identical. For MSCT+SAA group, The accuracies of preoperative staging T, N, M and TNM were 81.6%, 79.6%, 100% and 77.6%, respectively. For MSCT group, the corresponding rates were 82.0%, 60.0%, 98.0% and 62.0%, respectively. The difference of accuracies on staging N between two groups was observed statistically (χ2=4.498, P=0.034). There was also a statistically significant difference of the accuracy of prediction of operative procedures in MSCT+SAA group and MSCT group (95.9% vs. 82.0%, χ2=4.854, P=0.028). The preoperative staging N (P=0.008), M (P=0.010), TNM (P=0.009) and level of SAA (P=0.004) were related to the selection of operative procedures when analyzed the relationship between the operative procedures and multiple clinicopathologic factors in colon cancer. Conclusion The strategy of the combinative assessment of MSCT and SAA could advance the accuracy of preoperative staging, thus serve surgeon the more accurate prediction to surgery strategy in colon cancer.
Objective To learn and analyse the current clinicians’ knowledge and attitudes towards patient safety, and to provide relevant evidence for future medical education. Method We conducted a survey on clinicians mainly in West China Hospital of Sichuan University with group random sampling method. We analysed the data on the clinicians’ knowledge and attitudes with SPSS softerware. Result Totally 300 questionnaires were distributed, of which 258 were completed adequately. The results showed the clinicians’ knowledge on patient safety was poor, however, the respcnse from the clinicians in Outpatient Department were better than those in Inpatient Department. The majority of the clinicians (above 95.00%) were willing to learn the knowledge of patient safety. Conclusion As the clinicians are willing to learn the knowledge of patient safety positively, it is necessary to integrate patient safety education into the current medical education curriculum.