Misuse Of Equipment Research Articles

Sports Protective Equipment

It is important for the primary care and team physician to become more involved and better informed regarding the athletic equipment process. With the increase in litigation related to sport participation and caused by athletic protective equipment misuse or malfunction, the primary care and team physician can not afford to be an uninformed bystander. Primary care and team physicians serve a very necessary role in the protection of an athlete because they are usually able to serve independently of the school or sponsoring group, thus keeping the athlete's safety and health the primary consideration. Many athletic injuries occur as "unavoidable" accidents, but many others are "preventable." One of the variables involved in preventing injuries is to follow high standards of quality, fitting, use, and maintenance of athletic protective equipment. When we obtain athletic protective equipment, we have made a decision to control the risk of injury. The primary care and team physicians should accept a share of the responsibility in decreasing risk of sports injuries. Diverse public opinion has been generated over catastrophic injuries resulting from sport participation. Most of those injuries involve either the head or neck and may be either permanently disabling or lethal. Any part of the body may be subjected to injury. Sports protective equipment is available for many different sports, with many different injury risks, and for any part of the body. Many involved in the athletic health care delivery system continue to struggle with the "noncompliant" athletic patient. Not surprisingly, the "noncompliant" athletic patient. Not surprisingly, the noncompliant athletes have a higher recurrence rate of injury than do those who are compliant. Anything that the primary care and team physicians can do to decrease the desire of the athletic patient to resist orders for modification of activities to allow an injury to heal is important.

Differential engagement of males and females in high school science

The paper synthesizes the results of five qualitative investigations of high school science classrooms in Western Australia and in the state of Georgia in the United States. Gender differences were observed in each study and teachers were not aware of their occurrence. Most classes were taught in a traditional manner which emphasized whole class activities and seat work. Small groups were used only in laboratory activities. In whole class activities, male students tended to respond to teacher questions by raising their hands and calling out to a greater extent than females. During laboratory activities a small number of male students tended to dominate the use of equipment. Differences were also observed in type of off‐task behaviour exhibited by males and females. Males were frequently off‐task in a disruptive manner which involved misuse of equipment. In contrast, off‐task female students socialized with peers and groomed themselves during laboratory activities. In seat work activities, female students tended to engage in a more sustained manner than males who tended to engage intermittently. Different patterns of engagement were observed in classes which emphasized self‐paced learning. Although classroom management was difficult for teachers and a small number of students still managed to monopolize the teacher's time, female students did not appear to be disadvantaged to the same extent in self‐paced classes as they appeared to be in classes which emphasized whole class activities.

Results of a clinical engineering programme in the Federal Republic of Germany.

In 1979 the Federal Ministry for Research & Technology (BMFT) of the Federal Republic of Germany started a four-year programme to investigate the feasibility, efficiency and profitability of clinical engineering centres within hospitals. Results from the 11 participating hospitals are now available, and demonstrate that the relative costs for maintenance could be reduced by 2·3 per cent. In-house services in larger or specialised hospitals have been shown to provide substantial cost savings in addition to a reduction of downtime and of medical equipment misuse, and this is bound to increase patient safety. All the service groups will stay in place once this study is finished. It may be assumed that they will nurture further growth of the field of ‘clinical engineering’.

The peculiar problems of equipment design.

Abstract The equipment designer is faced by problems created by our irrational attitudes to the use of tools and equipment in our domestic and working lives. These attitudes are expressed in the siting and layout of housing and in the misuse of equipment in hospitals. If equipment is to play its full role, it must be plentiful, available where needed and with sufficient space for its use. It must not carry hidden costs arising from architectural inadequacies and human conservatism. Finally the use of equipment must be included in the training and philosophy of staff and the rehabilitation of patients.

Use and misuse of equipment for dental local analgesia : Lilley J. D., Russell C., Walker R. O. and Waterhouse J.A.H. J. Dent.6 (1978) 133–246

Use and misuse of equipment for dental local analgesia : Lilley J. D., Russell C., Walker R. O. and Waterhouse J.A.H. J. Dent.6 (1978) 133–246

Use and misuse of equipment for dental local analgesia

Changes in available equipment for dental local analgesia and increased official awareness of the hazards of transmissible disease prompted a survey of the practices in this regard currently followed by the dental profession. A 10 per cent sample of registered dentists was sent a questionnaire drawn up with a view to comparison with earlier studies. The results indicated a growing awareness of the possible microbiological hazards and progressively better understanding of the ways in which to minimize them. Nevertheless, a disturbing number of practitioners continues to employ inefficient methods. The need for authoritative guidance on the necessity and techniques of rendering discarded needles unusable and for the disposal of partly used cartridges is discussed in respect of social and legal responsibilities.

Preclude failure: A philosophy for materials selection and simulated service testing

Failure of products in service under foreseeable conditions often subject manufacturers to legal liability when personal injuries occur; hence, the care used (or the philosophy employed) in material selection, design, analyses, fabrication and maintenance must be sufficient to preclude failure. Failure analysis requires careful sorting of a wide variety of information to determine how and why a metal part failed in service or in testing and to determine what can be done to prevent a recurrence. Valuable knowledge is available in the literature from documentation of prior failures that may be used to develop logical approaches to the design and development of new components. A philosophy of design and prototype evaluation based on the prevention of failure is more sound and workable than the stereo-typed application of empiricisms, codes, specifications and factors of safety now commonly used. Reliance on design for static loadings and for factors of safety based on tensile strength as a criterion are frequently erroneous and dangerous. If a part does not fulfill its intended function satisfactorily, it “fails” by: (a) excessive deformation, (b) fracture, (c) surface disintegration, and (d) deterioration of properties. A variety of failures will be discussed to emphasize the factors that must be considered in selection of an optimum material and in prescribing an effective method of simulated-service testing. Considerable latitude in use and misuse of equipment must be foreseen in order to predict possible modes of failure. A broad consideration of service environment is necessary for correcting faulty design and selecting proper materials which will withstand modifications due to processing, fabrication, maintenance or repair operations that lead to failure.

Homologous serum hepatitis in youthful heroin users.

Excerpt The high incidence of homologous serum hepatitis among youthful drug addicts has been reported by other investigators.1-7Previous studies have been concerned with the epidemiology of serum ...