SciCombinator

Setting personal targets is an important behavioural component in weight management programmes. Normal practice is to encourage ‘realistic’ weight loss, although the underlying evidence base for this is limited and controversial. The present study investigates the effect of number and size of weight-loss targets on long-term weight loss in a large community sample of adults.

The lack of success of unimodal treatment studies in cachexia and the growing awareness that multiple components are responsible for the development of cachexia have led to the view that cachexia intervention should include multimodal treatment. The aim of this article is to examine the evidence for multimodal treatment in the management of cancer cachexia.

Chronic leg ulcers cause long term ill-health for older adults and the condition places a significant burden on health service resources. Although evidence on effective management of the condition is available, a significant evidence-practice gap is known to exist, with many suggested reasons e.g. multiple care providers, costs of care and treatments. This study aimed to identify effective health service pathways of care which facilitated evidence-based management of chronic leg ulcers.

Acute subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is a neurological emergency with significant potential for long-term morbidity and mortality. We review our management of acute SAH and some of the evidence base supporting our practices.

The pressure to deliver quality care with finite resources means that dealing with single-symptom conditions like tinnitus in an efficient and individualized manner has never been more important. Both primary and secondary care practitioners have an obligation to explore efficient delivery of simple management pathways. Commissioners of health care are in a unique position to affect evidence-based strategic change in the management of uncomplicated tinnitus. This study is an attempt to explore one such option. We present the outcomes of a tinnitus patient pathway designed for one-stop management, thereby minimizing unnecessary additional appointments.

Although chronic disease management interventions for persons with multimorbidity are offered in primary healthcare, a strong evidence base supporting such interventions is still lacking. Part of this problem is due to the heterogeneity in the use of outcome measures in multimorbidity intervention research.

Little is known about the general medicines management issues for people with dementia living in the community. This review has three aims: firstly to explore and evaluate the international literature on how people with dementia manage medication; assess understanding of medicines management from an informal carers perspective; and lastly to understand the role that healthcare professionals play in assisting this population with medicines management.

A widespread assumption across health systems suggests that greater clinicians' involvement in governance and management roles would have wider benefits for the efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare organisations. However, despite growing interest around the topic, it is still poorly understood how managers with a clinical background might specifically affect healthcare performance outcomes. The purpose of this review is, therefore, to map out and critically appraise quantitatively-oriented studies investigating this phenomenon within the acute hospital sector.

We aimed to synthesize the available evidence on the demographics, prevalence, and clinical characteristics, and evidence-based management of homeless persons in the Emergency Department (ED). Where appropriate, we highlight knowledge gaps and suggest directions for future research.

The original European League Against Rheumatism recommendations for managing fibromyalgia assessed evidence up to 2005. The paucity of studies meant that most recommendations were ‘expert opinion’.