Welcome to Saipan's Newest PT: Mitzie

(June, Francis, Nicole, Dana, Jamie, Mitzie, Laurie, Vangie, and Taddy)

October 3rd and here we are at our second EBP Journal Club meeting. We had a long stretch between meetings as the Canadian's went on vacation and just got back. We missed saying good-bye to Janice as she heads off on an adventure in Jersey. (Please stay in touch Janice) We also welcome the new PT taking Janice's position, her name is Mitzie. We also will be missing Pam as she needs some much due quality time with little Helen, her daughter.

We decided to change the format for greater ease for all. We are going to post, under the comments section of each post, our article appraisal. This way it will already be documented in the journal for all to view and we can then just do a quick summary at our next meeting before selecting our next clinical question.

This month's clinical question is: Which outcome measures are most reliable for predicting falls in the elderly?

Please post which article you are appraising early on so there won't be a repeat of article appraising.

This Wednesday we are meeting at my office at 6 p.m. for a debridement practice lab. Bring #10 scalpel, #15 scalpel, tweezers, debridement scissors, and gloves. Bring food and drinks.

Thanks and we'll see you soon.

Laurie

Our First Meeting

Listed from the left to the right: Francis Esperanzate, Jamie Beavis, Nicole Leleblanc, Dana McFadden, Johanthan Tadena, Vangie Saygo, (missing as she had to go take care of her little one and skipped out before photo, Pam Carhill), Servero Siasoyco, Janice Mariano, Laurie Allen, Rose Diaz, and June Valdez.

There were a total of twelve of us that met on a Wednesday evening at Shirley's for our first Evidence-Based Practice Journal Club meeting. We had one individual that could not come and there are several other physical therapists on island that we are just becoming aware of to invite to our monthly club discussion group. If there are other physical therapists interested in joining our group please e-mail me at saipanpt@yahoo.com.

Our first clinical question (CQ), based on the PICO Model of asking clinical questions, was: For the child with spina bifida, when using seating cushions for the prevention of pressure sores, does the gel cushion or the pneumatic cushion provide the most affordable as well as effective source for pressure sore prevention?

Our search for research data on our clinical question was difficult as we did not find any data based on our specific question. We did however find a Cochrane Wounds Group with an abstract that searched for data for effectiveness of beds, mattresses, mattress overlays, and seating cushions for the prevention of pressure ulcers in any patient group. We decided to divide up the study and broaden our clinical question. We also found an research article on using polyurethane foam or Jay (R) cushion.

Several members of the group are going to be off island until September 16 so our next meeting will follow that date and an e-mail will go out announcing the next get-together. I want to thank all of you who participated and it was great meeting some of you for the first time. I think we had an excellent showing and the group came up with great CQ's. Thank you for the assistance in finding research data which helped the evening roll along smoothly as we kept it under two hours. (and we ate!)

Laurie Allen