The majority of participants wanted education regarding abortion. Despite being predominantly prochoice, considerably fewer students, irrespective of nationality, indicated that they would perform abortions.

BACKGROUNDComputed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA) detects incidental findings that require follow‐up. In just over 50% of cases, those incidental findings are pulmonary nodules. Fleischner guidelines recommend that patients with nodules that have a high risk of malignancy should undergo CT follow‐up within 3‐12 months.OBJECTIVEWe examined the proportion of patients with pulmonary nodules requiring follow up who received repeat imaging within six weeks of the time frame recommended by the radiologist.DESIGNThis retrospective cohort study included all patients who underwent CTPA in the emergency department and inpatient settings at three teaching hospitals in Toronto, Canada between September 1, 2014, and August 31, 2015. Natural language processing software was applied to a linked radiology information system to identify all CTPAs that contained pulmonary nodules. Using manual review and prespecified exclusion criteria, we generated a cohort with possible new lung malignancy eligible for follow‐up imaging; then we reviewed available health records to determine whether follow‐up had occurred.RESULTSOf the 1,910 CTPAs performed over the study period, 674 (35.3%) contained pulmonary nodules. Of the 259 patients with new nodules eligible for follow‐up imaging, 65 received an explicit suggestion for follow‐up by radiology (25.1%). Of these 65 patients, 35 (53.8%) did not receive repeat imaging within the recommended time frame. Explicit mention that follow‐up was required in the discharge summary (P = .03), attending an outpatient follow‐up visit (P < .001), and younger age (P = .03) were associated with receiving timely follow‐up imaging.CONCLUSIONSOver 50% of patients with new high‐risk pulmonary nodules detected incidentally on CTPA did not receive timely follow‐up imaging

BackgroundThe extent to which smoking contributes to adverse outcomes among men and women of all ages undergoing dialysis is uncertain. The objective of this study was to determine the differential impact of smoking on risks of mortality and kidney transplantation by age and by sex at dialysis initiation.MethodsWe conducted a population-based cohort of incident U.S dialysis patients (n = 1, 220, 000) from 1995–2010. Age- and sex-specific mortality and kidney transplantation rates were determined for patients with and without a history of cardiovascular disease. Multivariable Cox regression evaluated relative hazard ratios (HR) for death and kidney transplantation at 2 years stratified by atherosclerotic condition, smoking status and age. Analyses were adjusted for demographic characteristics, non-cardiovascular conditions, laboratory variables, socioeconomic and lifestyle factors.ResultsThe average age was 62.8 (±15) years old, 54 % were male, and the majority was white. During 2-year follow-up, 40.5 % died and 5.7 % were transplanted. Age- and sex-specific mortality rates were significantly higher while transplantation rates were significantly lower for smokers with atherosclerotic conditions than non-smokers (P < 0.01). The adjusted mortality hazards were significantly higher for smokers with pre-existing coronary disease (HR 1.15, 95 % CI (1.11–1.18), stroke (HR 1.21, 1.16–1.27) and peripheral vascular disease (HR = 1.21, 1.17–1.25) compared to non-smokers without these conditions (HR 1.00, referent group). The magnitude of effect was greatest for younger patients than older patients. Contrastingly, the adjusted risks of kidney transplantation were significantly lower for smokers with coronary disease: (HR 0.60, 0.52–0.69), stroke; (HR 0.47, 0.37–0.60), and peripheral arterial disease (HR 0.55, 0.46–0.66) respectively compared to non-smokers without these conditions.ConclusionsWe provide compelling evidence that smoking is associated with adverse clinical outcomes and reduced lifespans among dialysis patients of all ages and sexes. The adverse impact is greatest for younger men and women.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12882-016-0311-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Diagnostic error represents an important patient safety issue. Herein, we summarize five important things to know about this topic. 1) At least 1 in 20 adults are affected by diagnostic errors annually. 2) The root causes for diagnostic errors are typically multifactorial. 3) Cognitive errors are found in the majority of cases. 4) Most missed diagnoses involve common conditions. 5) Advancements in policy, education, and health information technologies hold promise for improving diagnostic safety.