Medication Procedures Research Articles

2013 Trends in anogenital warts incidence: Potential impact of human papillomavirus vaccination, TennCare 2006–2015

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: We aimed to assess trends in incidence of genital warts across human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine-eligible and nonvaccine-eligible age groups to determine the impact of the HPV vaccine among Medicaid enrollees in the state of Tennessee. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: We analyzed 2006–2014 medical and pharmaceutical claims data from TennCare (Tennessee’s Medicaid program) enrollees aged 15–64 years. Incident cases of genital warts were defined as persons 12 months disease free and: (1) a diagnosis of condyloma acuminatum, or (2) a diagnosis of viral warts and genital-specific procedure, or (3) a prescription for genital warts medication and genital-specific procedure. Mann-Kendall trend tests were performed to assess for significant trends in incidence of genital warts by sex and age group; average annual percent changes were calculated to quantify these trends. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Our analysis is in progress. We hypothesize that we will observe declines in genital warts among younger, vaccine-eligible age groups and no changes in older, nonvaccine-eligible age groups, with largest declines among females aged 15–19 years from 2006 to 2014. We also expect to see declines among younger males due to herd protection, with greater declines after 2011, when the vaccine was approved for males. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: Significant declines among younger compared with older age groups would suggest HPV vaccine effectiveness for preventing genital warts.

Hope and Modern Medicine

Hope and Modern Medicine

Incremental Costs in Giant Cell Arteritis.

To assess and compare direct costs between giant cell arteritis (GCA) patients and matched controls and to identify incremental cost drivers. We carried out a population-based, retrospective cohort study using the French National Health Insurance System database. Cost analysis was performed from the French health insurance perspective and took into account direct medical and nonmedical costs (2014, €). Costs were evaluated according to different cost components and divided into periods of 6 months for the accurate assessment of care consumption. Longitudinal multivariate regression analyses using generalized estimating equations were used to adjust the effect of GCA on the mean cost over time. Analyses were performed on 96 incident GCA patients and 563 matched controls. The cumulative incremental cost due to GCA was €6,406 and €7,236 for 3 and 5 years, respectively. Total incremental costs were significant for the first 18 months, amounting to €1,342 for the first 6 months, €1,498 between 6 and 12 months, and €1,165 between 12 and 18 months (P = 0.012, P = 0.065, and P = 0.029, respectively). The most important cost drivers were paramedical procedures, inpatient stays, medication, and medical procedures. Multivariate analysis shows the significant effect of GCA on mean cost during the first 3 years of followup (relative risk [RR] 1.72 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.31-2.27], P < 0.001) with significant cost reductions (RR 0.70 [95% CI 0.49-0.99], P = 0.05) at the end of followup. This study provides an accurate assessment of GCA costs during a 5-year period and gives useful information for future cost-effectiveness studies based on new expensive biotherapies.

Nursing Information Flow in Long-Term Care Facilities.

Long-term care (LTC), residential care requiring 24-hour nursing services, plays an important role in the health care service delivery system. The purpose of this study was to identify the needed clinical information and information flow to support LTC Registered Nurses (RNs) in care collaboration and clinical decision making. This descriptive qualitative study combines direct observations and semistructured interviews, conducted at Alberta's LTC facilities between May 2014 and August 2015. The constant comparative method (CCM) of joint coding was used for data analysis. Nine RNs from six LTC facilities participated in the study. The RN practice environment includes two essential RN information management aspects: information resources and information spaces. Ten commonly used information resources by RNs included: (1) RN-personal notes; (2) facility-specific templates/forms; (3) nursing processes/tasks; (4) paper-based resident profile; (5) daily care plans; (6) RN-notebooks; (7) medication administration records (MARs); (8) reporting software application (RAI-MDS); (9) people (care providers); and (10) references (i.e., books). Nurses used a combination of shared information spaces, such as the Nurses Station or RN-notebook, and personal information spaces, such as personal notebooks or "sticky" notes. Four essential RN information management functions were identified: collection, classification, storage, and distribution. Six sets of information were necessary to perform RN care tasks and communication, including: (1) admission, discharge, and transfer (ADT); (2) assessment; (3) care plan; (4) intervention (with two subsets: medication and care procedure); (5) report; and (6) reference. Based on the RN information management system requirements, a graphic information flow model was constructed. This baseline study identified key components of a current LTC nursing information management system. The information flow model may assist health information technology (HIT) developers to consolidate the design of HIT solutions for LTC, and serve as a communication tool between nurses and information technology (IT) staff to refine requirements and support further LTC HIT research.

Integrative Music Therapy: A Healing Intervention.

Music plays a significant role in the lives of individuals across the lifespan. Some healthcare providers may not appreciate music therapy and the positive benefits it can have on the environment, patients, caregivers, and healthcare staff. Integrative Music Therapy (IMT) has proven to be effective in multiple settings, offering therapy for behavioral, emotional, physiological, psychological, and psychosocial needs. IMT, performed by a trained, certified professional (MT-BC), does not seek to replace medication or other procedures, but works synergistically with provided healthcare.

Drug related problems identified by clinical pharmacist at the Internal Medicine Ward in Turkey.

Background Drug-related problems (DRPs) interfere with patient optimal therapeutic outcomes and may be associated with higher morbidity, mortality and healthcare expenditures. Objective This study aimed to identify DRPs and their causes in a Turkish hospital. Setting Bakirkoy Dr. Sadi Konuk Teaching and Research Hospital, Internal Medicine Ward, Istanbul, Turkey. Method Cross-sectional study included a total of 100 patients. Patient demographics, medications, and history were evaluated. Data regarding recent medications were analyzed by two clinical pharmacists and an Internal Medicine physician. The DRPs were identified via V7.0 PCNE classification. Lexicomp® was used to assess the drug-drug interactions. UpToDate® recommendations and national guidelines were applied in the assessment of compliance with approved medication procedures. Main outcome measures Number and causes of the potential DRPs. Results At least one potential DRP was seen in 80% of the patients and 163 potential DRPs were identified (average=1.6 DRPs/patient). The most common causes of DRPs were errors in drug selection (44.78%), dose selection (27.61%) and medication procedures (21.47%). There were significant correlations (p<0.05) between DRPs and age (r=0.4), number of drugs used (r=0.32), duration of hospitalization (r=0.25), renal impairment (r=-0.34) and inflammation (r=0.31). Conclusion The majority of the patients had DRPs. Patients with renal impairment, inflammation, polypharmacy or an extended hospital stay had a much higher chance of developing DRPs.

The hepatoprotective effect of Aloe vera on ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats.

OBJECTIVE:Aloe vera is known for its antioxidant properties. In this experimental study, we aimed to investigate the efficacy of Aloe vera in ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) liver injury in rats.METHODS:Male Wistar Albino rats were divided into three groups, where the sham group (n=7) underwent no medication or surgical procedures, the I/R group (n=7) was the control group that received 45 minutes of applied abdominal aorta ischemia and rats were sacrificed 24 hours after reperfusion, and the I/R+AV group (n=7) was the treatment group that was given Aloe vera (30 mg/kg) every day followed by gastric lavage for a month before applying ischemia and performing sacrifice as in the previous group. Before sacrifice, all the liver tissues were removed. Tissues were examined for histopathological investigation, iNOS immunoreactivity and tissue biochemistry, malondialdehyde (MDA), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activities.RESULTS:The SOD, CAT, and GSH-Px levels of the I/R+AV group were not significantly different from the sham group (p>0.05) but were significantly higher when compared to the I/R group. MDA levels of liver tissues were significantly lower (p<0.05) in the I/R+AV group as compared to the I/R group. Disrupted hepatic cords, sinusoidal dilatation, hemorrhage, cytoplasmic vacuolization of hepatocytes, and intensive iNOS immunoreactivity were detected in the I/R group. Decreased histopathological change score and iNOS immunoreactivity score were noticed in the I/R+AV group as compared to the I/R group.CONCLUSION:It was found that Aloe vera showed a hepatoprotective effect against I/R injury. Further research is required to determine the effective dose, administration method, and effects of Aloe vera for liver transplantation.

Uric Acid: The Unknown Uremic Toxin.

This review brings together concepts of uric acid metabolism affecting renal parenchyma and its function and the current therapies to reduce hyperuricemia (HyU) and avoid renal disease progression. High uric acid plays an important role in several chronic diseases including kidney diseases such as lithiasis, gout nephropathy, and preeclampsia. In the last 30 years, it has been shown that reducing HyU with low protein and low purine diets in addition to allopurinol creates physiopathological conditions that produce a slight increase in the glomerular filtration rate (GFR). In recent years, in a new era of research in clinical, genetics, pharmacological, and epidemiologic fields, they have been moving forward to support the idea that reduction in HyU could benefit the chronic renal failure (CRF) patients (stage III-IV), thereby avoiding the drop of GFR for undefined mechanisms. There are several clinical trials in progress that show the HyU reducing to very low values and an increased GFR. In a young population, when treating HyU there is a reduction in high blood pressure. There are some reports showing that HyU could play a role in the diabetic nephropathy. Therefore, there have been some speculations that HyU treatment could stop the progression of CRF modifying the natural history of the diseases. So there will be new clinical trials with old and new medication and metabolic procedure to maintain a very low blood levels in the unknown uremic toxin know as uric acid which seems to be the toxin to the damage kidney.

Development of a clinical pharmacy model within an Australian home nursing service using co-creation and participatory action research: the Visiting Pharmacist (ViP) study

ObjectiveTo develop a collaborative, person-centred model of clinical pharmacy support for community nurses and their medication management clients.DesignCo-creation and participatory action research, based on reflection, data collection, interaction and feedback...

Clinical and risk factor analysis of cloacal defects in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study.

Cloacal exstrophy (CE) and persistent cloaca (PC) (alternatively termed urorectal septum malformation sequence [URSMS]), represent two major cloacal defects (CDs). Clinical characteristics and risk factors often are studied for both defects combined, rather than exploring if these defects have different etiologies. We enumerated clinical features for 47 CE and 54 PC (inclusive of URSMS) cases from the National Birth Defects Prevention Study. Thirty-three CE cases were classified as isolated and 14 as multiple (presence of unassociated major defects); respective totals for PC cases were 26 and 28. We compared selected child and maternal characteristics between 11,829 non-malformed controls and CE and PC cases using chi-square or Fisher's exact tests. Compared to controls, CE and PC cases were statistically more likely (p < 0.05) to be preterm; CE cases were more likely to be multiple births. We conducted logistic regression analysis to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for any CD, CE, and PC with selected self-reported maternal prepregnancy and periconceptional (one month prior to 3 months following conception) exposures. In crude and adjusted analyses, we observed significant positive associations for any CD, CE, and PC with use of any fertility medication or assisted reproductive technology procedure. Significant positive associations observed only in crude analyses were any CD with maternal obesity or use of progesterone, any CD and CE with any x-ray, and any CD and PC with use of folate antagonist medications. Our findings provide some of the first insights into potential differing etiologies for CE and PC.

Advances in basic research and clinical management of urolithiasis

Over the past few years, the prevalence of urinary stones has been gradually increasing, which imposes heavy burden of diseases on people worldwide. Fortunately, a series of advances in basic research and clinical management of urolithiasis have increased our understanding of and response capacity to urinary stones. This article summarizes recent progresses in the fields of epidemiology, etiology, genetics, medication, medical instruments, and medical procedures. These advances have the potential to facilitate the clinical management of urolithiasis, making the diagnosis and treatment of this problem preciser, safer, and more efficient. Key words: Urolithiasis; Advance; Epidemiology; Etiology; Clinical management

Safety Events in High Risk Prehospital Neonatal Calls

Objective: The objective of this study was to quantify and characterize patient safety events during high-risk neonatal transports in the prehospital setting. Method: We conducted a retrospective chart review of all “lights and sirens” ambulance transports of neonates ≤30 days old over a four-year period in a metropolitan area. Each case was independently reviewed for potential patient safety events that may have occurred in clinical assessment and decision making, resuscitation, airway management, fluid or medication administration, procedures performed, and/or equipment used. Results: Twenty-six patients ≤30 days old were transported by ambulance using lights and sirens during the four-year study period. Overall, safety events occurred in 19 patients and severe safety events (potentially causing permanent injury or harm, including death) occurred in ten. The incidence of safety events related to medication administrations was 90% (70% severe), resuscitation 64.7% (47.1% severe), procedures 64.7% (35.3% severe), fluid administration 50% (25% severe), clinical assessment and decision making 50% (30.8% severe), airway management 47.6% (28.6% severe), equipment use 25.5% (10.0% severe), and systems processes 19.2% (7.7% severe). Conclusions: High-risk neonatal calls are infrequent and prone to a high incidence of serious patient safety events.

Deep sclerectomy for uveitic glaucoma: long-term outcomes.

PurposeTo report long-term outcomes of deep sclerectomy (DS) in eyes with raised intraocular pressure (IOP) and glaucoma secondary to uveitis.Patients and methodsRetrospective consecutive case series of 43 eyes of 43 patients with uveitic glaucoma. Mitomycin C (MMC) 0.2-0.4 mg/ml was applied sub-conjunctivally prior to scleral flap dissection for 2-3 min in 35 eyes (81%). Combined phacoemulsification and DS was done in 4 cases (9%).ResultsMean follow-up was 68.5±33.5 months. In total, 23 eyes (53.5%) had previous intraocular surgery. Pre-operative IOP was 33.6±12.0 mm Hg. Mean IOP at one, three and five years after surgery was 15.5±5.0 mm Hg, 16.9±6.7 mm Hg and 16.4±5.2 mm Hg, respectively.The probability of IOP <22 and <19 mm Hg was 69 and 62% at 3 years and 60 and 51% at 5 years, respectively. This included eyes that had undergone needle revision and/or laser goniopuncture within that period but had not needed glaucoma medication or further glaucoma procedures. The overall number of glaucoma medications decreased from 3.0±1.2 to 0.8±1.2 by last follow-up (P<0.001). Serious complications included hypotony with macular folds in two eyes and occlusion of the trabeculo-Descemet's membrane (TDM) by iris in two eyes. Recurrence of uveitis was observed in 16 eyes. Seven eyes (16.3%) had subsequent procedures including trabeculectomy with MMC in one eye, DS with MMC in two eyes and Baerveldt tube implantation in five eyes.ConclusionsDS is a safe and effective procedure to lower IOP in uveitic glaucoma. However, as with other glaucoma procedures, a significant proportion of patients will require another IOP-lowering procedure in the long-term.

The impact of interruptions on medication errors in hospitals: an observational study of nurses.

To explore interruptions during medication preparation and administration and their consequences. Although not all interruptions in nursing have a negative impact, interruptions during medication rounds have been associated with medication errors. A non-participant observational study was undertaken of nurses conducting medication rounds. Fifty-six medication events (including 101 interruptions) were observed. Most medication events (99%) were interrupted, resulting in nurses stopping medication preparation or administration to address the interruption (mean 2.5minutes). The mean number of interruptions was 1.79 (SD 1.04). Thirty-four percent of medication events had at least one procedural failure, while 3.6% resulted in a clinical error. Our study confirmed that interruptions occur frequently during medication preparation and administration, and these interruptions were associated with procedural failures and clinical errors. Nurses were the primary source of interruptions with interruptions often being unrelated to patient care. This study has confirmed that interruptions are frequent and result in clinical errors and procedural failures, compromising patient safety. These interruptions contribute a substantial additional workload to medication tasks. Various interventions should be implemented to reduce non-patient-related interruptions. Medication systems and procedures are advocated, that reduce the need for joint double-checking of medications, indirectly avoiding interruptions.

Does the type of treatment affect who makes the decision? Secondary data analysis of patients undergoing angioplasty vs. medical treatment for high cholesterol levels

Objectives: The objective of our study is to compare decision-making preferences regarding who makes the final treatment decision comparing two conditions: (1) Use of medication for high cholesterol and (2) angioplasty or/and bypass for coronary artery disease. Methods: We used data from the National Survey of Medical Decisions (the DECISIONS study). All subjects completing the DECISIONS survey modules on high cholesterol medication and cardiac procedures (angioplasty or/and bypass) for coronary artery disease were included in our analysis. Our primary outcome of interest was the person who made the final decision (provider or patient). Our analyses were adjusted for the corresponding set of weights (multipliers relating the sample to the total population) and strata (subpopulations). These adjustments allow for the inference of results to a population rather than being limited to our study sample. Results: The estimated target population comprised of 144,807,605 individuals, with a mean age of 62.2 years ± 0.53, 45.3% being female, and most were white (73.4%). Only 24.4% of all patients reported that the decision was mainly theirs. When comparing the primary outcomes between patients in both groups, a majority of individuals in the high cholesterol medication group expressed that the therapeutic decision was mainly theirs unlike those in the cardiac procedures group (24.4%±2.1% vs. 16.1%±5%). This finding was more pronounced among women (21.7%±2.8% vs. 6%±3.5%). Conclusion: The nature of a medical intervention modifies the decision patterns and preferences of patients in the field of cardiology. Shared decision-making was not predominant among cardiac conditions.

Triple bypass for advanced pancreatic head cancer associated with biliary stricture, duodenal stenosis, and recurrent obstructive pancreatitis.

Bypass surgery for cancer of the pancreatic head is usually done to palliate the obstructive symptoms in the biliary and/or digestive system. However, it is uncommon for patients to require pancreatic duct drainage for recurrent obstructive pancreatitis. In this article, we report a surgical technique of triple bypass consisting of Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy, gastrojejunostomy, and pancreaticojejunostomy for advanced pancreatic cancer. A 76-year-old male patient with locally advanced and metastatic pancreatic head cancer was referred to our department for biliary stricture, duodenal stenosis, and recurrent obstructive pancreatitis associated with persistent pancreatic pseudocyst. In an attempt to resolve all these problems simultaneously, a triple bypass was performed. The patient survived and continued to receive chemotherapy for almost 1 year after surgery without any serious complications. Thus, triple bypass is a useful surgical technique that could relief symptoms and offer better quality of life to patients with advanced pancreatic cancer presenting with biliary stricture, duodenal stenosis, and severe obstructive pancreatitis difficult to treat by medication or endoscopic procedures.

Impact of diabetes on bleeding events in ST-elevation myocardial infarction patients after urgent percutaneous coronary intervention: A retrospective cohort study.

Patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) have more ischemic events and a decreased survival rate after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) than non-DM patients. However, it is unknown whether short-term or long-term bleeding events are associated with DM. We aimed to determine the impact of DM on mortality and bleeding events in ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients after urgent PCI.This retrospective cohort study included 435 STEMI patients who had undergone urgent PCI between 2010 and 2013, comprising 97 DM patients and 338 non-DM patients. The primary outcomes were the 30-day bleeding and 30-day mortality rates. The median follow-up period was 2 years. Data regarding patient demographics, peri-PCI medication, and invasive procedures were compared between DM and non-DM patients. Multivariate logistic regression was applied to estimate the association between DM and bleeding events. Kaplan–Meier curves were calculated to elucidate the survival rate.Compared with non-DM patients, DM patients with STEMI had a higher incidence of left ventricular ejection fraction <40% (17.6% vs 4.2%, P < 0.05), Killip class >II (11.3% vs 3.8%, P < 0.05), and smoking (44.3% vs 63.0%, P < 0.05). Similar peri-PCI medication and invasive procedures were administered in the 2 groups. The incidence of 30-day bleeding events was significantly higher for DM patients than non-DM patients (6.2% vs 0.9%, P < 0.05). A multivariate analysis showed that DM was strongly associated with 30-day bleeding events after adjusting for confounders. DM patients had significant increased mortality rates at both the 30-day and 2-year end points.DM was an independent predictor for an increased risk of 30-day bleeding events and correlated with increased 30-day and 2-year mortality rates in STEMI patients with PCI. Our study has significant clinical implications for risk stratification before the application of urgent PCI.

A Systematic Review of Patient Safety Measures in Adult Primary Care.

Safety measure development has focused on inpatient care despite outpatient visits far outnumbering inpatient admissions. Some measures are clearly identified as outpatient safety measures when published, yet outcomes from quality improvement studies also may be useful measures. The authors conducted a systematic review of the literature to identify published articles detailing safety measures applicable to adult primary care. A total of 21 articles were identified, providing specifications for 182 safety measures. Each measure was classified into one of 6 outpatient safety dimensions: medication management, sentinel events, care coordination, procedures and treatment, laboratory testing and monitoring, and facility structures/resources. Compared to the multitude of available inpatient safety measures, the number of existing adult primary care measures is low. The measures identified by this systematic review may yield further insight into the breadth of safety events causing harm in primary care, while also identifying areas of patient safety in primary care that may be understudied.

Soluble heat shock protein 70 members in patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation

BackgroundHeat shock proteins (HSP) are highly conserved immunogenic proteins serving as potent danger signals. They are upregulated under stress conditions like fever and hypoxia. Extracellular HSP are involved in antigen presentation, cytokine release and maturation of antigen presenting cells. MethodsThe release of the inducible members of the HSP70 family, Hsp72 and Hsp70B′, into the serum of 20 patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation and 20 healthy donors was evaluated using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits. ResultsEight patients (40%) did not receive anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) for prophylaxis of graft versus host disease (GvHD). These patients had no detectable or low serum levels of Hsp72 (n=3, 0.03 to 1.92ng/ml) which were in line with levels detected in 20 healthy individuals (p=0.07). Measurable HSP was not associated with any medication or transplantation-related procedures. In twelve patients (60%) receiving ATG, detected high levels of HSP reflected cross-reactivity of the rabbit-derived ATG with the anti-rabbit antibody used in the ELISA. ConclusionsAssumed HSP70 expression detected such ELISA has to be regarded carefully after ATG application. Neither radiochemotherapy, nor inflammation or sepsis during aplasia induced HSP70 release into the serum. Thus, soluble HSP70 may not be involved in the pathogenesis of acute GvHD.

Overview of Clostridium difficile Infection in Cancer Patients

Clostridium difficile Associated Diarrhoea (CDAD) is the leading cause of nosocomial diarrhoea. Clostridium difficile Infections (CDIs) may be induced by medication or medical procedures that disrupt normal bowel flora or interfere with bowel motility. The emergence of hyper-virulent strains of CDI, reports of severe or recurrent CDI in immunocompetent populations, advent of various infection control challenges, and diagnostic and therapeutic dilemmas have contributed to a shift in the disease paradigm. However, there is insufficient data on the risk of CDI in vulnerable cancer patients receiving chemotherapy or who are admitted to health care settings for long periods of time. This review describes the epidemiology, risk factors, pathophysiology, and management of CDIs in cancer patients receiving chemotherapeutic agents.