scholarly journals Inpatient Palliative Care Utilization for Patients with Brain Metastases

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meghan Price ◽  
Elizabeth P Howell ◽  
Tara Dalton ◽  
Luis Ramirez ◽  
Claire Howell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Palliative Care ◽  
Brain Metastases ◽  
Clinical Decision Making ◽  
Symptom Burden ◽  
Retrospective Chart Review ◽  
Clinical Decision ◽  
Patient Specific ◽  
Care Utilization ◽  
Black African ◽  
Patient Race

Abstract Introduction Given the high symptom burden and complex clinical decision making associated with a diagnosis of brain metastases (BM), specialty Palliative Care (PC) can meaningfully improve patient quality of life. However, no prior study has formally evaluated patient-specific factors associated with PC consultation among BM patients. Methods We examined the rates of PC consults in a cohort of 1303 patients with brain metastases admitted to three tertiary medical centers from October 2015 to December 2018. Patient demographics, surgical status, 30-day readmission, and death data were collected via retrospective chart review. PC utilization was assessed by identifying encounters for which an inpatient consult to PC was placed. Statistical analyses were performed to compare characteristics and outcomes between patients who did and did not receive PC consults. Results We analyzed 1303 patients admitted to the hospital with brain metastases. The average overall rate of inpatient PC consultation was 19.6%. Rates of PC utilization differed significantly by patient race (17.5% in White/Caucasian vs. 26.0% in Black/African American patients, p = 0.0014). Patients who received surgery during their admission had significantly lower rates of PC consultation (3.9% vs 22.4%, p < 0.0001). Patients who either died during their admission or were discharged to hospice had significantly higher rates of PC than those who were discharged home or to rehabilitation (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In our dataset, PC consultation rates varied by patient demographic, surgical status, discharging service and practice setting. Further work is needed to identify the specific barriers to optimally utilizing specialty PC in this population.

Patterns of inpatient palliative care consultation for patients with brain and spine metastases.

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e24117-e24117
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Howell ◽  
Meghan Price ◽  
Tara Dalton ◽  
Theresa Williamson ◽  
Arif Kamal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Palliative Care ◽  
Brain Metastasis ◽  
Clinical Decision Making ◽  
Symptom Burden ◽  
Patient Specific ◽  
Spine Metastasis ◽  
Caregiver Support ◽  
Patient Demographics ◽  
Spine Metastases ◽  
Academic Center

e24117 Background: Patients diagnosed with brain and/or spine metastases (BSM) face high symptom burden and complex clinical decision-making. Through expertise in pain and symptom management, facilitation of end-of-life planning, and caregiver support, specialty Palliative Care (PC) can provide a crucial component of the care for these patients. No prior study has formally evaluated the rates of inpatient PC referral in BSM patients, nor the patient-specific factors that may affect consultation rates within this context. Methods: Analysis was performed of the rates of PC consults in a cohort of BSM inpatients admitted to three tertiary medical centers: one major academic center and two smaller affiliate centers. Patients were identified using a combination of ICD-9 and -10 codes and surgical provider lists to aggregate brain and spine metastases patient cohorts at each institution. Patient demographics, surgical status, and readmission data were collected. PC utilization was assessed by flagging encounters within which an inpatient consult to PC was placed. Results: 2608 total discharges were analyzed, with 2397 brain metastasis and 301 spine metastasis discharges. Average rate of inpatient PC consultation over the 3.5 year study period was 13.6% for brain metastasis patients and 11.0% for spine metastases patients. Rates of PC utilization differed significantly by patient race (11.6% in white vs. 17.0% in non-white patients, p = 0.02). Patients who received surgery had significantly lower rates of PC consultation in both brain (3.5% vs 15.6%, p < 0.001) and spine (5.5% vs 14.1% p < 0.001) cohorts. The large academic center had the lowest utilization as compared to two smaller affiliate centers, with 6.4% of brain and 7.6% of spine metastasis patients receiving PC consults. For both cohorts, Neurology was the discharging service with the highest rates of PC utilization, consulting PC for 37.7% of brain and 42.9% of spine metastasis patients respectively. Over time, PC utilization increased for brain, but not spine, metastasis patients. Conclusions: Despite their high symptom burden and low overall survival, BSM patients have low rates of inpatient PC consultation. Utilization appears to vary by patient demographics and surgical status, as well as discharging service and practice setting. These single-institution patterns may ultimately provide a microcosm for national patterns and trends at similar institutions, and further work is needed to identify the specific barriers to optimally utilizing specialty PC in this population.

Utilization of POCUS in a Specialist Palliative Care Setting: A Retrospective Chart Review.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amit Arya ◽  
John Roderick Davey ◽  
Achal Sharma ◽  
Naheed Dosani ◽  
Dilnoor Grewal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Palliative Care ◽  
Chart Review ◽  
Care Setting ◽  
Point Of Care ◽  
Symptom Burden ◽  
Retrospective Chart Review ◽  
Care Utilization ◽  
Point Of Care Ultrasound ◽  
Specialist Palliative Care ◽  
Palliative Care Setting

Abstract Background: The use of Point-Of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) has increased rapidly across various medical disciplines due to technological advancements providing high quality POCUS units. POCUS can help clinicians at the bed side with information regarding patient management in real time. However, literature reveals scant evidence of POCUS use in Palliative Care. This study’s objective was to examine the use of POCUS in a specialist palliative care setting. Methods: A retrospective chart review was conducted from January 2018 to June 2019 to evaluate characteristics of patients for whom POCUS was utilized. These patients were identified through pre-existing logs and descriptive information was collected from the electronic health records. This included demographic information, life-limiting diagnosis, patient assessment location, diagnosis made with POCUS and, if applicable, volume of fluid drained.Results: We identified 126 uses of POCUS in 89 unique patients. 62 patients (69.7%) had a cancer diagnosis, with patients most commonly suffering from GI, Lung and Breast pathologies. 61 POCUS cases (48.4%) were in the outpatient setting. 81 POCUS cases (64.3%) revealed a diagnosis of ascites and 21 POCUS cases (16.7%) revealed a diagnosis of pleural effusion. Other diagnoses made with POCUS included bowel obstruction, pneumonia and congestive heart failure. During the study period, 52 paracentesis and 7 thoracentesis procedures were performed using POCUS guidance.Conclusion: We identified multiple indications in our specialist palliative care setting where POCUS aided in diagnosis/management of patients in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Further studies can be conducted to identify the potential benefits in symptom burden, patient & caregiver satisfaction and health care utilization in palliative care patients receiving POCUS.

scholarly journals Necrotizing fasciitis: presentation, microbiology and outcomes in a community hospital

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. 2471
Author(s):  
Mercy N. Jimenez ◽  
Emily S. Seltzer ◽  
Bhavana Devanabanda ◽  
Martine Louis ◽  
Nageswara Mandava
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Necrotizing Fasciitis ◽  
Clinical Decision Making ◽  
Community Hospital ◽  
Average Length ◽  
Retrospective Chart Review ◽  
Patient Characteristics ◽  
Clinical Decision ◽  
Blood Cultures ◽  
Average Length Of Stay

Background: Necrotizing fasciitis (NF) is an aggressive and often fatal, soft tissue infection. Delayed surgical therapy leads to worsened outcomes. This study evaluates the mortality, outcomes, and characteristics of patients with NF in a diverse New York City Community Hospital Network.Methods: Retrospective chart review from 2012 to 2019 using ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes of gas gangrene, Fournier’s gangrene, and necrotizing fasciitis was done. Of the 297 patients reviewed 28 met inclusion criteria of imaging findings, operative reports, and clinical diagnosis of NF by an attending surgeon.Results: On average patients in ER were seen by the surgical team within less than 12 hours. Most patients were debrided within 10 hours of surgical consultation and on average received 2.2 procedures. Of the wound cultures obtained 65.38% were polymicrobial in nature. The average length of stay was 17.4 days and 32% of patients required ICU admission. The surgical mortality rate was 7.61%.Conclusions: Necrotizing fasciitis is a rare entity and increasing provider knowledge on patient characteristics as well as the complexity of these patients and the types and number of procedures they require may help guide clinical decision making. We identified that while most of our patients had negative blood cultures on admission, those that had positive blood cultures had multiple organisms growing. Knowing that these patients are complex and likely require multiple procedures, prompt operative intervention is key.

scholarly journals Quantifying the Impact of Patient-Specific Factors and Disease Severity on Clinical Decision Making in Cuff Tear Arthropathy: A Case-Based Survey

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 276-285
Author(s):  
Adam P. Schumaier ◽  
Yehia H. Bedeir ◽  
Joshua S. Dines ◽  
Keith Kenter ◽  
Lawrence V. Gulotta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Disease Severity ◽  
Clinical Decision Making ◽  
Clinical Decision ◽  
Patient Specific ◽  
Cuff Tear Arthropathy ◽  
Cuff Tear ◽  
Specific Factors ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Case Based

Reversibility of Delirium in Palliative Care (DRAFT)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiffany Shaw ◽  
Eric Prommer
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Palliative Care ◽  
Clinical Case ◽  
Clinical Decision Making ◽  
Clinical Decision ◽  
Factors Associated ◽  
Frequent Event ◽  
Study Intervention

Delirium is a frequent event in patients with advanced cancer. Untreated delirium affects assessment of symptoms, impairs communication including participation in clinical decision-making. This study used specific diagnostic criteria for delirium and prospectively identified precipitating causes of delirium. The study identified factors associated with reversible and irreversible delirium. Impact of delirium on prognosis was evaluated. This chapter describes the basics of the study, including funding, year study began, year study was published, study location, who was studied, who was excluded, how many patients, study design, study intervention, follow-up, endpoints, results, and criticism and limitations. The chapter briefly reviews other relevant studies and information, gives a summary and discusses implications, and concludes with a relevant clinical case. Topics covered include delirium, neoplasms, palliative care, polypharmacy, risk factors, and therapeutics.

Creation of a palliative care advanced practice registered nurse peer-review process

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (12) ◽  
pp. 596-602
Author(s):  
Patrice R. Fedel ◽  
Nicole E. Hembel ◽  
Lindsey M. Mueller
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Palliative Care ◽  
Peer Review ◽  
Professional Growth ◽  
Review Process ◽  
Clinical Decision Making ◽  
Peer Review Process ◽  
Clinical Decision ◽  
Advanced Practice ◽  
Case Review

The mark of a true profession is the ability to self-regulate. As such, advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) are challenged by their professional organisations to participate in self-evaluation and peer review. Peer review is a method for evaluating the care provided by the APRN to both ensure quality nursing care and promote professional growth. Despite guidelines to participate in a formal peer-review process, there is little information within the nursing profession on how to accomplish peer review. A comprehensive literature review failed to provide a framework for peer review that is practice focused, fosters a learning environment and encompasses the thought process and clinical decision-making of the palliative care advanced practice nurse. A group of palliative care APRNs set out to create a process that encompassed the breadth of clinical decision-making in palliative care advanced nursing practice. Using the eight domains of palliative care, a narrative case review structure was created. The resulting process both assisted the APRNs in professional growth and provided timely feedback for the annual performance evaluation.

Complementing sparse vascular imaging data by physiological adaptation rules

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maarten H.G. Heusinkveld ◽  
Robert J. Holtackers ◽  
Bouke P. Adriaans ◽  
Jos Op't Roodt ◽  
Theo Arts ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Decision Making ◽  
Mechanical Load ◽  
Wall Stress ◽  
Clinical Decision ◽  
Physiological Adaptation ◽  
Patient Specific ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Imaging Data ◽  
Artery Segment ◽  
Flow Waveforms

Introduction:Mathematical modeling of pressure and flow waveforms in blood vessels using pulse wave propagation (PWP)-models has tremendous potential to support clinical decision-making. For a personalized model outcome, measurements of all modeled vessel radii and wall thicknesses are required. In clinical practice, however, data sets are often incomplete. To overcome this problem, we hypothesized that the adaptive capacity of vessels in response to mechanical load could be utilized to fill in the gaps of incomplete patient-specific data sets. Methods:We implemented homeostatic feedback loops in a validated PWP model to allow adaptation of vessel geometry to maintain physiological values of wall stress and wall shear stress. To evaluate our approach, we gathered vascular MRI and ultrasound data sets of wall thicknesses and radii of central and arm arterial segments of ten healthy subjects. Reference models (i.e. termed RefModel, n=10) were simulated using complete data, whereas adapted models (AdaptModel, n=10) used data of one carotid artery segment only while the remaining geometries in this model were estimated using adaptation. We evaluated agreement between RefModel and AdaptModel geometries, as well as between pressure and flow waveforms of both models. Results:Limits of agreement (bias±2SD of difference) between AdaptModel and RefModel radii and wall thicknesses were 0.2±2.6 mm and -140±557 μm, respectively. Pressure and flow waveform characteristics of the AdaptModel better resembled those of the RefModels as compared to the model in which the vessels were not adapted.Conclusions:Our adaptation-based PWP-model enables personalization of vascular geometries even when not all required data is available.

Combination chemotherapy versus temozolomide (TMZ) for patients with MGMT methylated (m-MGMT) glioblastoma (GBM): Results of cellworks omics biosimulation—MyCare-015.

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e14501-e14501
Author(s):  
Michael Castro ◽  
Nirjhar Mundkur ◽  
Anusha Pampana ◽  
Aftab Alam ◽  
Aktar Alam ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Combination Therapy ◽  
Clinical Decision Making ◽  
Drug Effects ◽  
Standard Of Care ◽  
Clinical Decision ◽  
Phase Iii ◽  
Patient Specific ◽  
Experimental Therapy ◽  
Newly Diagnosed ◽  
Current Standard

e14501 Background: UKT-03 evaluated TMZ plus Lomustine in a single arm phase II trial in newly diagnosed GBM patients. An overall survival of 23 months was a substantial improvement over historical experience. Patients with m-MGMT v. unmethylated tumors had a 2-yr survival of 75% and median survival not reached compared to 20% and 12.5 months, respectively. These data formed the basis for NOA-9, a randomized phase III trial in newly diagnosed, m-MGMT GBM which randomized 141 patients to standard therapy or experimental therapy with Lomustine and TMZ every 6 weeks. A superiority for the combination was observed: 48.1 v. 31.4 months for the standard arm in the ITT analysis. Nevertheless, many neurooncologists are reluctant to adopt this approach. The current standard of care uses single biomarker, m-MGMT, in contrast to comprehensive pathway analysis (CPA). We sought to determine if CPA could discriminate more effectively among each patient’s likelihood of benefiting from combination treatment. Methods: Cellworks Singula employs a novel Cellworks Omics Biology Model (CBM) to predict patient-specific biomarker and phenotype response of personalized GBM avatars to drug agents, radiation, and targeted therapies. The CBM was developed and validated using PubMed to generate protein network maps of patient-specific activated and inactivated disease pathways. CBM was used to simulate the TMZ and TMZ-Lomustine therapies for each patient in a TCGA cohort of 368 GBM patients. Omics data including methylation, whole exome sequencing, and copy number alterations were input into CBM. The Singula Composite Inhibition Score (CIS) was calculated based on the measured quantitative drug effects. Results: Though incremental gain from the combination was seen in all patients, CIS varied across the population with relative scores ranging from 32-82, with best responders have more than twice the benefit. Conclusions: CPA shows that m-MGMT is an excellent biomarker for determining the likelihood of benefit from TMZ and lomustine, with the caveat that CBM identifies 18% could be spared from TMZ exposure and would benefit from Lomustine alone. Otherwise, these data lend support for evolving the standard of care with combination therapy for patients with m-MGMT GBM and should help overcome a reluctance to employing combination therapy. Additionally, CBM has utility to individualize clinical decision making. [Table: see text]

Appropriateness of Tympanostomy Tubes in the Boston Metropolitan Area: Are the AAO-HNSF Guidelines Being Met?

2017 ◽  
Vol 157 (6) ◽  
pp. 1041-1047 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy L. Hughes ◽  
David Roberson ◽  
Cassandra Bannos ◽  
Emily K. Trudell ◽  
Louis Vernacchio
Keyword(s):  
Chart Review ◽  
Clinical Decision Making ◽  
Retrospective Chart Review ◽  
Clinical Decision ◽  
Neck Surgery ◽  
Middle Ear Effusion ◽  
Tympanostomy Tubes ◽  
Risk Patients ◽  
Speech Learning ◽  
Ear Effusion

Introduction Otitis media (OM) is the most common reason children receive general anesthesia, with bilateral tympanostomy tube (TT) insertion the second most common surgery in children. Prior research suggests overuse of TT. As part of a project designed to improve appropriateness of OM referrals, we evaluated appropriateness of TT insertion in a patient cohort. Methods Patients younger than 9 years with initial otolaryngology (ORL) visits in academic and private office settings for OM from January 1, 2012, to August 31, 2013, were identified through claims database. A detailed retrospective chart review of patients undergoing TT insertion was performed to determine appropriateness of TT insertion per the 2013 American Academy of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) guidelines. Results A total of 120 patients undergoing TT insertion were randomly chosen for detailed chart review; 32 patients were excluded. Sixty-six (75%) of 88 patients available for analysis met AAO-HNSF guidelines for TT. Recurrent acute OM with middle ear effusion was the most common indication (56%). Other indications included chronic OME and TT in at-risk patients with speech, learning, or behavioral delays. Of the 22 patients undergoing TT insertion not meeting AAO-HNSF guidelines, 11(50%) had abnormal exams, but were 1 to 2 infections short of meeting guidelines; 7 (33%) had normal exams but met criteria for number of infections. Discussion Contrary to prior publications, 75% of patients undergoing TT insertion had an appropriate indication per AAO-HNSF guidelines. In only 5% was TT insertion a substantial departure from guidelines. Implications for Practice The study outcomes suggest appropriate clinical decision making, improved guideline adherence, and better guideline applicability from the previously published 1994 and 2004 guidelines.

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