scholarly journals Methicillin-ResistantStaphylococcus aureusColonization among Medical Residents

2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. e39-e41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pascale Trépanier ◽  
Claude Tremblay ◽  
Annie Ruest

BACKGROUND: Medical residents may be at risk of becoming colonized by methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus(MRSA) during their training. The occupational risk of this specific population is unknown. Furthermore, there are no data regarding MRSA colonization among health care professionals in Quebec.OBJECTIVE: To determine the MRSA colonization rate in Laval University (Quebec City, Quebec) medical residents and compare it with the MRSA colonization rate of a control group.METHODS: A controlled cross-sectional study of MRSA prevalence among medical residents of Laval University was performed. The control group consisted of Laval University undergraduate medical students without previous clinical rotations in their curriculum. After informed consent was obtained, participants were screened for MRSA with a nasal swab in both anterior nares. They also completed a questionnaire regarding relevant risk factors and demographic data.RESULTS: A total of 250 residents of all residency levels from medical and surgical specialties and 247 controls were recruited between February and April 2010. One case of MRSA colonization was detected among the residents and none in the control group (prevalence of 0.4% versus 0.0%; P=1.00).DISCUSSION: MRSA nasal carriage was very low among Laval University residents. This may reflect the decreasing rate of health care-associated MRSA in Quebec City. Young age and good health may also explain this low risk. The strict infection control policies for MRSA patients (including cohorting, use of gloves, gown and patient-dedicated equipment) may also contribute to prevent MRSA transmission.CONCLUSIONS: Medical residents in Quebec City appeared to be at very low risk of contracting MRSA through professional activities.

2003 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlton K. Erickson ◽  
Richard E. Wilcox ◽  
Gary W. Miller ◽  
John H. Littlefield ◽  
Kenneth A. Lawson

Objectives: Knowledge of addiction research findings is critical for healthcare professionals who treat addicted patients. However, there is little information available about the instructional effectiveness of lecture-slide presentations in changing knowledge vs. beliefs of such professionals. Design: A modified Solomon four-group experimental design was used to assess the instructional effectiveness (knowledge gain vs. belief changes) of threehour addiction science workshops presented to health-care professionals by neurobiologically-trained academic researchers. Effectiveness of the workshops was assessed by a 28-item questionnaire on participant versus control group knowledge/beliefs on addiction. Six-month follow-up questionnaires measured “retention” of knowledge and belief changes. Results: The workshop participants showed significant knowledge gain and belief changes, whereas the two control groups showed no change in knowledge or beliefs. After six months, knowledge gains decreased, but were still higher than pre-test scores. In contrast, belief changes on three subscales persisted over six months in 40 to 52 percent of the subjects. Conclusions: These results illustrate a successful continuing education model by which academic researchers who are skilled teachers present a three-hour lecture-slide workshop with extensive question-and-answer sessions on addictions. We conclude that motivated health-care professionals can experience important knowledge gains and belief changes by participating in such workshops. In contrast to the transient retention of knowledge, belief changes persisted surprisingly well for at least six months in about half the subjects. These results suggest that long-term changes in the professional orientation of these health-care workers are possible.


2009 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michel Tousignant ◽  
Patrick Boissy ◽  
Hélène Corriveau ◽  
Hélène Moffet ◽  
François Cabana

The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of in-home telerehabilitation as an alternative to conventional rehabilitation services following knee arthroplasty. Five community-living elders who had knee arthroplasty were recruited prior to discharge from an acute care hospital. A pre/post-test design without a control group was used for this pilot study. Telerehabilitation sessions (16) were conducted by two trained physiotherapists from a service center to the patient’s home using H264 videoconference CODECs (Tandberg 550 MXP) connected at 512 Kb\s. Disability (range of motion, balance and lower body strength) and function (locomotor performance in walking and functional autonomy) were measured in face-to-face evaluations prior to and at the end of the treatments by a neutral evaluator. The satisfaction of the health care professional and patient was measured by questionnaire. Results are as follows. One participant was lost during follow-up. Clinical outcomes improved for all subjects and improvements were sustained two months post-discharge from in-home telerehabilitation. The satisfaction of the participants with in-home telerehabilitation services was very high. The satisfaction of the health care professionals with the technology and the communication experience during the therapy sessions was similar or slightly lower. In conclusion, telerehabilitation for post-knee arthroplasty is a realistic alternative for dispensing rehabilitation services for patients discharged from an acute care hospital.Keywords: Telerehabilitation, Physical Therapy, Total Knee Arthroplasty, Videoconferencing


CJEM ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 347-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Fraser ◽  
Paul Atkinson ◽  
Audra Gedmintas ◽  
Michael Howlett ◽  
Rose McCloskey ◽  
...  

AbstractObjectiveThe emergency department (ED) left-without-being-seen (LWBS) rate is a performance indicator, although there is limited knowledge about why people leave, or whether they seek alternate care. We studied characteristics of ED LWBS patients to determine factors associated with LWBS.MethodsWe collected demographic data on LWBS patients at two urban hospitals. Sequential LWBS patients were contacted and surveyed using a standardized telephone survey. A matched group of patients who did not leave were also surveyed. Data were analysed using the Fisher exact test, chi-square test, and student t-test.ResultsThe LWBS group (n=1508) and control group (n=1504) were matched for sex, triage category, recorded wait times, employment and education, and having a family physician. LWBS patients were younger, more likely to present in the evening or at night, and lived closer to the hospital. A long wait time was the most cited reason for leaving (79%); concern about medical condition was the most common reason for staying (96%). Top responses for improved likelihood of waiting were shorter wait times (LWBS, 66%; control, 31%) and more information on wait times (41%; 23%). A majority in both groups felt that their condition was a true emergency (63%; 72%). LWBS patients were more likely to seek further health care (63% v. 28%; p<0.001) and sooner (median time 1 day v. 2-4 days; p=0.002). Among patients who felt that their condition was not a true emergency, the top reason for ED attendance was the inability to see their family doctor (62% in both groups).ConclusionLWBS patients had similar opinions, experiences, and expectations as control patients. The main reason for LWBS was waiting longer than expected. LWBS patients were more likely to seek further health care, and did so sooner. Patients wait because of concern about their health problem. Shorter wait times and improved communication may reduce the LWBS rate.


Author(s):  
Priscelly Cristina Castro Brito ◽  
Izaura Mariana Sobreiro ◽  
Dênia Amélia Novato Castelli von Atzingen ◽  
José Vitor da Silva ◽  
Adriana Rodrigues dos Anjos Mendonça

Abstract: Introduction: Death and dying are daily relevant themes for health care professionals and medical students. Nonetheless, since their first years of graduation, students are contrived to supplant the holistic conception of human beings and life in favor of enhancing the technical aspects of the medical profession. Methods: Therefore, in face of the few opportunities to enquire about these future professionals’ feelings and comprehensions toward life terminality, we pursued their perceptions through the application of a semi-structured questionnaire. Ten students from each year of the medical course at UNIVAS were interviewed, encompassing 60 scholars. Students should be regularly enrolled in the medical course, as well as give their consent, by signing the Consent Term, to participate in the study. The interviews took place at the institution and the material containing students’ responses was fully destroyed afterwards. Their responses were analyzed based on the Discourse of the Collective Subject Method. Results: The idea of terminality being properly the “end of life” was paramount among the years, situation with which a great amount of the scholars (58%) admitted not being prepared to deal with, due to the lack of reflections about death, its psychological aspects and repercussions in the academic context. Interestingly, about 16% of the scholars considered themselves prepared to deal with someone’s death, although they were not prepared to intervene in the actual process. This is reinforced by the fact that students must deal with the real scenario of giving undesirable news without previously being prepared to do so, by means of reflecting upon a hypothetical related to the “life-death binomial”. Conclusion: Thus, it seems necessary to create spaces in the curriculum that yield not only theoretical-practical but also affective support in situations related to terminality. The proposal of a theoretical-practical education based on palliative care amid the learning programs would shape confident attitudes of future health care professionals towards care.


2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-111
Author(s):  
Danielle Cobb ◽  
Timothy W. Martin ◽  
Terrie Vasilopoulos ◽  
Erik W. Black ◽  
Chris R. Giordano

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss a unique leadership curriculum developed at the University of Florida and its impact on the leadership skills and values of the anesthesiology residents since its conception. The authors instituted a voluntary anesthesiology residency leadership development program at their institution to fill a perceived gap in leadership training. Mounting evidence reveals that strong clinical leadership skills improve outcomes for patients and health-care institutions. Additionally, this growing body of literature indicates that optimal outcomes result from effective team behaviors and skills, which are directed through the requisite clinical leadership. Unfortunately, adding leadership training into the existing medical education curriculum is a formidable challenge regardless of the level of learner. Design/methodology/approach To evaluate learners, the authors used the Aspiring leaders in Healthcare-Empowering individuals, Achieving excellence, Developing talents instrument, which is a validated and reliable assessment of leadership competency in health-care professionals. In 2017, the authors surveyed the past five graduating classes from the department (classes of 2012-2016), using the two graduating classes before the program’s implementation as a historical control group. Findings The survey was sent to 96 people, of whom 70 responded (73 per cent). Those participants who usually or always participated in the program responded with higher leadership-readiness skills scores than those who occasionally, rarely or never participated in the program. Notably, those who had participated in another leadership development course at any time had higher skills scores than those who had never participated. Originality/value The study’s data provide evidence that residents who either, often or always participated in the leadership development program perceived themselves to be better equipped to become effective health-care leaders as opposed to residents who never, rarely or occasionally participated.


2014 ◽  
Vol 151 (5) ◽  
pp. 765-769 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil Bhattacharyya

Objective To determine the prevalence of dysphagia, reported etiologies, and impact among adults in the United States. Study Design Cross-sectional analysis of a national health care survey. Subjects and Methods The 2012 National Health Interview Survey was analyzed, identifying adult cases reporting a swallowing problem in the preceding 12 months. In addition to demographic data, specific data regarding visits to health care professionals for swallowing problems, diagnoses given, and severity of the swallowing problem were analyzed. The relationship between swallowing problems and lost workdays was assessed. Results An estimated 9.44 ± 0.33 million adults (raw N = 1554; mean age, 52.1 years; 60.2% ± 1.6% female) reported a swallowing problem (4.0% ± 0.1%). Overall, 22.7% ± 1.7% saw a health care professional for their swallowing problem, and 36.9% ± 0.1.7% were given a diagnosis. Women were more likely than men to report a swallowing problem (4.7% ± 0.2% versus 3.3% ± 0.2%, P < .001). Of the patients, 31.7% and 24.8% reported their swallowing problem to be a moderate or a big/very big problem, respectively. Stroke was the most commonly reported etiology (422,000 ± 77,000; 11.2% ± 1.9%), followed by other neurologic cause (269,000 ± 57,000; 7.2% ± 1.5%) and head and neck cancer (185,000 ± 40,000; 4.9% ± 1.1%). The mean number of days affected by the swallowing problem was 139 ± 7. Respondents with a swallowing problem reported 11.6 ± 2.0 lost workdays in the past year versus 3.4 ± 0.1 lost workdays for those without a swallowing problem (contrast, +8.1 lost workdays, P < .001). Conclusion Swallowing problems affect 1 in 25 adults, annually. A relative minority seek health care for their swallowing problem, even though the subjective impact and associated workdays lost with the swallowing problem are significant.


Author(s):  
Massimiliano Barattucci ◽  
Anna Maria Padovan ◽  
Ermanno Vitale ◽  
Venerando Rapisarda ◽  
Tiziana Ramaci ◽  
...  

Changes in the health care environment, together with specific work-related stressors and the consequences on workers’ health and performance, have led to the implementation of prevention strategies. Among the different approaches, those which are mindfulness-based have been institutionally recommended with an indication provided as to their effectiveness in the management of stress. The aim of the present study was to analyze the efficacy of the mindfulness-based IARA Model® (an Italian acronym translatable into meeting, compliance, responsibility, autonomy) in order to ameliorate perceived stress, anxiety and enhance emotional regulation among health care professionals (HCPs; i.e., doctors, nurses, and healthcare assistants). Four hundred and ninety-seven HCPs, 215 (57.2%) of which were women, were randomly assigned to a mindfulness-based training or control group and agreed to complete questionnaires on emotion regulation difficulties (DERS), anxiety, and perceived stress. Results showed that HCPs who attended the IARA training, compared to the control group, had better emotional regulation, anxiety and stress indices after 6 months from the end of the intervention. Furthermore, the results confirmed the positive relationship between emotional regulation, perceived stress and anxiety. The present study contributes to literature by extending the effectiveness of IARA in improving emotional regulation and well-being in non-clinical samples. Moreover, the study provides support for the idea that some specific emotional regulation processes can be implicated in perceived stress and anxiety. From the application point of view, companies should invest more in stress management intervention, monitoring and training, in order to develop worker skills, emotional self-awareness, and relational resources.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 1122-1129
Author(s):  
Margaret Fitch ◽  
Veronique Ouellet ◽  
Kittie Pang ◽  
Simone Chevalier ◽  
Darrel E Drachenberg ◽  
...  

Active surveillance (AS) has gained acceptance as a primary management approach for patients diagnosed with low-risk prostate cancer (PC). In this qualitative study, we compared perspectives between patients and health care professionals (HCP) to identify what may contribute to patient–provider discordance, influence patient decision-making, and interfere with the uptake of AS. We performed a systematic comparison of perspectives about AS reported from focus groups with men eligible for AS (7 groups, N = 52) and HCP (5 groups, N = 48) who engaged in conversations about AS with patient. We used conventional content analysis to scrutinize separately focus group transcripts and reached a consensus on similar or divergent viewpoints between them. Patients and clinicians agreed that AS was appropriate for low grade PC and understood the low-risk nature of the disease. They shared the perspective that disease status was a critical factor to pursue or discontinue AS. However, men expressed a greater emphasis on quality of life in their decisions related to AS. Patients and clinicians differed in their perspectives on the clarity, availability, and volume of information needed and offered; clinicians acknowledged variations between HCP when presenting AS, while patients were often compelled to seek additional information beyond what was provided by physicians and experienced difficulty in finding or interpreting information applicable to their situation. A greater understanding of discordant perspectives about AS between patients and HCP can help improve patient engagement and education, inform development of knowledge-based tools or aids for decision-making, and identify areas that require standardization across the clinical practice.


2018 ◽  
Vol 159 (20) ◽  
pp. 803-807
Author(s):  
Dorottya Bányai ◽  
Dániel Végh ◽  
Mihály Vaszilkó ◽  
Ádám Végh ◽  
Lili Ács ◽  
...  

Abstract: Introduction: Data proves that Hungary has a leading role in the statistics of oral cancer and patients living with type 2 diabetes. Aim: Our aim was to understand the statistical correlation between oral cancer and metabolic disorder (diabetes mellitus and impaired fasting glucose) due to the valuable data from the Semmelweis University. Method: We analyzed the data of 835 patients diagnosed with malignant oral cancer and 587 tumor-free control patients. We investigated the incidence and location of oral cancer among patients living with diabetes, and compared these datasets with our previous data from 14 years earlier. Results: We found that in oral cancer patients, 26.1% had diabetes and 20.8% had impaired fasting glucose; in the control group these ratios were 10.8% and 11.1%. This difference is significant (p<0.05). 14 years ago in the tumor group 14.6%, in the control group 5.6% had diabetes, while 9.7% and 5.5% had impaired fasting glucose. Lip cancer had the biggest incidence. Conclusions: The rise of type 2 diabetes in the tumor group was significant. This could be a burden for the health care system. We want to highlight the importance of interdisciplinary cooperation between health care professionals. Orv Hetil. 2018; 159(20): 803–807.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2731 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreia Costa ◽  
C Joana Sousa ◽  
Paulo Rosário Carvalho Seabra ◽  
Ana Virgolino ◽  
Osvaldo Santos ◽  
...  

Social prescribing (SP) is an approach that promotes the use of local non-clinical activities by people. The referral is usually made by primary health-care professionals, in a process wherein local providers play a pivotal role. The main objective of this study was to identify domains of intervention and evidence about the effectiveness of SP programs regarding health-related outcomes. A systematic literature review was carried out following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. A literature search was conducted in PubMed, CINHAL, and SCOPUS. Inclusion criteria of the reviewed papers were as follows: (i) effectiveness studies of interventions designated as SP or interventions entailing SP conceptual components; (ii) interventions with adults. Quality assessment was performed with the Cochrane tool for assessing risk of bias in randomized trials; an assessment tool developed by the US National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute was applied to observational studies. Overall, 13 articles were included for analysis, with a total of 4603 patients. Although three studies comprised a control group, only two followed a randomized controlled trials (RCT) design. Nine principal domains of intervention within SP were identified, with three categories of outcome measures: Physical and psychological wellbeing; Health behaviors and self-efficacy; and Health care resources end economic evaluation. SP is an emergent and promising health-care intervention, and it has been used to promote different health behaviors. Evidence of SP effectiveness on patient’s health and wellbeing is not strong. Further research is needed for understanding how SP can be applied efficiently.


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