Evaluation of anaphylaxis recurrence and adrenaline autoinjector use in childhood

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. e96-e100
Author(s):  
Irem Turgay Yagmur ◽  
Ozge Yilmaz Topal ◽  
Ilknur Kulhas Celik ◽  
Muge Toyran ◽  
Ersoy Civelek ◽  
...  

Introduction: Limited data are available on recurrent anaphylaxis in childhood. Delayed adrenaline administration is the major cause of deaths due to anaphylaxis. As well as prescribing the adrenaline autoinjector (AAI), it is important to make sure that the patient carries the device at all times and uses it correctly for the appropriate indication. Objective: The aim of our study was to evaluate the recurrence of anaphylaxis and AAI use in childhood. Methods: Pediatric patients who were evaluated for anaphylaxis and prescribed AAI between January 2015 and December 2018, in the pediatric allergy and immunology clinic of our hospital were screened retrospectively. A telephone-based survey was conducted with the parents of the patients to investigate the recurrence of anaphylaxis in patients and the use of AAI by their parents for the management of anaphylaxis. Results: A total of 148 patients (64.9% boys) were prescribed an AAI for anaphylaxis. The telephone survey could be conducted with 111 parents (75%) with an AAI prescription. Of these patients, 23.4% (n = 26) of the parents reported that their children experienced recurrent episodes of anaphylaxis. In the recurrent anaphylaxis cases, the triggers were foods in 77%, venoms in 11.5%, drugs in 3.8%, and idiopathic anaphylaxis in 7.7% of the patients. AAI use at the time of anaphylaxis was reported by 42.3% of the parents. The reasons cited by the parents for not using AAI during an episode of anaphylaxis included the preference to have adrenaline administered at a health care facility because of its proximity (60%), fear of using the device (13.3%), hesitation (6.7%), not having the device with them (13.3%), and unavailability of the device (6.7%). Conclusion: Educating the patients and families about the importance of using AAI is crucial, and training on how to use the device should be repeated at each clinic visit and every opportunity.

2003 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 381-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
John L Hick ◽  
Paul Penn ◽  
Dan Hanfling ◽  
Mark A Lappe ◽  
Dan O'Laughlin ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (SPL1) ◽  
pp. 380-384
Author(s):  
Priyanka Paul Madhu ◽  
Yojana Patil ◽  
Aishwarya Rajesh Shinde ◽  
Sangeeta Kumar ◽  
Pratik Phansopkar

disease in 2019, also called COVID-19, which has been widely spread worldwide had given rise to a pandemic situation. The public health emergency of international concern declared the agent as the (SARS-CoV-2) the severe acute respiratory syndrome and the World Health Organization had activated significant surveillance to prevent the spread of this infection across the world. Taking into the account about the rigorousness of COVID-19, and in the spark of the enormous dedication of several dental associations, it is essential to be enlightened with the recommendations to supervise dental patients and prevent any of education to the dental graduates due to institutional closure. One of the approaching expertise that combines technology, communications and health care facilities are to refine patient care, it’s at the cutting edge of the present technological switch in medicine and applied sciences. Dentistry has been improved by cloud technology which has refined and implemented various methods to upgrade electronic health record system, educational projects, social network and patient communication. Technology has immensely saved the world. Economically and has created an institutional task force to uplift the health care service during the COVID 19 pandemic crisis. Hence, the pandemic has struck an awakening of the practice of informatics in a health care facility which should be implemented and updated at the highest priority.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Salma Khalid ◽  
Najibul Haq ◽  
Zia-ul-Ain Sabiha ◽  
Abdul Latif ◽  
Muhammad Amjad Khan ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Hospital waste management (HWM) practices are the core need to run a proper health care facility. This study encompasses the HWM practices in teaching hospitals of Peshawar, Pakistan and examine the enforcement of Pak HWM (2005) rules and risks through transmission of pathogens via blood fluids, air pollution during waste incineration and injuries occurring in conjunction with open burning and dumping. Methods A questionnaire based on World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations was used to survey the selected private and public teaching hospital (n = 16). Site visits and personnel observations were also included in the data. It was spatio-statistically analyzed using descriptive statistics, Krushkal-wallis and Fisher’s exact tests. Results The findings revealed that the lack of HWM practices in all surveyed hospitals (p > 0.05), besides statistical difference (p < 0.017) in waste generation/day. No proper segregation of waste from generation point to final disposal was practiced. However, the performance of private teaching hospitals (50%) was found better in terms of HWM personnel and practices. In surveyed hospitals, only nine hospitals (56.3%) were found with the incinerator facility while rest of the hospitals (43.7%) practiced open dumping. Moreover, operational parameters of the incinerators were not found satisfactory and located in densely populated areas and emitting hazardous gases. Conclusion Proper HWM practices are not being followed in the light of WHO guidelines. Hospital waste impose serious menace to healthcare workers and to nearby population. WHO issued documents for improving HWM practices but triggered no change in Pakistan. To improve the situation, insights in this context is need for enforcement of rules.


Author(s):  
Elena Grossman ◽  
Michelle Hathaway ◽  
Amber Khan ◽  
Apostolis Sambanis ◽  
Samuel Dorevitch

Abstract Objectives: Little is known about how flood risk of health-care facilities (HCFs) is evaluated by emergency preparedness professionals and HCFs administrators. This study assessed knowledge of emergency preparedness and HCF management professionals regarding locations of floodplains in relation to HCFs. A Web-based interactive map of floodplains and HCF was developed and users of the map were asked to evaluate it. Methods: An online survey was completed by administrators of HCFs and public health emergency preparedness professionals in Illinois, before and after an interactive online map of floodplains and HCFs was provided. Results: Forty Illinois HCFs located in floodplains were identified, including 12 long-term care facilities. Preparedness professionals have limited knowledge of whether local HCFs were in floodplains, and few reported availability of geographic information system (GIS) resources at baseline. Respondents intended to use the interactive map for planning and stakeholder communications. Conclusions: Given that HCFs are located in floodplains, this first assessment of using interactive maps of floodplains and HCFs may promote a shift to reliable data sources of floodplain locations in relation to HCFs. Similar approaches may be useful in other settings.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonja Klingberg ◽  
Esther M. F. van Sluijs ◽  
Stephanie T. Jong ◽  
Catherine E. Draper

Abstract Background Nurturing care interventions have the potential to promote health and development in early childhood. Amagugu Asakhula was designed to promote developmentally important dietary and movement behaviours among children of preschool age (3–5 years) in South Africa. An initial formative study in Cape Town found the intervention to be feasible and acceptable when delivered by community health workers (CHWs) linked to a community-based organisation. This study evaluated the delivery of the Amagugu Asakhula intervention by CHWs linked to a public sector primary health care facility in Soweto, as this mode of delivery could have more potential for sustainability and scalability. Methods A qualitative design was utilised to assess feasibility, acceptability, adoption, appropriateness, implementation, fidelity and context. CHWs (n = 14) delivered the intervention to caregivers (n = 23) of preschool-age children in Soweto over 6 weeks. Following the completion of the intervention, focus group discussions were held with CHWs and caregivers. Further data were obtained through observations, study records and key informant interviews (n = 5). Data were analysed using deductive thematic analysis guided by a process evaluation framework. Results The delivery of the Amagugu Asakhula intervention through CHWs linked to a primary health care facility in Soweto was not found to be feasible due to contextual challenges such as late payment of salaries influencing CHW performance and willingness to deliver the intervention. CHWs expressed dissatisfaction with their general working conditions and were thus reluctant to take on new tasks. Despite barriers to successful delivery, the intervention was well received by both CHWs and caregivers and was considered a good fit with the CHWs’ scope of work. Conclusions Based on these findings, delivery of the Amagugu Asakhula intervention is not recommended through public sector CHWs in South Africa. This feasibility study informs the optimisation of implementation and supports further testing of the intervention’s effectiveness when delivered by CHWs linked to community-based organisations. The present study further demonstrates how implementation challenges can be identified through qualitative feasibility studies and subsequently addressed prior to large-scale trials, avoiding the wasting of research and resources.


2002 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 319-321
Author(s):  
Hassen A. Sayeed

In M.A.K. v. Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center, the Illinois Supreme Court reversed the appellate court and held that the phrase any physician, medical practitioner, hospital, clinic, health care facility or other medical or medically related facility, in a patient's signed consent form met the general designation requirement of the Code of Federal Regulations for the release of alcohol and drug abuse treatment records. Thus, the Illinois Supreme Court held that the medical center's release of a patient's records did not violate the federal Confidentiality of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Patient Records regulations.


Author(s):  
Harsha Adnani ◽  
Akshay Khatri ◽  
Nirav Agrawal ◽  
Ernesto Molmenti ◽  
Madhu Bhaskaran

AbstractDuring the ongoing pandemic, there have been varying presentations of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection, with the concern that patients who are immunosuppressed (due to underlying medical conditions and/or therapies) are at higher risk of severe disease. We report the case of an elderly renal transplant recipient working in a long-term health care facility who was being monitored by weekly surveillance testing and tested positive for COVID-19 by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing, despite having no clinical symptoms. He recovered with supportive care, despite being on multiple long-term immunosuppressant drugs and having multiple comorbidities. Additionally, it was found that he did not mount an antibody response, when he tested negative by serologic testing. Through this case, we wish to highlight the unique clinical scenario of asymptomatic patients who may have an underwhelming immune response to COVID-19, but may nevertheless be an important source of dissemination. We further discuss the probable mechanism of such asymptomatic presentations in immunosuppressed patients, while reinforcing the importance of self-isolation of COVID-19 patients (particularly in asymptomatic health care workers).


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 2632010X2110253
Author(s):  
Paul Poku Sampene Ossei ◽  
William Gilbert Ayibor ◽  
John Taylor ◽  
Lawrence Agyemang ◽  
Kwabena Owusu Aninkora ◽  
...  

With the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) still in pandemic mode, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), the African continent has experienced continued growth in the total tally. According to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the virus has spread to almost all 54 recognized African countries. Figures from the CDC indicate that the highly affected countries include South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Algeria, Morocco, and Ghana (with more than 55 000 cases and 400 deaths as of the time of writing). The WHO and the United Nations have projected the ongoing pandemic could push medical practitioners toward high rates of clinical misdiagnosis. So far, the coronavirus pandemic has been more devastating and life-threatening than the usual seasonal flu. As of the time of writing, here is presently no proven vaccine or treatment for the disease, with the vaccines still under development; hence, a timely and accurate diagnosis could prove critical. Patients can also receive supportive care earlier if they are diagnosed early. Considering the fact that the coronavirus infection mimics the signs and symptoms of normal flu and other respiratory infections, a problem now emerges, where these symptoms are treated as manifestations of the deadly virus. This has caused a diagnostic dilemma in the absence of laboratory tests with new cases adding to the pool daily. In Ghana, many patients on suspicion of flu-like symptoms are sometimes denied the care so deserved due to the stigma associated with the disease, often in cases where laboratory tests are absent. This study is a postmortem report of a client who died while on admission at a private medical facility. It was an unconfirmed case of COVID-19, and the client was left unattended to and died, having spent 8 days on the ward. His test report was not done initially, but the diagnosis was purely based on suspicion. Nasopharyngeal swabs conducted on the fifth day of admission proved negative. Results became available on the day of the client’s demise. Postmortem findings established the actual cause of death, and it was not COVID-19 related.


2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 121-123
Author(s):  
Gian Luigi Marseglia ◽  
Elena Chiappini ◽  
Ilaria Brambilla ◽  
Amelia Licari ◽  
Maria Angela Tosca ◽  
...  

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