Effects of Art from the Heart on Nurse Satisfaction and Patient Well-Being

Introduction. Art programs have been shown to positively affect unit culture, quality of care, and nursing practices. Art interventions improve well-being, reduce stress, and enhance nurse-patient communication. Art from the Heart (AFTH) is an art program that provides art supplies, visual art, and patient About Me pages to patients, families and employees at University of Vermont Medical Center (UVMMC).Objective. Assess the efficacy of AFTH through nursing staff perceptions, understanding, and attitudes toward the program.Methods. Structured interviews were conducted on Baird 4, an adult inpatient ward, at UVMMC. A 19-question survey using Likert scales and short answer formats was administered to nursing staff. Questions assessed perceptions of effects of art on patient anxiety and pain, communication, and job satisfaction. Surveys were analyzed to extract major and minor themes.Results. Twenty-eight interviews were obtained and two major themes emerged: nurse satisfaction and patient well-being. Nursing staff satisfaction minor themes included improved productivity, promoting conversation, and creating a positive influence on the unit. Respondents reported that AFTH helped initiate conversations with patients (100% of respondents) and reduced workday stress (68%). The second major theme, patient well-being, included benefits to patients with dementia, providing comfort, and serving as an outlet or distraction. Utilizing AFTH improved perceived patient mood (100%), health (78.5%), and reduced patient anxiety (89.3%).Conclusions. AFTH provides positive benefits by reducing nursing staff stress and perceived patient anxiety; improving communication, perceived patient mood and health; and creating a sense of community. AFTH should be expanded to the entire 6 Community Agency: Burlington City Arts, Art from the Hearthttps://scholarworks.uvm.edu/comphp_gallery/1240/thumbnail.jp

Alcohol Abuse/Dependence in Motor Vehicle Crash Victims Presenting to the Emergency Department

Objective: 1) To determine the prevalence of current alcohol abuse/alcohol dependence (AA/AD) among the full injury range of ED motor vehicle crash (MVC) patients; and 2) compare AA/AD and non-AA/AD patient characteristics. Methods: This was a prospective cohort study using a stratified random sample of MVC patients aged ≥18 years presenting to a university hospital and university-affiliated community hospital ED from May 1, 1992, to August 30, 1994. A diagnosis of current AA/AD was based on the alcohol section of the Diagnostic Interview Survey (DIS). Other measurements included the presence of blood alcohol (BAC +), Injury Severity Score (ISS-85), occupant status (driver/passenger), age, gender, seat belt use, culpability for crash, and ED disposition (admitted vs released). A weighted prevalence was determined; subgroups were compared using t-tests, Χ 2 . 2-factor analysis, and logistic regression modeling; Α = 0.05. Results: 1,161 patients were studied. The weighted prevalence of current AA/AD was 22.5%; 53% of these patients were released from the ED. Almost 45% of the patients with current AA/AD were BAC —. When controlling for BAC and AA/AD, greater injury severity and culpability were associated with a BAC +, but not with current AA/AD. Conclusion: Almost 23% of ED MVC patients have current AA/AD; BAC testing does not accurately identify these patients. Intervention strategies must be directed to both admitted and released patients.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73408/1/j.1553-2712.1997.tb03545.x.pd

Deep-sea scleractinian coral age and depth distributions in the northwest Atlantic for the last 225,000 years

Author Posting. © University of Miami - Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, 2007. This article is posted here by permission of University of Miami - Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Bulletin of Marine Science 81 (2007): 371-391.Deep-sea corals have grown for over 200,000 yrs on the New England Seamounts in the northwest Atlantic, and this paper describes their distribution both with respect to depth and time. Many thousands of fossil scleractinian corals were collected on a series of cruises from 2003-2005; by contrast, live ones were scarce. On these seamounts, the depth distribution of fossil Desmophyllum dianthus (Esper, 1794) is markedly different to that of the colonial scleractinian corals, extending 750 m deeper in the water column to a distinct cut-off at 2500 m. This cut-off is likely to be controlled by the maximum depth of a notch-shaped feature in the seamount morphology. The ages of D. dianthus corals as determined by U-series measurements range from modern to older than 200,000 yrs. The age distribution is not constant over time, and most corals have ages from the last glacial period. Within the glacial period, increases in coral population density at Muir and Manning Sea-mounts coincided with times at which large-scale ocean circulation changes have been documented in the deep North Atlantic. Ocean circulation changes have an effect on coral distributions, but the cause of the link is not known.We gratefully acknowledge the support of The Comer Foundation for Abrupt Climate Change, The Henry Luce Foundation, The American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund, NSF Grant Numbers OCE-0096373 and OCE-0095331, and NOAA OE Grant Number A05OAR4601054

Origin and distribution of epipolythiodioxopiperazine (ETP) gene clusters in filamentous ascomycetes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Genes responsible for biosynthesis of fungal secondary metabolites are usually tightly clustered in the genome and co-regulated with metabolite production. Epipolythiodioxopiperazines (ETPs) are a class of secondary metabolite toxins produced by disparate ascomycete fungi and implicated in several animal and plant diseases. Gene clusters responsible for their production have previously been defined in only two fungi. Fungal genome sequence data have been surveyed for the presence of putative ETP clusters and cluster data have been generated from several fungal taxa where genome sequences are not available. Phylogenetic analysis of cluster genes has been used to investigate the assembly and heredity of these gene clusters.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Putative ETP gene clusters are present in 14 ascomycete taxa, but absent in numerous other ascomycetes examined. These clusters are discontinuously distributed in ascomycete lineages. Gene content is not absolutely fixed, however, common genes are identified and phylogenies of six of these are separately inferred. In each phylogeny almost all cluster genes form monophyletic clades with non-cluster fungal paralogues being the nearest outgroups. This relatedness of cluster genes suggests that a progenitor ETP gene cluster assembled within an ancestral taxon. Within each of the cluster clades, the cluster genes group together in consistent subclades, however, these relationships do not always reflect the phylogeny of ascomycetes. Micro-synteny of several of the genes within the clusters provides further support for these subclades.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>ETP gene clusters appear to have a single origin and have been inherited relatively intact rather than assembling independently in the different ascomycete lineages. This progenitor cluster has given rise to a small number of distinct phylogenetic classes of clusters that are represented in a discontinuous pattern throughout ascomycetes. The disjunct heredity of these clusters is discussed with consideration to multiple instances of independent cluster loss and lateral transfer of gene clusters between lineages.</p

Density anomaly in a competing interactions lattice gas model

We study a very simple model of a short-range attraction and an outer shell repulsion as a test system for demixing phase transition and density anomaly. The phase-diagram is obtained by applying mean field analysis and Monte Carlo simulations to a two dimensional lattice gas with nearest-neighbors attraction and next-nearest-neighbors repulsion (the outer shell). Two liquid phases and density anomaly are found. The coexistence line between these two liquid phases meets a critical line between the fluid and the low density liquid at a tricritical point. The line of maximum density emerges in the vicinity of the tricritical point, close to the demixing transition

A pragmatic effectiveness study of 10-session cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT-T) for eating disorders: Targeting barriers to treatment provision

Objective Ten‐session cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT‐T) for transdiagnostic eating disorders targets several barriers to treatment, including cost, therapist expertise, and lengthy wait lists. Method We used a case series design to investigate the effectiveness of CBT‐T delivered by trainee psychologists in a postgraduate training clinic. Participants were randomly allocated to commence treatment either immediately or after a 4‐week waitlist period. CBT‐T was delivered to 52 patients, by six different trainees under supervision. Measures of eating disorder cognitions and behaviours, quality of life, and general psychopathology were examined in completer and intention‐to‐treat analyses using multilevel modelling. Last observation carried forward was applied for abstinence, remission, and good outcome analyses to aid comparison with prior studies. Results Significant improvements, associated with medium to large effect sizes, were found for eating disorder cognitions, behaviours quality of life, and negative affect from baseline to posttreatment, and at 1‐ and 3‐month follow‐up. Attrition (38.5%) was comparable with other treatment studies. Conclusion Results provide evidence for the effectiveness of CBT‐T delivered by trainee psychologists for transdiagnostic eating disorder patients, thus tackling some important barriers for treatment. Longer follow‐up, randomised controlled trial designs, and moderator analyses will provide more robust evidence about which patients do best with a shorter therapy

Recognition of cancer warning signs and anticipated time to help-seeking in a population sample of adults in the UK

Background: Not recognising a symptom as suspicious is a common reason given by cancer patients for delayed help-seeking; but inevitably this is retrospective. We therefore investigated associations between recognition of warning signs for breast, colorectal and lung cancer and anticipated time to help-seeking for symptoms of each cancer. Methods: Computer-assisted telephone interviews were conducted with a population-representative sample (N=6965) of UK adults age greater than or equal to50 years, using the Awareness and Beliefs about Cancer scale. Anticipated time to help-seeking for persistent cough, rectal bleeding and breast changes was categorised as >2 vs less than or equal to2 weeks. Recognition of persistent cough, unexplained bleeding and unexplained lump as cancer warning signs was assessed (yes/no). Associations between recognition and help-seeking were examined for each symptom controlling for demographics and perceived ease of health-care access. Results: For each symptom, the odds of waiting for >2 weeks were significantly increased in those who did not recognise the related warning sign: breast changes: OR=2.45, 95% CI 1.47–4.08; rectal bleeding: OR=1.77, 1.36–2.30; persistent cough: OR=1.30, 1.17–1.46, independent of demographics and health-care access. Conclusion: Recognition of warning signs was associated with anticipating faster help-seeking for potential symptoms of cancer. Strategies to improve recognition are likely to facilitate earlier diagnosis

Some biases in the alcohol investigative process in traffic fatalities

This study compares data regarding alcohol involvement from police records and from chemical analyses of body fluids taken prior to or after death of 121 traffic fatalities in Washtenaw County, Michigan. Differences regarding the choice of who will or will not be screened for alcohol were found. The police and emergency room personnel were more likely to focus on males and drivers, while medical examiners were less biased. The police documented whether or not drinking took place in only 36% of the cases and suspected drinking in only half of these cases. Males and at-fault drivers were most likely to be investigated. Blood alcohol level was measured before death in 11 of 29 emergency room treated victims, with 10 (91%) positive samples. All but two of those tested before death were drivers, and all but one were males. After death, blood alcohol was measured in 47% of the 121 cases, with a higher proportion of males and motor-vehicle occupants tested, compared to females and pedestrians. Alcohol was detected in 63% of the samples. A lower mean blood alcohol concentration was found in victims who received intravenous treatment, and a higher proportion of positive samples was found in victims who died immediately in the crash. Thus, the frequency of alcohol-related traffic fatalities varied between the different data sources. The police records revealed 51%, the emergency records 91%, and the medical examiner records 63% with alcohol involvement. This wide discrepancy has the potential of leading to erroneous results here and possibly in studies done elsewhere. To avoid a bias in blood alcohol figures, the authors stress the importance of routinely investigating all severely and fatally injured traffic victims. To yield an accurate result, the sample should ideally be taken as soon as possible after the crash and prior to intravenous treatment.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/29822/1/0000168.pd

Building evidence into youth health policy: a case study of the Access 3 knowledge translation forum.

BACKGROUND: Effective integration of evidence and youth perspectives into policy is crucial for supporting the future health and well-being of young people. The aim of this project was to translate evidence from the Access 3 project to support development of a new state policy on youth health and well-being within New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Ensuring the active contribution of young people within policy development was a key objective of the knowledge translation (KT) process. METHODS: The KT activity consisted of a 1-day facilitated forum with 64 purposively sampled stakeholders. Participants included eight young people, 14 policy-makers, 15 academics, 22 clinicians or managers from NSW health services, four general practitioners and one mental health service worker. Research to be translated came from the synthesized findings of the NSW Access 3 project. The design of the forum included stakeholder presentations and group workshops, guided by the 2003 Lavis et al. KT framework that was improved by the Grimshaw et al. KT framework in 2012. Members of the Access 3 research team took on the role of knowledge brokers throughout the KT process. Participant satisfaction with the workshop was evaluated using a brief self-report survey. Policy uptake was determined through examination of the subsequent NSW Youth Health Framework 2017-2024. RESULTS: A total of 25 policy recommendations were established through the workshop, and these were grouped into six themes that broadly aligned with the synthesized findings from the Access 3 project. The six policy themes were (1) technology solutions, (2) integrated care and investment to build capacity, (3) adolescent health checks, (4) workforce, (5) youth participation and (6) youth health indicators. Forum members were asked to vote on the importance of individual recommendations. These policy recommendations were subsequently presented to the NSW Ministry of Health, with some evidence of policy uptake identified. The majority of participants rated the forum positively. CONCLUSIONS: The utilization of KT theories and active youth engagement led to the successful translation of research evidence and youth perspectives into NSW youth health policy. Future research should examine the implementation of policy arising from these KT efforts

Self-reported health of Australian Defence Force personnel after use of anti-malarial drugs on deployment

The Departments of Defence and Veterans’ Affairs commissioned UQ School of Public Health to use data from health studies of the ADF deployments to East Timor and Bougainville to investigate anti-malarial drug use and health outcomes.\ua0This report presents the results of a descriptive analysis of self-reported anti-malarial drug use on deployment and self-reported health.Personnel who used the drug mefloquine reported more symptoms of psychological distress than those who used other anti-malarial drugs. However, the average differences observed were below the threshold of clinical significance and based on a small sample size in the mefloquine group.\ua0Fifty-seven participants (1.6% of the sample)\ua0mentioned the use of anti-malarial drugs as a concern in response to open-ended survey questions