Managing the complexity of doing it all : an exploratory study on students' experiences when trained stepwise in conducting consultations

Background: At most medical schools the components required to conduct a consultation, medical knowledge, communication, clinical reasoning and physical examination skills, are trained separately. Afterwards, all the knowledge and skills students acquired must be integrated into complete consultations, an art that lies at the heart of the medical profession. Inevitably, students experience conducting consultations as complex and challenging. Literature emphasizes the importance of three didactic course principles: moving from partial tasks to whole task learning, diminishing supervisors' support and gradually increasing students' responsibility. This study explores students' experiences of an integrated consultation course using these three didactic principles to support them in this difficult task. Methods: Six focus groups were conducted with 20 pre-clerkship and 19 clerkship students in total. Discussions were audiotaped, transcribed and analysed by Nvivo using the constant comparative strategy within a thematic analysis. Results: Conducting complete consultations motivated students in their learning process as future physician. Initially, students were very much focused on medical problem solving. Completing the whole task of a consultation obligated them to transfer their theoretical medical knowledge into applicable clinical knowledge on the spot. Furthermore, diminishing the support of a supervisor triggered students to reflect on their own actions but contrasted with their increased appreciation of critical feedback. Increasing students' responsibility stimulated their active learning but made some students feel overloaded. These students were anxious to miss patient information or not being able to take the right decisions or to answer patients' questions, which sometimes resulted in evasive coping techniques, such as talking faster to prevent the patient asking questions. Conclusion: The complex task of conducting complete consultations should be implemented early within medical curricula because students need time to organize their medical knowledge into applicable clinical knowledge. An integrated consultation course should comprise a step-by-step teaching strategy with a variety of supervisors' feedback modi, adapted to students' competence. Finally, students should be guided in formulating achievable standards to prevent them from feeling overloaded in practicing complete consultations with simulated or real patients

A comparison of an interferon-gamma release assay and tuberculin skin test in refractory inflammatory disease patients screened for latent tuberculosis prior to the initiation of a first tumor necrosis factor α inhibitor

Treatment with TNFα inhibitors increases risk of reactivating a latent tuberculosis\infection (LTBI). Therefore screening, prior to therapy with TNFα inhibitors, has been recommended, even in low-endemic areas such as well-developed Western Europe countries. We evaluated interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA), as opposed to tuberculin skin test (TST), for detection of LTBI in refractory inflammatory disease patients prior to the initiation of a first TNFα inhibitor. In addition, we evaluated the impact of impaired cellular immunity on IGRA. Patients starting on TNFα inhibition were screened for LTBI by TST and IGRA (Quantiferon-TB Gold). Data on tuberculosis exposure and Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccination were obtained. Cellular immunity was assessed by CD4+ T lymphocyte cell count. Nine out of 56 patients (16.1%) tested positive for LTBI. A concordant positive result was present in three patients with a medical history of tuberculosis exposure. Six patients with discordant test results had either: (1) a negative TST and positive IGRA in combination with a medical history of tuberculosis exposure (n = 1) or (2) a positive TST and negative IGRA in combination with BCG vaccination (n = 3) or a medical history of tuberculosis exposure (n = 2). CD4+ T lymphocyte cell counts were within normal limits, and no indeterminate results of IGRA were present. IGRA appears reliable for confirming TST and excluding a false positive TST (due to prior BCG vaccination) in this Dutch serie of patients. In addition, IGRA may detect one additional case of LTBI out of 56 patients that would otherwise be missed using solely TST. Immune suppression appears not to result significantly in lower CD4+ T lymphocyte cell counts and indeterminate results of IGRA, despite systemic corticosteroid treatment in half of the patients. Confirmation in larger studies, including assessment of cost-effectiveness, is required

Consensus guidelines for the use and interpretation of angiogenesis assays

The formation of new blood vessels, or angiogenesis, is a complex process that plays important roles in growth and development, tissue and organ regeneration, as well as numerous pathological conditions. Angiogenesis undergoes multiple discrete steps that can be individually evaluated and quantified by a large number of bioassays. These independent assessments hold advantages but also have limitations. This article describes in vivo, ex vivo, and in vitro bioassays that are available for the evaluation of angiogenesis and highlights critical aspects that are relevant for their execution and proper interpretation. As such, this collaborative work is the first edition of consensus guidelines on angiogenesis bioassays to serve for current and future reference

Cardiologische afwijkingen bij patiënten met lymeborreliose

Een cardiologische afwijking kan een uniek symptoom zijn bij patiënten met lymeborreliose. In de meeste gevallen gaat het hierbij om een hooggradige atrioventriculaire blokkade, wat monitoring van het hartritme noodzakelijk maakt. Aandacht voor de diagnose lymecarditis is van belang, omdat het aantal patiënten dat jaarlijks lymeziekte oploopt in de afgelopen twintig jaar ruim verviervoudigd i

Quantitation of Varicella-Zoster Virus DNA in Whole Blood, Plasma, and Serum by PCR and Electrochemiluminescence

We describe a highly sensitive assay for quantitation of varicella-zoster virus (VZV) DNA in blood, involving PCR amplification, solution hybridization with Tris-(2,2′-bipyridine)-ruthenium(II) chelate-labeled probes, and measurement by electrochemiluminescence (ECL). Extraction and amplification efficiencies were monitored by the inclusion of internal control (IC) DNA, mimicking the VZV target, in the DNA extraction. Viral DNA load was calculated from the ratio of VZV and IC ECL signals. The lower limit of sensitivity was 20 VZV DNA copies/ml of plasma or serum and 80 copies/ml of whole blood. In reconstruction experiments, expected and calculated VZV DNA loads were in excellent accordance. Blood specimens from 42 VZV-infected patients were tested for the presence of VZV DNA and showed detection rates of 86% in patients with varicella and 81% in patients with herpes zoster. In specimens obtained during the first week after onset of the rash, detection rates were 100 and 89%, respectively. Viral DNA was detected in all immunocompromised patients with herpes zoster, emphasizing the risk of disseminated disease in this patient group. VZV DNA load was similar in patients with varicella and multidermatomal herpes zoster and lower in patients with unidermatomal zoster. Despite the cell-associated nature of the virus, VZV DNA was detected in serum and plasma at high copy numbers, and at similar frequencies compared to whole-blood specimens. Quantitation of VZV DNA in blood is of potential importance for diagnosis and clinical management of VZV-infected patients. Plasma and serum provide convenient matrices for this purpose

Symptoms and treatment of Dientamoeba fragilis infection in children, a retrospective study

INTRODUCTION: Dientamoeba fragilis infection in children is common, and its incidence has increased since the introduction of more sensitive molecular techniques. There is no consensus on the optimal treatment. Current medical practice in the Netherlands is to treat symptomatic children with clioquinol or metronidazole. This study attempts to obtain more information about the clinical picture of D. fragilis infection in children and to evaluate responses to both antiparasitic drugs. METHODS: Children <18 years of age with a positive stool polymerase chain reaction test for D. fragilis infection were retrospectively evaluated. Clinical data and effectiveness of treatment were analyzed by examining patient's hospital records from the Medical Centre Leeuwarden by repeated analysis of stool samples by the Centre for Infectious Diseases in Friesland. RESULTS: We analyzed 238 patients with an average age of 8.5 years (±4.2 years). Most patients were symptomatic (95.8%) and presented with abdominal pain (72.7%), loose stools (32.8%) and hard stools (24.8%). Coinfection with other gastrointestinal pathogens was present in 29 patients (12.2%). A higher incidence of infection was found in the winter. Clioquinol had a higher clinical success rate than metronidazole (74.7% versus 55.2%, P = 0.047). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that clioquinol could be more effective than metronidazole in alleviating symptoms of D. fragilis infection in children, but double-blind prospective placebo-controlled studies should be performed before final conclusions can be made

Detailed kinetics of EBV-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells during primary EBV infection in a kidney transplant patient

The etiology of infectious mononucleosis is poorly understood and usually detected many weeks after infection. Here, we present a unique case of primary symptomatic EBV infection after kidney transplantation, in whom we analyzed both EBV-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in detail from the moment of infection up to latency. We show that EBV-specific T-cell responses in peripheral blood during primary EBV infection after kidney transplantation peaked early after the appearance of viral load, but well before onset of IM symptoms, suggesting that IM in this case is not caused by high numbers of CD8+ T cells per se but may be caused by lack of homing to lymph nodes or tonsil