PureWick External Female Catheter

Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection (CAUTI) rates increased in FY21 compared to FY20, and many units continue to not meet their National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI) target goal even through FY22. A group of CentraCare stakeholders gathered, including bedside nursing staff, urology techs and nursing leadership, to discuss barriers and areas for opportunity. Representatives from BARD®, our urinary catheter supply company, were invited to conduct an analysis on our urinary catheter/ CAUTI reduction practices. Findings from the analysis included an opportunity to implement an external female catheter.https://digitalcommons.centracare.com/nursing_posters/1132/thumbnail.jp

Joseph Mulloy Interview

Transcript of an oral history interview with Joe Mulloy by Thomas Kiffmeyer on his experiences as a Appalachian Volunteer during the Vietnam War on November 10, 1990

Reduction of Cesarean Section Surgical Site Infections (SSI): Progression and Implementation of Evidence Based Practice

To improve cesarean section patient experience by reduction of postoperative SSI.https://digitalcommons.centracare.com/nursing_posters/1072/thumbnail.jp

Innovative Use of EHR to Support Admission Screening for Emerging Pathogens

CentraCare hospitals were the first in Minnesota to identify a patient with Candida auris (C. auris), an emerging pathogen. 2018 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state health department recommended adoption of enhanced admission screening process to allow for early identification of patients at risk of being colonized with C. auris/Carbapenem-Resistant Organisms (CROs). C. auris, a fungus, and CROs, comprised of organisms from the Enterobacteriaceae family resistant to carbapenems, are emerging multidrug resistant pathogens. Emphasis on identification and early isolation of at-risk patients decreases risk of transmission.https://digitalcommons.centracare.com/nursing_posters/1128/thumbnail.jp

A study protocol for the evaluation of occupational mutagenic/carcinogenic risks in subjects exposed to antineoplastic drugs: a multicentric project

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Some industrial hygiene studies have assessed occupational exposure to antineoplastic drugs; other epidemiological investigations have detected various toxicological effects in exposure groups labeled with the job title. In no research has the same population been studied both environmentally and epidemiologically. The protocol of the epidemiological study presented here uses an integrated environmental and biological monitoring approach. The aim is to assess in hospital nurses preparing and/or administering therapy to cancer patients the current level of occupational exposure to antineoplastic drugs, DNA and chromosome damage as cancer predictive effects, and the association between the two.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>About 80 healthy non-smoking female nurses, who job it is to prepare or handle antineoplastic drugs, and a reference group of about 80 healthy non-smoking female nurses not occupationally exposed to chemicals will be examined simultaneously in a cross-sectional study. All the workers will be recruited from five hospitals in northern and central Italy after their informed consent has been obtained.</p> <p>Evaluation of surface contamination and dermal exposure to antineoplastic drugs will be assessed by determining cyclophosphamide on selected surfaces (wipes) and on the exposed nurses' clothes (pads). The concentration of unmetabolized cyclophosphamide as a biomarker of internal dose will be measured in end-shift urine samples from exposed nurses.</p> <p>Biomarkers of effect and susceptibility will be assessed in exposed and unexposed nurses: urinary concentration of 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine; DNA damage detected using the single-cell microgel electrophoresis (comet) assay in peripheral white blood cells; micronuclei and chromosome aberrations in peripheral blood lymphocytes. Genetic polymorphisms for enzymes involved in metabolic detoxification (i.e. glutathione <it>S</it>-transferases) will also be analysed.</p> <p>Using standardized questionnaires, occupational exposure will be determined in exposed nurses only, whereas potential confounders (medicine consumption, lifestyle habits, diet and other non-occupational exposures) will be assessed in both groups of hospital workers.</p> <p>Statistical analysis will be performed to ascertain the association between occupational exposure to antineoplastic drugs and biomarkers of DNA and chromosome damage, after taking into account the effects of individual genetic susceptibility, and the presence of confounding exposures.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>The findings of the study will be useful in updating prevention procedures for handling antineoplastic drugs.</p

We are Ordered to Do Everything : The National Advisory Commission on Rural Poverty, American Social Thought, and the War on Poverty

On January 21, 1967, Berea College president Francis Hutchins was probably both apprehensive and amused as he addressed an intimate gathering of concerned activists in Berea, Kentucky. This particular group had assembled to discuss the problems or Appalachian Kentucky m the context of the not yet-three-year-old War on Poverty. After all, President Lyndon Johnson, when he announced his unconditional war on poverty in his State of the Union address on January 8,1964, had specified Appalachia in general, and, as revealed by his visit to Martin County, Kentucky, later that year, eastern Kentucky in particular, as a special area of concern. Now, as a member of the National Advisory Commission on Rural Poverty (NA CRP), created by Johnson\u27s executive order in September 1966 to examine that same War on Poverty, Hutchins certainly faced a daunting task. Hampered by racial violence and charges that local administrators of many of the War on Poverty programs abused their offices for their own political and economic gam, Johnson ordered the commission to expose the weaknesses and shortcomings in his Great Society programs. Among other responsibilities, the commission had to investigate everything from farm labor to cultural opportunities for rural families and the impact of these factors on migration from rural America to urban centers. Following that, the president required the organization to evaluate existing programs, policies, and activities to determine how well they met the needs of the rural poor. The commission, Hutchins hesitantly told those then congregated at what in actuality was an adjunct meeting of the NACRP is ordered to, it is really wonderful, we are ordered to do everything. The first is to make a comprehensive study and appraisal of everything that relates to ... current economic life. Now that is ... a pretty big order and I do not think the Commission is going to do it

Reformers to Radicals: The Appalachian Volunteers and the War on Poverty

The Appalachian Volunteers formed in the early 1960s, determined to eliminate poverty through education and vocational training and to improve schools and homes in the mountainous regions of the south-eastern United States. This book illustrates how the activists ultimately failed, mainly because they were indecisive about the fundamental nature of their mission. The AVs, many of them college students, were also distracted by causes such as civil rights and opposition to the Vietnam War. Despite some progress, the organization finally lost the support of the national government and, more important, of many Appalachian people, setbacks from which it never recovered.https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_united_states_history/1167/thumbnail.jp

Deficits in Cerebellum-Dependent Learning and Cerebellar Morphology in Male and Female BTBR Autism Model Mice

Recently, there has been increased interest in the role of the cerebellum in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). To better understand the pathophysiological role of the cerebellum in ASD, it is necessary to have a variety of mouse models that have face validity for cerebellar disruption in humans. Here, we add to the literature on the cerebellum in mouse models of autism with the characterization of the cerebellum in the idiopathic BTBR T + Itpr3tf/J (BTBR) inbred mouse strain, which has behavioral phenotypes that are reminiscent of ASD in patients. When we examined both male and female BTBR mice in comparison to C57BL/6J (C57) controls, we noted that both sexes of BTBR mice showed motor coordination deficits characteristic of cerebellar dysfunction, but only the male mice showed differences in delay eyeblink conditioning, a cerebellum-dependent learning task that is known to be disrupted in ASD patients. Both male and female BTBR mice showed considerable expansion of, and abnormal foliation in, the cerebellum vermis&mdash;including a significant expansion of specific lobules in the anterior cerebellum. In addition, we found a slight but significant decrease in Purkinje cell density in both male and female BTBR mice, irrespective of the lobule. Finally, there was a marked reduction of Purkinje cell dendritic spine density in both male and female BTBR mice. These findings suggest that, for the most part, the BTBR mouse model phenocopies many of the characteristics of the subpopulation of ASD patients that have a hypertrophic cerebellum. We discuss the significance of strain differences in the cerebellum as well as the importance of this first effort to identify both similarities and differences between male and female BTBR mice with regard to the cerebellum