Indicators of Quality of Care in Individuals With Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury: A Scoping Review

Study Design: Scoping review. Objectives: To identify a practical and reproducible approach to organize Quality of Care Indicators (QoCI) in individuals with traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI). Methods: A comprehensive literature review was conducted in the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (Date: May 2018), MEDLINE (1946 to May 2018), and EMBASE (1974 to May 2018). Two independent reviewers screened 6092 records and included 262 full texts, among which 60 studies were included for qualitative analysis. We included studies, with no language restriction, containing at least 1 quality of care indicator for individuals with traumatic spinal cord injury. Each potential indicator was evaluated in an online, focused group discussion to define its categorization (healthcare system structure, medical process, and individuals with Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury related outcomes), definition, survey options, and scale. Results: A total of 87 indicators were identified from 60 studies screened using our eligibility criteria. We defined each indicator. Out of 87 indicators, 37 appraised the healthcare system structure, 30 evaluated medical processes, and 20 included individuals with TSCI related outcomes. The healthcare system structure included the impact of the cost of hospitalization and rehabilitation, as well as staff and patient perception of treatment. The medical processes included targeting physical activities for improvement of health-related outcomes and complications. Changes in motor score, functional independence, and readmission rates were reported as individuals with TSCI-related outcomes indicators. Conclusion: Indicators of quality of care in the management of individuals with TSCI are important for health policy strategists to standardize healthcare assessment, for clinicians to improve care, and for data collection efforts including registries

Efficacy of polyarginine peptides in the treatment of stroke: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Abstract Background Disparities exist regarding an efficient treatment for stroke. Polyarginines have shown promising neuroprotective properties based on available published studies. Thus, the present study aims to systemically review and analyze existing evidence regarding polyarginine's administration efficacy in animal stroke models. Method Medline, Scopus, Embase, and Web of Science were systematically searched, in addition to manual search. Inclusion criteria were administrating polyarginine peptides in stroke animal models. Exclusion criteria were previous polyarginine administration, lacking a control group, review articles, and case reports. Data were collected and analyzed using STATA 17.0; a pooled standardized mean difference (SMD) with a 95% confidence interval (CI), meta‐regression, and subgroup analyses were presented. Risk of bias, publication bias, and level of evidence were assessed using SYRCLE's tool, Egger's analysis, and Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation framework, respectively. Results From the 468 searched articles, 11 articles were included. Analyses showed that R18 significantly decreases infarct size (SMD = –0.65; 95% CI: –1.01, –0.29) and brain edema (SMD = –1.90; 95% CI: –3.28, –0.51) and improves neurological outcome (SMD = 0.67; 95% CI: 0.44, 0.91) and functional status (SMD = 0.55; 95% CI: 0.26, 0.85) in stroke animal models. Moreover, R18D significantly decreases infarct size (SMD = –0.75; 95% CI: –1.17, –0.33) and improves neurological outcome (SMD = 0.46; 95% CI: 0.06, 0.86) and functional status (SMD = 0.35; 95% CI: 0.16, 0.54) in stroke models. Conclusion Moderate level of evidence demonstrated that both R18 and R18D administration can significantly improve stroke outcomes in animal stroke models. However, considering the limitations, further pre‐clinical and clinical studies are warranted to substantiate the neuroprotective efficacy of polyarginines for stroke

Relationship of the optic nerve sheath diameter and repeated invasive intracranial pressure measures in traumatic brain injury patients; a diagnostic accuracy study

Objective: The purpose of this study was to quantitatively evaluate if the use of the optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) can be a suitable noninvasive surrogate approach for repeated invasive intracranial pressure (ICP) measures. Methods: The study used a sample of 22 adult patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) from an in intensive care unit (ICU). ICP levels were measured using the gold standard and recorded in cmH20. ONSD was measured using ultrasonography with 5.6-5.7 MHz linear probe and recorded in millimeters. The data analysis was done using STATA software version 15. Results: The results showed a strong positive correlation between ICP and ONSD (r = 0.743, p = 0.001). The accuracy of the sonographic ONSD declined over time, starting from a high of 90.9% at the baseline and declining to a low of merely 20.0% after 48 hours. Conclusion: These findings indicate that the ONSD approach could be very useful alternative and noninvasive method for monitoring ICP.  &nbsp