wHospital: a web-based application with digital segnature for drugs dispensino management

Hospital is the result of an information technology research project, based on the utilization of a web based application for managing the hospital drugs dispensing. Part of wHospital back bone and its key distinguishing characteristic is the adoption of the digital signature system, initially deployed by the Government of Lombardia, a Northern Italy Region, throughout the distribution of smart cards to all the healthcare and hospital staffs. The developed system is a web-based application with a proposed Health Records Digital Signature (HReDS) handshake to comply with the national law and with the Joint Commission International Standards. The prototype application, for a single hospital Operative Unit (OU), has focused on data and process management, related to drug therapy. Following a multifaceted selection process, the Infective Disease OU of the Hospital in Busto Arsizio, Lombardia, was chosen for the development and prototype implementation. The project lead time, from user requirement analysis to training and deployment was approximately 8 months. This paper highlights the applied project methodology, the system architecture, and the achieved preliminary results

The benefit of stress and coping research in couples for couple therapy

Stress and coping are imporant variables in understanding the quality and stability of close relationships. An increased number of approaches in the context of couple therapy and marital distress prevention have focused on these variables in order to gain understanding of the quailty and stabilty of close relationshisps. This review (1) highlights the most important findings on stress and coping in couples are summarized and examined how these findings have already and may further prominently influence couple therapy and prevention, (2) gives an overview of current therapy and prevention approaches that explicitly focus on coping issues and (3) emphasizes why an integration of coping concepts and the work on coping in couple therapy may be beneficial. It is suggested that everyday stress, outside the relationship, is highly predictive of relationship functioning as it may spill over to the relationship and empoisons martial quality. Thus the enhancement of coping, specifically dyadic coping, may be an important focus of couple therapy in an attempt to strengthen resources in couples

How effective are expressive writing interventions for adolescents? A meta-analytic review

This meta-analysis evaluated the effects of the expressive writing intervention (EW; Pennebaker & Beall, 1986) among adolescents. Twenty-one independent studies that assessed the efficacy of expressive writing on youth samples aged 10–18 years were collected and analyzed. Results indicated an overall mean g-effect size that was positive in direction but relatively small (0.127), as well as significant g-effect sizes ranging from 0.107 to 0.246 for the outcome domains of Emotional Distress, Problem Behavior, Social Adjustment, and School Participation. Few significant effects were found within specific outcome domains for putative moderator variables that included characteristics of the participants, intervention instructions, or research design. Studies involving adolescents with high levels of emotional problems at baseline reported larger effects on school performance. Studies that implemented a higher dosage intervention (i.e., greater number and, to some extent, greater spacing of sessions) reported larger effects on somatic complaints. Overall, the findings suggest that expressive writing tends to produce small yet significant improvements on adolescents' well-being. The findings highlight the importance of modifying the traditional expressive writing protocol to enhance its efficacy and reduce potential detrimental effects. At this stage of research the evidence on expressive writing as a viable intervention for adolescents is promising but not decisive

Effectiveness of expressive writing interventions with adolescents: A meta-analysis and exploration of mechanisms.

Expressive Writing (EW) is a brief, minimal cost intervention designed to improve health and psychological well being through cognitive and emotional elaboration of stressful experiences. EW involves writing about one\u2019s deepest thoughts and feelings several times for a short period. Writing repeatedly in an emotional way may affect health cognitive reappraisal and completion of a narrative. These mechanisms are hypothesized to lead to less rumination, a greater sense of meaning, and physiological changes, e.g., immune system improvements. Most studies of EW have been conducted with adults, but its simplicity suggests that it might help adolescents facing major stress. We present a meta-analysis of EW studies with adolescents that examined whether EW is effective for adolescents. We examined six outcome domains and conducted analyses for the whole sample and for specific subgroups (e.g., gender; those with high depressive symptoms). Combining 22 studies (25 effect sizes) of adolescents aged 10-18, we found a positive but small effect size adjusted for publication bias (g = 0.126, p <. 01). Students with high levels of emotional problems benefitted more; EW was most effective in outcome domains that required emotional regulation. A small study of 20 adolescents who wrote expressively for three days after the sudden death of a classmate provides additional evidence for this emotional regulation process. However, adolescents may not have the cognitive processes necessary to create narratives on their own and emotional issues may be left open. Although our findings are encouraging, we conclude that EW alone is not an effective intervention for adolescents, as they may need scaffolding from parents or counselors to aid them in cognitively processing stressful or traumatic events. More generally, our data suggest that EW may operate differently with vulnerable or younger populations

Expressive Writing: indicazioni, risultati di ricerca e applicazioni cliniche in psico-oncologia

Una rassegna sulle principali risultanze di ricerca relativamente alla tecnica della scrittura espressiva e alla sua efficacia con popolazioni cliniche quali i pazienti oncologici

Letting Oneself Go Isn't Enough: Cognitively Oriented Expressive Writing Reduces Preadolescent Peer Problems

Peer problems are a stressor for many early adolescents, and simple cost-effective tools for managing peer stress are needed. Expressive writing (EW) may be one such tool. With a sample of middle school children aged 12\u201314\ua0years (n\ua0=\ua0119; 53% males), this research evaluates whether cognitively oriented expressive writing (CEW), which focuses more on psychological self-distancing, improves personal well-being better than traditional EW, which focuses more on emotional disclosure. CEW - compared with EW -slightly enhanced long-term social adjustment for the entire sample, and increased positive affect for those early adolescents that reported more peer problems at baseline. These findings suggest that structured writing instructions with early adolescents may be key to improvements

Clinical presentation and initial management critically ill patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in Brescia, Italy

Purpose: An ongoing pandemic of COVID-19 that started in Hubei, China has resulted in massive strain on the healthcare infrastructure in Lombardy, Italy. The management of these patients is still evolving. Materials and methods: This is a single-center observational cohort study of critically ill patients infected with COVID-19. Bedside clinicians abstracted daily patient data on history, treatment, and short-term course. We describe management and a proposed severity scale for treatment used in this hospital. Results: 44 patients were enrolled; with incomplete information on 11. Of the 33 studied patients, 91% were male, median age 64; 88% were overweight or obese. 45% were hypertensive, 12% had been taking an ACE-inhibitor. Noninvasive ventilation was performed on 39% of patients for part or all or their ICU stay with no provider infection. Most patients received antibiotics for pneumonia. Patients also received lopinivir/ritonavir (82%), hydroxychloroquine (79%), and tocilizumab (12%) according to this treatment algorithm. Nine of 10 patients survived their ICU course and were transferred to the floor, with one dying in the ICU. Conclusions: ICU patients with COVID-19 frequently have hypertension. Many could be managed with noninvasive ventilation, despite the risk of aerosolization. The use of a severity scale augmented clinician management

Correction to: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing in Child and Adolescent Psychology: a Narrative Review (Current Treatment Options in Psychiatry, (2021), 8, 3, (95-109), 10.1007/s40501-021-00244-0)

The original publication of this article contained mistakes and the author would like to correct them. There is an error in the affiliation of author Isabel Fernandez. Isabel Fernandez is not affiliated to Catholic University. She is only affiliated to \u201cCentro di Ricerca e Studi in Psicotraumatologia (C.R.S.P.), Milan, Italy.\u201d The original article has been corrected