WHO guide to good prescribing is 25 years old:quo vadis?

Introduction: Twenty-five years ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) published the Guide to Good Prescribing (GGP), followed by the accompanying Teacher’s Guide to Good Prescribing (TGGP). The GGP is based on a normative 6-step model for therapeutic reasoning and prescribing, and provides a six-step guide for students to the process of rational prescribing. Method: We reviewed the need to update both WHO publications by evaluating their use and impact, including new (theoretical) insights and demands. Based on information from literature, Internet, and other (personal) sources, we draw the following conclusions. Results: 1. An update of the GGP and TGGP, both in terms of content and form, is necessary because of the current need for these tools (irrational medicine use and unavailability of medicines), the lack of similar documents, and the lack of connection with recent developments, such as Internet and modern education; 2. The basic (6-step) model of the GGP is effective in terms of rational prescribing in the undergraduate situation and is still consistent with current theories about (context) learning, clinical decision-making, and clinical practice; 3. The dissemination and introduction of the GGP and TGGP in education has been successful so far, but is still not optimal because of lack of support and cooperation. Conclusions: On the basis of the evaluation results, a plan for the revision of the GGP and TGGP is presented

The potential of training specialist oncology nurses in real-life reporting of adverse drug reactions

Specialist oncology nurses (SONs) have the potential to play a major role in monitoring and reporting adverse drug reactions (ADRs); and reduce the level of underreporting by current healthcare professionals. The aim of this study was to investigate the long term clinical and educational effects of real-life pharmacovigilance education intervention for SONs on ADR reporting. This prospective cohort study, with a 2-year follow-up, was carried out in the three postgraduate schools in the Netherlands. In one of the schools, the prescribing qualification course was expanded to include a lecture on pharmacovigilance, an ADR reporting assignment, and group discussion of self-reported ADRs (intervention). The clinical value of the intervention was assessed by analyzing the quantity and quality of ADR-reports sent to the Netherlands Pharmacovigilance Center Lareb, up to 2 years after the course and by evaluating the competences regarding pharmacovigilance of SONs annually. Eighty-eight SONs (78% of all SONs with a prescribing qualification in the Netherlands) were included. During the study, 82 ADRs were reported by the intervention group and 0 by the control group. This made the intervention group 105 times more likely to report an ADR after the course than an average nurse in the Netherlands. This is the first study to show a significant and relevant increase in the number of well-documented ADR reports after a single educational intervention. The real-life pharmacovigilance educational intervention also resulted in a long-term increase in pharmacovigilance competence. We recommend implementing real-life, context- and problem-based pharmacovigilance learning assignments in all healthcare curricula

Do medical students copy the drug treatment choices of their teachers or do they think for themselves?

PURPOSE: Although the importance of rational prescribing is generally accepted, the teaching of pharmacotherapy to undergraduate medical students is still unsatisfactory. Because clinical teachers are an important role model for medical students, it is of interest to know whether this extends to therapeutic decision-making. The aim of this study was to find out which factors contribute to the drug choices made by medical students and their teachers (general practitioners and clinical specialists). METHODS: Final-year medical students (n = 32), and general practitioners (n = 29), lung specialists (n = 26), orthopaedic surgeons (n = 24), and internists (n = 24) serving as medical teachers from all eight medical schools in the Netherlands participated in the study. They were asked to prescribe treatment (drug or otherwise) for uncomplicated (A) and complicated (B) written patient cases and to indicate which factors influenced their choice of treatment, using a list of factors reported in the literature to influence drug prescribing. RESULTS: Final-year medical students primarily based their drug choice on the factors 'effectiveness of the drugs' and 'examples from medical teachers'. In contrast, clinical teachers primarily based their drug choice on the factors 'clinical experience', 'effectiveness of the drugs', 'side effects of the drugs', 'standard treatment guidelines', and 'scientific literature'. CONCLUSIONS: Medical teachers would appear to base their drug choice mainly on clinical experience and drug-related factors, whereas final-year medical students base their drug choice mainly on examples provided by their medical teachers. It is essential that medical teachers clearly explain to their students how they arrive at a specific choice of medication since medical students tend to copy the therapeutic drug choices from their teachers, mainly because of a lack of experience. Presenting students with clinical therapeutic problems early during undergraduate training will not only give them a chance to gain experience in solving medical problems but will also give meaning to what they are studying as opposed to merely reproducing what they learn or copying what they are tol

How is VR used to support training in industry? The INTUITION network of excellence working group on education and training

INTUITION is the European Network of Excellence on virtual reality and virtual environments applications for future workspaces. The purpose of the network is to gather expertise from partner members and determine the future research agenda for the development and use of virtual reality (VR) technologies. The working group on Education and Training (WG2.9) is specifically focused on understanding how VR is being used to support learning in educational and industrial contexts. This paper presents four case examples of VR technology currently in use or development for training in industry. Conclusions are drawn concerning future development of VR training applications and barriers that need to be overcome

Robotic nipple-sparing mastectomy complication rate compared to traditional nipple-sparing mastectomy: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Breast cancer is worldwide the most common cause of cancer in women and causes the second most common cancer-related death. Nipple-sparing mastectomy (NSM) is commonly used in therapeutic and prophylactic settings. Furthermore, (preventive) mastectomies are, besides complications, also associated with psychological and cosmetic consequences. Robotic NSM (RNSM) allows for better visualization of the planes and reducing the invasiveness. The aim of this study was to compare the postoperative complication rate of RNSM to NSM. A systematic search was performed on all (R)NSM articles. The primary outcome was determining the overall postoperative complication rate of traditional NSM and RNSM. Secondary outcomes were comparing the specific postoperative complication rates: implant loss, hematoma, (flap)necrosis, infection, and seroma. Forty-nine studies containing 13,886 cases of (R)NSM were included. No statistically significant differences were found regarding postoperative complications (RNSM 3.9%, NSM 7.0%, p = 0.070), postoperative implant loss (RNSM 4.1%, NSM 3.2%, p = 0.523), hematomas (RNSM 4.3%, NSM 2.0%, p = 0.059), necrosis (RNSM 4.3%, NSM 7.4%, p = 0.230), infection (RNSM 8.3%, NSM 4.0%, p = 0.054) or seromas (RNSM 3.0%, NSM 2.0%, p = 0.421). Overall, there are no statistically significant differences in complication rates between NSM and RNSM

Establishing research strategies, methodologies and technologies to link genomics and proteomics to seagrass productivity, community metabolism, and ecosystem carbon fluxes

A complete understanding of the mechanistic basis of marine ecosystem functioning is only possible through integrative and interdisciplinary research. This enables the prediction of change and possibly the mitigation of the consequences of anthropogenic impacts. One major aim of the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action ES0609 “Seagrasses productivity. From genes to ecosystem management,” is the calibration and synthesis of various methods and the development of innovative techniques and protocols for studying seagrass ecosystems. During 10 days, 20 researchers representing a range of disciplines (molecular biology, physiology, botany, ecology, oceanography, and underwater acoustics) gathered at The Station de Recherches Sous-marines et Océanographiques (STARESO, Corsica) to study together the nearby Posidonia oceanica meadow. STARESO is located in an oligotrophic area classified as “pristine site” where environmental disturbances caused by anthropogenic pressure are exceptionally low. The healthy P. oceanica meadow, which grows in front of the research station, colonizes the sea bottom from the surface to 37 m depth. During the study, genomic and proteomic approaches were integrated with ecophysiological and physical approaches with the aim of understanding changes in seagrass productivity and metabolism at different depths and along daily cycles. In this paper we report details on the approaches utilized and we forecast the potential of the data that will come from this synergistic approach not only for P. oceanica but for seagrasses in general

The augmented value of using clinical notes in semi-automated surveillance of deep surgical site infections after colorectal surgery

BACKGROUND: In patients who underwent colorectal surgery, an existing semi-automated surveillance algorithm based on structured data achieves high sensitivity in detecting deep surgical site infections (SSI), however, generates a significant number of false positives. The inclusion of unstructured, clinical narratives to the algorithm may decrease the number of patients requiring manual chart review. The aim of this study was to investigate the performance of this semi-automated surveillance algorithm augmented with a natural language processing (NLP) component to improve positive predictive value (PPV) and thus workload reduction (WR). METHODS: Retrospective, observational cohort study in patients who underwent colorectal surgery from January 1, 2015, through September 30, 2020. NLP was used to detect keyword counts in clinical notes. Several NLP-algorithms were developed with different count input types and classifiers, and added as component to the original semi-automated algorithm. Traditional manual surveillance was compared with the NLP-augmented surveillance algorithms and sensitivity, specificity, PPV and WR were calculated. RESULTS: From the NLP-augmented models, the decision tree models with discretized counts or binary counts had the best performance (sensitivity 95.1% (95%CI 83.5-99.4%), WR 60.9%) and improved PPV and WR by only 2.6% and 3.6%, respectively, compared to the original algorithm. CONCLUSIONS: The addition of an NLP component to the existing algorithm had modest effect on WR (decrease of 1.4-12.5%), at the cost of sensitivity. For future implementation it will be a trade-off between optimal case-finding techniques versus practical considerations such as acceptability and availability of resources

Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Surgical Breast Cancer Care in the Netherlands: A Multicenter Retrospective Cohort Study

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has put a strain on regular healthcare worldwide. In the Netherlands, the national screening programs, including for breast cancer, were halted temporarily. This posed a challenge to breast cancer care, because ∼40% of cases are detected through national screening. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the surgical care of patients with breast cancer in the Netherlands. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present multicenter retrospective cohort study investigated the effects of COVID-19 on patients with breast cancer who had undergone surgery from March 9 to May 17, 2020. The primary endpoints were the number of surgical procedures performed during the study period, tumor characteristics, surgery type, and route of referral. The secondary endpoint was the incidence of postoperative complications during the study period. RESULTS: A total of 217 consecutive patients with breast cancer requiring surgery were included. We found an overall decrease in the number of patients with breast cancer who were undergoing surgery. The most significant decline was seen in surgery for T1-T2 and N0 tumors. A decline in the number of referrals from both the national screening program and general practitioners was observed. The incidence of postoperative complications remained stable during the study period. CONCLUSIONS: The temporary halt of the national screening program for breast cancer resulted in fewer surgical procedures during the study period and a pronounced decrease in surgery of the lower tumor stages