Strategies to Improve Care Transitions between Nursing Homes and Emergency Departments

OBJECTIVE To identify testable solutions that may improve the quality and safety of care transitions between nursing homes (NHs) and emergency departments (EDs). DESIGN Structured focus group interviews. SETTING Group interviews took place in Indianapolis, Indiana. PARTICIPANTS NH administrators, nurses, and physicians; emergency medical services (EMS) directors, paramedics, and emergency medicine technicians (EMTs); ED nurses and physicians; and a representative from the Indiana State Department of Health. MEASUREMENTS Opinions, perceptions, and insights of participants. RESULTS 18 participants were included. The central theme was the need for additional structure to support care transitions between NHs and EDs. Participants agreed that the structure afforded by hospital-to-hospital transfers would benefit patients and providers during transitions between NHs and EDs. Because transfer forms currently vary from NH to NH, participants recommended that the entire state use the same form. They recommended that the transfer form be useful in both directions by including a section for the ED provider to complete to support the ED-to-NH transition. Participants suggested that systems use a transfer checklist to help ensure that all processes occur as expected. They strongly recommended verbal communication across care settings to complement written communication and to improve on deficiencies that occur with transfer form-only strategies. Notably, participants suggested that the different care sites engage in relationship-building efforts to improve compliance with recommendations (e.g., form completion) and collaborative problem solving. CONCLUSION Participants advised additional structure to NH-ED care transitions, similar to hospital-to-hospital transfers, that includes a 2-way, statewide transfer form; a checklist; and verbal communication

Correlates of cruelty to animals in the United States: results from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions

OBJECTIVE: To examine the sociodemographic, behavioral, and psychiatric correlates of cruelty to animals in the US. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data were derived from a nationally representative sample of adults residing in the US Structured psychiatric interviews (N=43,093) were completed by trained lay interviewers between 2001 and 2002. Personality, substance use, mood, and anxiety disorders and cruelty to animals were assessed with the Alcohol Use Disorder and Associated Disabilities Interview Schedule (DSM-IV) version. RESULTS: The lifetime prevalence of animal cruelty in US adults was 1.8%. Men, African-Americans, Native-Americans/Asians, native-born Americans, persons with lower levels of income and education and adults living the western region of the US reported comparatively high levels of cruelty to animals, whereas Hispanics reported comparatively low levels of such behavior. Cruelty to animals was significantly associated with all assessed antisocial behaviors. Adjusted analyses revealed strong associations between lifetime alcohol use disorders, conduct disorder, antisocial, obsessive-compulsive, and histrionic personality disorders, pathological gambling, family history of antisocial behavior, and cruelty to animals. CONCLUSIONS: Cruelty to animals is associated with elevated rates observed in young, poor, men with family histories of antisocial behavior and personal histories of conduct disorder in childhood, and antisocial, obsessive-compulsive and histrionic personality disorders, and pathological gambling in adulthood. Given these associations, and the widespread ownership of pets and animals, effective screening of children, adolescents and adults for animal cruelty and appropriate mental health interventions should be deployed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78171/1/sdarticle-1.pd

Efficacy of RTS,S/AS01E vaccine against malaria in children 5 to 17 months of age.

BACKGROUND: Plasmodium falciparum malaria is a pressing global health problem. A previous study of the malaria vaccine RTS,S (which targets the circumsporozoite protein), given with an adjuvant system (AS02A), showed a 30% rate of protection against clinical malaria in children 1 to 4 years of age. We evaluated the efficacy of RTS,S given with a more immunogenic adjuvant system (AS01E) in children 5 to 17 months of age, a target population for vaccine licensure. METHODS: We conducted a double-blind, randomized trial of RTS,S/AS01E vaccine as compared with rabies vaccine in children in Kilifi, Kenya, and Korogwe, Tanzania. The primary end point was fever with a falciparum parasitemia density of more than 2500 parasites per microliter, and the mean duration of follow-up was 7.9 months (range, 4.5 to 10.5). RESULTS: A total of 894 children were randomly assigned to receive the RTS,S/AS01E vaccine or the control (rabies) vaccine. Among the 809 children who completed the study procedures according to the protocol, the cumulative number in whom clinical malaria developed was 32 of 402 assigned to receive RTS,S/AS01E and 66 of 407 assigned to receive the rabies vaccine; the adjusted efficacy rate for RTS,S/AS01E was 53% (95% confidence interval [CI], 28 to 69; P<0.001) on the basis of Cox regression. Overall, there were 38 episodes of clinical malaria among recipients of RTS,S/AS01E, as compared with 86 episodes among recipients of the rabies vaccine, with an adjusted rate of efficacy against all malarial episodes of 56% (95% CI, 31 to 72; P<0.001). All 894 children were included in the intention-to-treat analysis, which showed an unadjusted efficacy rate of 49% (95% CI, 26 to 65; P<0.001). There were fewer serious adverse events among recipients of RTS,S/AS01E, and this reduction was not only due to a difference in the number of admissions directly attributable to malaria. CONCLUSIONS: RTS,S/AS01E shows promise as a candidate malaria vaccine. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00380393.

ED Procedural Sedation of Elderly Patients: Is It Safe?

OBJECTIVE: Emergency physicians routinely perform emergency department procedural sedation (EDPS), and its safety is well established. We are unaware of any published reports directly evaluating the safety of EDPS in older patients (≥65 years old). Many EDPS experts consider seniors to be at higher risk. The objective was to evaluate the complication rate of EDPS in elderly adults. METHODS: This was a prospective, observational study of EDPS patients at least 65 years old, as compared with patients aged 18 to 49 and 50 to 64 years. Physicians were blind to the objectives of this research. The study protocol required an ED nurse trained in data collection to be present to record vital signs and assess for any prospectively defined complications. We used American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status classification for systemic disease to evaluate and account for the comorbidities of patients. We used the Fisher exact test for the difference in proportions across age groups and analysis of variance for the differences in dosing across age and ASA categories. RESULTS: During the 4-year study, we enrolled 50 patients at least 65 years old, 149 patients aged 50 to 64 years, and 665 patients aged 18 to 49 years. Adverse event rates were 8%, 5.4%, and 5.2%, respectively (P = .563). The at least 65 years age group represented a greater percentage of those with higher ASA scores (P \u3c .001). The average total sedative dose in the at least 65 years group was significantly lower than the comparisons (P \u3c .001). CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated no statistically significant difference in complication rate for patients 65 years or older. There was a significant decrease in mean sedation dosing with increased age and ASA score