Clinical practice guidelines in pediatric anesthesia: What constitutes high‐quality guidance?

The explosion of scientific evidence has outstripped the ability of individual clinicians to acquire, process, and apply it within a clinical context. Clinical practice guidelines bridge the gap between this large body of evidence and clinical practice by translating evidence into recommendations. As such, they are an important extension of the evidence‐based medicine paradigm. Guidelines promise to translate evidence into actionable clinical recommendations. However, this promise can only be realized if they are both useful and trustworthy. As the number of guidelines increases users’ question their role, the quality of the scientific evidence behind them and the strength of the recommendations made. In this article, we provide definitions and outline the features of the common forms of clinical guidance. We then describe the essential characteristics of good quality clinical guidance and outline initiatives aimed at improving quality. Specific issues and limitations related to guideline development in perioperative care of children are discussed. Finally, two clinical guidance documents, published recently in Pediatric Anesthesia, are discussed based upon these criteria.     

高危胃肠间质瘤的临床病理特征及预后分析

目的分析高危胃肠间质瘤（GIST）临床特征及预后影响因素。 方法回顾性分析2009年8月至2016年2月乐山市人民医院收治的241例高危GIST患者临床资料,分析其临床特征及预后影响因素。 结果男女比例为1.131,年龄构成以中老年为主,40岁以上人群构成比达90.87%（219/241）。原发部位以胃和小肠为主,胃50例（20.75%）,小肠121例（50.21%）。首发症状以消化道症状为主,临床表现不典型。R0切除232例（96.27%）,术后复发转移率为25.31%（61/241）,1、3、5年无复发生存率分别为97.23%、86.56%和75.86%,无复发生存时间为（53.12±13.08）个月。肿瘤最大径（RR=4.780,95% CI：3.716~6.052）、核分裂像（RR=5.411,95% CI：2.195~7.119）是影响高危GIST 5年无复发生存率的独立危险因素,服用靶向药物是保护因素（RR=0.504,95% CI：0.288~0.883）,差异有统计学意义（P<0.001）。 结论高危GIST临床特征不明显,预后受核分裂像、肿瘤最大径和服用靶向药物影响。     

Foot care knowledge,attitudes and practices among patients with diabetic foot and amputation in St. Kitts and Nevis

About one‐third of admissions to the surgical unit annually are diabetes foot infections in need of amputation In St. Kitts and Nevis. However, the risk factors related to diabetes foot and amputation remain unknown. This study investigated factors associated with diabetic foot and amputation (DFA). Retrospective case control study design, and purposive and quota sampling method was used to recruit the participants. Patients with and without DFA were interviewed at two main hospitals, several primary health centres, and a private doctor's office during July and August 2018. Self‐development questionnaires were applied to assess patients' demographic, physical and behaviour, foot care knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to DFA. Chi‐square, t‐test, and multiple logistic regressions were used to analyse the data. A total of 210 patients were evaluated, 89 had DFA, while 121 did not, with a mean age of 61.10 (SD = 11.85). Participants' responses indicated good knowledge, favourable attitudes, and adequate practices related to foot care. The two items of the questionnaire, ways to maintain blood flow in the lower extremities and wash their feet daily, had significant lower score in DFA group. In multiple logistic regression, knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to foot care were not a significant predictor of DFA. Being male was a predictor of DFA than female (OR = 3.53; 95% CI = 1.65‐7.57; P < .01). Participants who were currently unemployed were less likely to have DFA than those who were employed (OR = 0.38; 95% Cl = 0.17‐0.86; P < .05). Comparing patients with the longest experience of diabetes mellitus (31 years or more) with those who had diabetes for the shortest period of time (between 1 and 10 years) was less likely to have DFA (OR = 0.38; 95% CI = 0.15‐0.97; P = <.05). The combination of these independent variables could explain 29% of the variance in DFA. Based on these findings, strategies to prevent diabetic foot and amputation should focus on male and outdoor heavy worker, and longer duration of diabetes patients which are identified in this study.     

Using preference learning for detecting inconsistencies in clinical practice guidelines: Methods and application to antibiotherapy

Clinical practice guidelines provide evidence-based recommendations. However, many problems are reported, such as contradictions and inconsistencies. For example, guidelines recommend sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim in child sinusitis, but they also state that there is a high bacteria resistance in this context. In this paper, we propose a method for the semi-automatic detection of inconsistencies in guidelines using preference learning, and we apply this method to antibiotherapy in primary care. The preference model was learned from the recommendations and from a knowledge base describing the domain.We successfully built a generic model suitable for all infectious diseases and patient profiles. This model includes both preferences and necessary features. It allowed the detection of 106 candidate inconsistencies which were analyzed by a medical expert. 55 inconsistencies were validated. We showed that therapeutic strategies of guidelines in antibiotherapy can be formalized by a preference model. In conclusion, we proposed an original approach, based on preferences, for modeling clinical guidelines. This model could be used in future clinical decision support systems for helping physicians to prescribe antibiotics.