Silver Diamine Fluoride Protocol for Reducing Preventable Dental Hospitalisations in Victorian Children

IntroductionThis study was designed to assess whether a dental caries management protocol combining a single application of 38% silver diamine fluoride (SDF) with comprehensive oral health education will successfully divert high-risk children from dental treatment under dental general anaesthesia (DGA), arrest active caries in primary teeth, and improve parent-reported child oral health–related quality of life (OHRQoL).MethodsChildren aged 2 to 10 years, who attended two public dental agencies in Victoria, Australia, and were unable to tolerate restorative treatments in the clinic setting, elected to participate in either a 38% SDF intervention protocol or, alternatively, referral for DGA. Follow-up examinations were completed at 6 months to assess caries progression, decayed missing filled tooth index, PUFA index (pulpal involvement, ulceration, fistula, abscess), DGA referral rates, and OHRQoL (Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale [ECOHIS]).ResultsOf the total sample, 89.5% of children (n = 102) [mean (SD) age, 4.1 (1.0) years] with 401 active carious lesions elected to participate in the 38% SDF protocol; 10.5% (n = 12) of parents opted for referral for treatment under DGA. The proportion of active caries subsequently arrested at follow-up (number of arrested lesions/number of lesions treated) was 0.78 (95% CI, 0.69 to 0.87). There was an 88% reduction in referrals for DGA in eligible children over the 6-month period. The 38% SDF intervention group showed a significant improvement in ECOHIS scores at follow-up (P < .001).DiscussionAdoption of the 38% SDF intervention protocol resulted in a significant reduction in the rate of preventable dental hospitalisations. Most parents opted against referral for DGA. Parent-reported OHRQoL for children improved significantly.     

‘It felt like there was always someone there for us’: Supporting children affected by domestic violence and abuse who are identified by general practice

One in five children in the UK are affected by domestic violence and abuse. However, primary care clinicians (GPs and nurses) struggle to effectively identify and support children and young people living in homes where it is present. The IRIS+ (Enhanced Identification and Referral to Improve Safety) training and advocacy support intervention aimed to improve how clinicians respond to children and young people affected by domestic violence and abuse. IRIS+ training was delivered as part of a feasibility study to four general practices in an urban area in England (UK). Our mixed method design included interviews and questionnaires about the IRIS+ intervention with general practice patients, including children and young people as well as with clinicians and advocacy service providers. We collected the number of identifications and referrals by clinicians of children experiencing domestic violence and abuse through a retrospective search of medical and agency records 10 months after the intervention. Forty-nine children exposed to domestic violence and abuse were recorded in medical records. Thirty-five children were referred to a specialist domestic violence and abuse support service over a period of 10 months. Of these, 22 received direct or indirect support. The qualitative findings indicated that children benefitted from being referred by clinicians to the service. However, several barriers at the patient and professional level prevented children and young people from being identified and supported. Some of these barriers can be addressed through modifications to professional training and guidance, but others require systematic and structural changes to the way health and social care services work with children affected by domestic violence and abuse.     

The Open Brain Consent: Informing research participants and obtaining consent to share brain imaging data

Having the means to share research data openly is essential to modern science. For human research, a key aspect in this endeavor is obtaining consent from participants, not just to take part in a study, which is a basic ethical principle, but also to share their data with the scientific community. To ensure that the participants'' privacy is respected, national and/or supranational regulations and laws are in place. It is, however, not always clear to researchers what the implications of those are, nor how to comply with them. The Open Brain Consent (https://open-brain-consent.readthedocs.io) is an international initiative that aims to provide researchers in the brain imaging community with information about data sharing options and tools. We present here a short history of this project and its latest developments, and share pointers to consent forms, including a template consent form that is compliant with the EU general data protection regulation. We also share pointers to an associated data user agreement that is not only useful in the EU context, but also for any researchers dealing with personal (clinical) data elsewhere.     

Obstetric analgesia and anaesthesia in SARS-CoV-2-positive parturients across 10 maternity units in the north-west of England: a retrospective cohort study

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, few studies have reported anaesthetic outcomes in parturients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. We reviewed the labour analgesic and anaesthetic interventions utilised in symptomatic and asymptomatic parturients who had a confirmed positive test for SARS-CoV-2 across 10 hospitals in the north-west of England between 1 April 2020 and 31 May 2021. Primary outcomes analysed included the analgesic/anaesthetic technique utilised for labour and caesarean birth. Secondary outcomes included a comparison of maternal characteristics, caesarean birth rate, maternal critical care admission rate along with adverse composite neonatal outcomes. A positive SARS-CoV-2 test was recorded in 836 parturients with 263 (31.4%) reported to have symptoms of COVID-19. Neuraxial labour analgesia was utilised in 104 (20.4%) of the 509 parturients who went on to have a vaginal birth. No differences in epidural analgesia rates were observed between symptomatic and asymptomatic parturients (OR 1.03, 95%CI 0.64–1.67; p = 0.90). The neuraxial anaesthesia rate in 310 parturients who underwent caesarean delivery was 94.2% (95%CI 90.6–96.0%). The rates of general anaesthesia were similar in symptomatic and asymptomatic parturients (6% vs. 5.7%; p = 0.52). Symptomatic parturients were more likely to be multiparous (OR 1.64, 95%CI 1.19–2.22; p = 0.002); of Asian ethnicity (OR 1.54, 1.04–2.28; p = 0.03); to deliver prematurely (OR 2.16, 95%CI 1.47–3.19; p = 0.001); have a higher caesarean birth rate (44.5% vs. 33.7%; OR 1.57, 95%CI 1.16–2.12; p = 0.008); and a higher critical care utilisation rate both pre- (8% vs. 0%, p = 0.001) and post-delivery (11% vs. 3.5%; OR 3.43, 95%CI 1.83–6.52; p = 0.001). Eight neonates tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 while no differences in adverse composite neonatal outcomes were observed between those born to symptomatic and asymptomatic mothers (25.8% vs. 23.8%; OR 1.11, 95%CI 0.78–1.57; p = 0.55). In women with COVID-19, non-neuraxial analgesic regimens were commonly utilised for labour while neuraxial anaesthesia was employed for the majority of caesarean births. Symptomatic women with COVID-19 are at increased risk of significant maternal morbidity including preterm birth, caesarean birth and peripartum critical care admission.     

Delivering end-of-life care for patients with cancer at home: Interviews exploring the views and experiences of general practitioners

Many patients with terminal cancer wish to die at home and general practitioners in the United Kingdom have a critical role in providing this care. However, it has been suggested general practitioners lack confidence in end-of-life care. It is important to explore with general practitioners their experience and perspectives including feelings of confidence delivering end-of-life care to people with cancer. The aim of this study was to explore general practitioners experiences of providing end-of-life care for people with cancer in the home setting and their perceptions of confidence in this role as well as understanding implications this has on policy design. A qualitative study design was employed using semi-structured interviews and analysed using thematic analysis. Nineteen general practitioners from London were purposively sampled from eight general practices and a primary care university department in 2018–2019, supplemented with snowballing methods. Five main themes were constructed: (a) the subjective nature of defining palliative and end-of-life care; (b) importance of communication and managing expectations; (c) complexity in prescribing; (d) challenging nature of delivering end-of-life care; (e) the unclear role of primary care in palliative care. General practitioners viewed end-of-life care as challenging; specific difficulties surrounded communication and prescribing. These challenges coupled with a poorly defined role created a spread in perceived confidence. Experience and exposure were seen as enabling confidence. Specialist palliative care service expansion had important implications on deskilling of essential competencies and reducing confidence levels in general practitioners. This feeds into a complex cycle of causation, leading to further delegation of care.     

General anaesthesia for operative obstetrics

General anaesthesia in obstetrics is reducing with a reported use in only 4% of caesarean sections in 2017–2018. Obstetric surgery is often urgent, requiring effective team communication and a rapid, focused preoperative assessment. Physiological changes of pregnancy increase the incidence of aspiration, desaturation and failed intubation. In addition, the rapidly evolving circumstances add additional stress, impacting on performance. Hypotension from aortocaval compression is common and minimized by left lateral tilt or uterine displacement. Rapid sequence induction with tracheal intubation remains gold standard but supraglottic devices are advocated in the event of failed intubation. Awareness remains relatively common and adequate depth of anaesthesia should be maintained and monitored. Complications are more common in obese pregnant patients. Whilst women with pre-eclampsia are at particular risk of hypertensive responses to intubation and extubation, intravenous opiates can ameliorate this. Improved multidisciplinary communication on the delivery suite allows for pre-emptive assessment of patients at risk of requiring an operative delivery. With diminishing individual experience of general anaesthesia in obstetrics and delivery suite often being covered by junior doctors, simulation exercises can improve confidence, performance and team working.     

超声引导腹横肌平面阻滞联合喉罩全身麻醉在小儿疝囊高位结扎术的镇痛效果

目的探究超声引导下腹横肌平面阻滞联合喉罩全麻下小儿疝囊高位结扎术的镇痛效果。 方法选取2016年1月至2018年1月，湖北省洪湖市人民医院150例接受疝囊高位结扎术的患儿，随机分为观察组（75例）和对照组（75例）。对照组采用单纯喉罩全身麻醉，而观察组在对照组基础上进行超声引导下腹横肌平面阻滞。比较2组患儿的平均动脉压（MAP）、心率（HR）、躁动及疼痛评分、苏醒时间、手术时间及并发症发生状况。 结果观察组的并发症发生率（6.7%）低于对照组（17.3%），差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）。观察组患儿手术时间、苏醒时间、躁动评分、12 h小儿疼痛量表（12 h FLACC）评分均低于对照组（P<0.05）。观察组插入喉罩后、手术开始时、拔除喉罩时与麻醉诱导前比较，MAP、HR差异均无统计学意义（P>0.05）；对照组插入喉罩后、拔除喉罩时与麻醉诱导前比较，MAP、HR差异均无统计学意义（P>0.05），手术开始时MAP、HR高于麻醉诱导前（P<0.05）。麻醉诱导前、插入喉罩后、拔除喉罩时2组间的MAP、HR差异均无统计学意义（P>0.05），手术开始时，观察组的MAP、HR均低于对照组（P<0.05）。 结论小儿疝囊高位结扎术中应用超声引导下腹横肌平面阻滞联合喉罩全麻的麻醉效果较好，术后苏醒快，可以缓解患儿术后疼痛及躁动，降低并发症的发生率，具有临床应用价值。     

超声引导下腹横肌平面阻滞联合喉罩通气全身麻醉在小儿腹股沟斜疝修补术中的应用

目的探究喉罩通气全身麻醉联合超声引导下腹横肌平面阻滞（TAPB）在小儿腹股沟斜疝手术中的应用。 方法选取2018年1至10月，成都市妇女儿童中心医院行疝囊高位结扎100例腹股沟斜疝患儿的临床资料，按随机数字表法将其分2组，每组患儿50例。对照组术中给予喉罩通气全身麻醉，观察组术中给予超声引导下TAPB联合喉罩通气全身麻醉。观察2组手术相关指标、血流动力学指标、小儿疼痛量表评分（FLACC）及不良反应发生情况。 结果观察组术后拔管时间、麻醉苏醒时间及住院时间分别为（6.27±1.86）min、（13.34±3.17）min及（2.26±0.14）d，与对照组（13.31±2.05）min、（19.86±3.48）及（3.15±1.17）d比较，差异有统计学意义（t=17.984、9.259、5.341，P均<0.001）。与T₁相比，观察组患儿T₂、T₃时段HR、SBP、DBP无显著变化，差异无统计学意义（P>0.05）；对照组HR无显著变化，差异无统计学意义（P>0.05），SBP、DBP逐渐升高，差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）。观察组T₁时段HR与对照组相比，差异无统计学意义（P>0.05），T₂、T₃时段显著低于对照组，差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）。观察组T₁时段SBP、DBP与对照组比较，差异无统计学意义（P>0.05），T₂、T₃时段显著低于对照组，差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）。观察组患儿在苏醒时、术后2 h、4 h及8 h FLACC评分分别为（2.3±0.6）分、（2.0±0.4）分、（1.6±0.5）分、（1.2±0.3）分，均低于对照组（3.0±0.5）分、（2.7±0.6）分、（2.2±0.3）分、（1.7±0.4）分，差异有统计学意义（t=40.170、47.114、57.940、49.999，P均<0.05）。观察组呕吐、咽痛、喉痉挛的发生情况分别为3（6.00%）、3（6.00%）、2（4.00%），均低于对照组10（20.00%）、11（22.00%）、9（18.00%），差异有统计学意义（χ²=4.332、5.316、5.005，P=0.037、0.021、0.025）。 结论在疝囊高位结扎术中采用超声引导下TAPB联合喉罩通气全身麻醉，能够更好地维持患儿血流动力学的稳定性，降低疼痛及不良反应的发生，值得临床推广应用。