Utilization of and Outcomes Associated with Intravascular Ultrasound during Deep Venous Stent Placement among Medicare Beneficiaries

PurposeTo evaluate temporal trends, practice variation, and associated outcomes with the use of intravascular ultrasound (US) during deep venous stent placement among Medicare beneficiaries.Materials and MethodsAll lower extremity deep venous stent placement procedures performed between January 1, 2017, and December 31, 2019 among Medicare beneficiaries were included. Temporal trends in intravascular US use were stratified by procedural setting and physician specialty. The primary outcome was a composite of 12-month all-cause mortality, all-cause hospitalization, or repeat target vessel intervention. The secondary outcome was a composite of 12-month stent thrombosis, embolization, or restenosis.ResultsAmong the 20,984 deep venous interventions performed during the study period, 15,184 (72.4%) utilized intravascular US. Moderate growth in intravascular US use was observed during the study period in all clinical settings. There was a variation in the use of intravascular US among all operators (median, 77.3% of cases; interquartile range, 20.0%–99.2%). In weighted analyses, intravascular US use during deep venous stent placement was associated with a lower risk of both the primary (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.72; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.69–0.76; P < .001) and secondary (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.32; 95% CI, 0.27–0.39; P < .001) composite end points.ConclusionsIntravascular US is frequently used during deep venous stent placement among Medicare beneficiaries, with further increase in use from 2017 to 2019. The utilization of intravascular US as part of a procedural strategy was associated with a lower cumulative incidence of adverse outcomes after the procedure, including venous stent thrombosis and embolization.     

The place of therapy: between lab and field in the psychoanalytic office

This article builds on recent scholarship in medicine, science and technology illuminating the role of place and materiality in medical work. Drawing on ethnographic observations and qualitative interviews with US psychiatrists, psychologists and clinical social workers, I examine how the therapy office shapes psychoanalytic psychotherapists’ efforts to understand their patients’ unconscious conflicts. The concepts of ‘laboratory’ and ‘field’ frame my discussion of the material set up of the clinical room and the relational practices it fosters. I show that psychoanalytic practitioners try to approximate ‘laboratory conditions’ that insulate patients’ problems from their everyday contexts and ensure a sense of stability. I also demonstrate that these clinicians’ work depends on revealing personal preferences in the therapy room and fostering therapeutic relationships that resemble those in patients’ everyday lives, making the office akin to the ‘field’. The office thus becomes epistemically productive through therapists’ management of the paradoxical relationship between laboratory and field.     

Routine Laboratory Testing Every 4 Versus Every 6 Weeks for Patients on Maintenance Hemodialysis: A Quality Improvement Project

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Automatic laboratory interventions to unmask and treat hypomagnesemia in the Emergency Department

IntroductionThe significance of hypomagnesemia and the need for treatment are under-recognized in clinical practice. Our objective was to design, establish, and test two interventions to screen for patients with hypomagnesemia and increase the rate of treatment of hypomagnesemia in the Emergency Department (ED).Material and MethodsA prospective two-year study was conducted. The Laboratory Information System was set to automatically order plasma magnesium in ED patients with plasma calcium < 7.5 mg/dL (1.9 mmol/L) and/or plasma potassium < 2.5 mEq/L (2.5 mmol/L). We counted the number of identified cases of hypomagnesemia, and calculated the total economic cost per identified patient. The study had three periods “Central lab” “Stat lab” and “Stat lab with comment” according to the availability to measure plasma magnesium levels in the stat laboratory and the inclusion of an automatic comment in the laboratory report in cases of hypomagnesemia. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients with magnesium < 1.5 mg/dL (0.6 mmol/L), to investigate whether they have been appropriately treated.ResultsA total of 410 plasma magnesium were measured due to our intervention; 179 due to hypokalemia and 231 due to hypocalcemia. Two hundred thirty (56.1%) of 410 showed hypomagnesemia. Each detected case resulted in reagent cost of 0.7$, when prompted by hypocalcemia, and 0.6$ when prompted by hypokalemia. The rate of patients with hypomagnesemia that were appropriately treated increased from 15% to 75% along the study period.ConclusionsOur strategies successfully identified patients with hypomagnesemia in the ED at a very affordable cost, and increased the percentage of patients with hypomagnesemia that received treatment.     

医学检验实习中引入PBL教学法的应用分析

在医学检验本科实习生的临床实习中开展PBL教学的研究,探讨其教学效果。对2016-2018年的42名医学检验本科实习生在临床传统的实习教学基础上,引入PBL教学模式,探讨PBL教学核心的"以学生为中心,以问题为中心"的教学方法在临床实习应用实施。发现其能提高学生的学习积极性,增强学生对专业知识的掌握,提高学生的临床思维能力,以及扩展学生的临床知识等方面有着积极的意义,对在医学检验的临床实习中加强理论联系实践,提高学生的综合分析能力是行之有效的方法,值得推广。     

PBL与CBL教学法在留学生实验诊断教学的应用探讨

目的探讨PBL与CBL教学法在留学生实验诊断教学的应用效果。方法将PBL联合案例教学法(CBL)应用于临床医学本科留学生实验诊断教学,与大班传统讲授教学方法(对照组)相比较,通过问卷调查和成绩分析学习效果。结果试验组在激发学习兴趣和培养临床思维能力方面均高于对照组,理论知识的成绩和实习的成绩也是试验组优于对照组,P<0.05。结论PBL与CBL教学联合应用于实验诊断教学中能够有效提高教学质量,并受到学生的认可和喜爱。     

Laboratory Biosafety: Laboratory response checklist for infectious disease outbreaks—preparedness and response considerations for emerging threats

The purpose of the Laboratory Response Checklist for Infectious Disease Outbreaks (the Checklist) is to provide public health laboratories and laboratory networks operating at multiple jurisdictional levels with a useful, adaptable tool to help rapidly identify important outbreak response considerations, particularly when investigating a previously unknown infectious disease threat. The Checklist was developed by the National Microbiology Laboratory of Canada in collaboration with provincial/territorial, national and international laboratory experts, including the Canadian Public Health Laboratory Network, and the Global Health Security Action Group Laboratory Network. While the Checklist was initially designed to reflect lessons learned through National Microbiology Laboratory participation in extended national and international outbreak responses (e.g. Zika virus epidemic [2015–2016], Ebola virus epidemic, West Africa [2014–2016]), the importance of optimizing laboratory response coordination has only been underscored by the ongoing challenges presented by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic response requirements. The Checklist identifies five highly interdependent laboratory response themes, each of which encompasses multiple considerations that may be critical to a coordinated, strategic outbreak response. As such, the comprehensive review of Checklist considerations by responding laboratory organizations may provide a valuable opportunity to quickly detect key response considerations and interdependencies, and mitigate risks with the potential to impact public health action.