Healthcare reform: what does it mean for NPs?

The Affordable Care Act was signed into law on March 23, 2010. Since the passage of the law, there have been more than 20 court challenges and plans for repeal are underway. This article will review the provisions of the law that have been implemented to date.     

Was Feuerbach right: are we what we eat?

Food and stress are powerful modulators of the body-mind connection, which is imbalanced in obese individuals. Why do we choose chocolate over an apple when overworked and stressed, and why does comfort food make us feel better? Two independent studies in the JCI, one in this issue, home in on the role of stress on gut hormones and food choices and, conversely, on the effect of the intestinal system on modulation of brain activity by sadness. These studies broaden our understanding of the ties between food and mood and underscore promising targets for obesity treatments.     

The cuff-leak test: what are we measuring?

Stridor is one of the most frequent causes of early extubation failure. The cuff-leak test may help to identify patients at risk to develop post-extubation laryngeal edema. However the discrimination power of the cuff-leak test is highly variable and can be use, at best, to detect patients at risk to develop edema but should not be used to postpone extubation as tracheal extubation can still be successful in many patients with a positive test. In this editorial, the author discuss the factors influencing the leak and hence its predictive value.     

Trauma systems and timing of patient transfer: are we improving?

Introduction

The regionalization of trauma services is based on the premise that injured persons presenting to nontertiary facilities will be stabilized and rapidly transported to a more definitive center. Although trauma systems seem to improve outcomes for urban patients, this same benefit has not been shown for rural patients. There are many factors associated with the decision to transfer injured patients to a regional trauma center, including referral hospital and patient age, for example. The purpose of this study is to examine factors that influence the timing of transfer of trauma patients and specifically to determine if establishing specific trauma systems has led to any changes in transfer timing over time.

Methods

The trauma registry at the University of Wisconsin was queried for all patients admitted between July 1, 1999, and June 30, 2005. Patients were included in this study if they had been transferred to the university hospital after evaluation at an outside hospital. The registry variables that were abstracted were age, referring hospital, emergency department (ED) time at referring hospital, injury severity score (ISS), the presence of a head injury, performance of a head computed tomography (CT), mode of transport, and the date of ED evaluation.

Results

There were 1656 patients with ISS higher than 9 transferred during the period. The mean ED time was 153 ± 82 minutes. Emergency department time was significantly shorter for those with ISS higher than 25 and for those transported by helicopter. Four hundred ninety-two (30%) patients had a head CT performed at the outside hospital, of which 221 (44%) were repeated at the trauma center. The mean ED time for those in whom a CT was performed was significantly longer than those without CT (179 ± 81 vs 142 ± 84 minutes). The ED times were slightly longer for level III hospitals (158 ± 82 minutes) than for level IV hospitals (137 ± 74 minutes). Emergency department times were longer for older patients. The times in the ED showed an upward, but not statistically significant, trend. After controlling for all other variables, ED times were not significantly different over the period studied.

Conclusion

Development of a statewide trauma system and outreach education has not significantly affected transfer times from nontrauma centers in our system. Outreach educational efforts should focus on systematic trauma evaluation, prompt transfer, and limitation of nontherapeutic testing.     

Importance of neonatal strain imaging: what are we measuring?

The International Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging -     

CIS: where are we going and what should we demand from industry?

Clinical information systems designed for use in the critical care setting have been available for many years. Yet, despite significant evidence that these systems contribute to patient safety and efficiency of care, they have not achieved widespread use. This paper examines some of the factors responsible for the slow growth in use of clinical information systems in the intensive care unit. We further examine the elements that will be necessary to support widespread adoption of future clinical information systems. We give an outline of functionalities, processes, and standards that users will demand from industry as they develop the information systems of the future.     

Health-related quality of life after stroke: what are we measuring?

As there is no single, accepted definition of health-related quality of life (HRQOL), it is assumed to be a broad, multidimensional construct referring to those aspects of people's lives that reasonably relate to their health. Although many scales are used to assess HRQOL, the operationalization of this construct within each tool is unclear. To clarify what each tool is measuring, this study reviewed eight scales commonly used to evaluate HRQOL after stroke. Two reviewers classified scale items from five generic and three stroke-specific scales within an established framework with nine dimensions; physical functioning, symptoms, global judgments of health, psychological well-being, social well-being, cognitive functioning, role activities, personal constructs, and satisfaction with care. All scales reviewed provide multidimensional assessment, but vary in number and combination of dimensions. All include assessment of physical functioning and most incorporate concepts, such as psychological well-being, social well-being, and role activities. One generic (Sickness Impact Profile) and two stroke-specific scales (Stroke Impact Scale and Stroke-Specific Quality of Life Scale) seemed most comprehensive. Evaluated against a common framework of dimensions, scales commonly used in the assessment of HRQOL after stroke provide varying multidimensional assessments of aspects of life function related to health. Whether any of these assessments are sufficient to describe HRQOL in its entirety is unclear.