Educating advanced practice nurses for collaborative practice in the multidisciplinary provider team

PURPOSE: To describe the use of a clinical decision-making work sheet as a tool to teach communication skills to advanced practice nurse (APN) students. Achievement of competencies in communication and documentation that utilize language and communication strategies that are shared with other health professionals promotes effective collaborative practice among members of the multidisciplinary provider team. DATA SOURCES: Review of the recent Institute of Medicine report on health professions education and other health professional literature. CONCLUSIONS: The Clinical Decision-Making Work Sheet helps APN students effectively communicate in real-world clinical settings. The clinical work sheet allows nurse practitioner students to communicate more effectively and efficiently, using a vocabulary that is shared with other members of the multidisciplinary health care provider team. Use of the tool in students' clinical-rotation settings facilitates effective application and refinement of the clinical decision-making skills that students learned in the advanced health assessment course. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Faculty have the responsibility to assist nurses as they transition from traditional nursing to APN roles. The work sheet facilitates learning the common language for data collection, clinical decision making, documentation, and reporting that is shared with other health professionals. Using the tool, students learn to efficiently organize information that supports communication and documentation that enhances their clinical problem-solving skills. Case presentation and documentation using the work sheet provide a basis for preceptor and student interaction and for student evaluation.     

Comparative effectiveness of one-stage versus two-stage basilic vein transposition arteriovenous fistulas

Objective

Basilic vein transposition (BVT) fistulas may be performed as either a one-stage or two-stage operation, although there is debate as to which technique is superior. This study was designed to evaluate the comparative clinical efficacy and cost-effectiveness of one-stage vs two-stage BVT.

Current Management and Future Opportunities for Peritoneal Metastases: Peritoneal Mesothelioma

Purpose

Diffuse malignant peritoneal mesothelioma (MPM) is a rare and ultimately fatal cancer that was first described just over a century ago. It is a diffuse malignancy arising from the mesothelial lining of the peritoneum; morbidity and mortality from MPM is due to its propensity to progress locoregionally within the abdominal cavity.

Methods

The purpose of this article is to review the current state-of-the-science related to the diagnosis, staging, and treatment of MPM.

Results

The condition afflicts men and women equally and the peak incidence is between 55 and 60 years of age although it can arise in the young and elderly. Patients afflicted with MPM most commonly present with nonspecific abdominal symptoms that usually lead to diagnosis when the condition is relatively advanced. Historically, median overall survival for MPM patients without treatment is < 1 year. The couplet of systemic pemetrexed and cisplatin has an overall response rate of approximately 25% and a median overall survival of approximately 1 year.

Conclusion

The available data, almost all retrospective in nature, have shown that in selected patients, operative cytoreduction (CRS) and regional chemotherapy administered as hyperthermic intraoperative peritoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) or early postoperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy (EPIC) is associated with long-term survival. Studies on the molecular biology of MPM have yielded new insights relating to the potentially important role of the phosphoinsitide-3-kinase/mammalian target of rapamycin (PI3 K/mTOR) pathways and immune checkpoint inhibitors that may translate into new therapeutic options for patients with diffuse MPM.

     

Uptake of adjuvant breast cancer treatments recommended by multi‐disciplinary meetings

Background

Adjuvant therapy for breast cancer is routinely discussed and recommended in multi‐disciplinary meetings (MDMs). Current literature explores how treatments received by patients differ from national guidelines; however, it does not explore whether treatment is concordant with MDMs. This study provides an Australian perspective on the uptake of MDM recommendations and reasons for non‐concordance.

Methods

A retrospective cohort study of patients with breast cancer presented at The Royal Melbourne Hospital MDM in 2010 and 2014 to investigate the concordance between MDM recommendations and treatment received.

Results

The study group comprised 441 patients (161 from 2010 and 280 from 2014). A total of 375 patients were included in the analyses. Overall, 82% of patients had perfect concordance between recommended and received treatment for all modes of adjuvant therapy. Concordance to endocrine therapy was higher for invasive cancers than ductal carcinoma in situ (97% versus 81%, P < 0.0001). Concordance to radiotherapy was high and did not differ according to type of cancer or surgery (ranging from 88 to 91%). Concordance to chemotherapy recommendations was high overall (92%) and did not vary with nodal status. Women aged over 65 years were least likely to be recommended for adjuvant therapy but most likely to concordant with the recommendation.

Conclusions

Uptake of MDM‐recommended treatments is high. There is a minority of patients in whom MDM recommendations are not followed, highlighting that there are extra steps between recommendations at an MDM and decisions with patients. More attention to this issue is appropriate, and the reasons for non‐concordance warrant further study.     

Contingent Valuation Studies in Orthopaedic Surgery: A Health Economic Review

Background

A greater emphasis on providing high-value orthopaedic interventions has resulted in increased health economic reporting. The contingent-valuation method (CVM) is used to determine consumer valuation of the benefits provided by healthcare interventions. CVM is an important value-based health economic tool that is underutilized in orthopaedic surgery.

Questions/Purposes

The purpose of this study was to (1) identify previously published CVM studies in the orthopaedic literature, (2) assess the methodologies used for CVM research, and (3) understand how CVM has been used in the orthopaedic cost–benefit analysis framework.

Methods

A systematic review of the literature using the MEDLINE database was performed to compile CVM studies. Search terms incorporated the phrase willingness to pay (WTP) or willingness to accept (WTA) in combination with orthopaedic clinical key terms. Study methodology was appraised using previously defined empirical and conceptual criteria for CVM studies.

Results

Of the 160 studies retrieved, 22 (13.8%) met our inclusion criteria. The economics of joint arthroplasty (n?=?6, 27.3%) and non-operative osteoarthritis care (n?=?4, 18.2%) were the most common topics. Most studies used CVM for pricing and/or demand forecasting (n?=?16, 72.7%); very few studies used CVM for program evaluation (n?=?6). WTP was used in all included studies, and one study used both WTP and WTA. Otherwise, there was little consistency among included studies in terms of CVM methodology. Open-ended questioning was used by only ten studies (45.5%), a significant number of studies did not perform a sensitivity analysis (n?=?9, 40.9%), and none of the studies accounted for the risk preference of subjects. Only two of the included studies applied CVM within a cost–benefit analysis framework.

Conclusion

CVM is not commonly reported in orthopaedic surgery and is seldom used in the context of cost–benefit analysis. There is wide variability in the methods used to perform CVM. We propose that CVM is an appropriate and underappreciated method for understanding the value of orthopaedic interventions. Increased attention should be paid to consumer valuations for orthopaedic interventions.

     

Novel variant p.E269K confirms causative role of PLS1 mutations in autosomal dominant hearing loss

Auditory reception relies on the perception of mechanical stimuli by stereocilia and its conversion to electrochemical signal. Mechanosensory stereocilia are abundant in actin, which provides them with structural conformity necessary for perception of auditory stimuli. Out of three major classes of actin-bundling proteins, plastin 1 encoded by PLS1, is highly expressed in stereocilia and is necessary for their regular maintenance. A missense PLS1 variant associated with autosomal dominant hearing loss (HL) in a small family has recently been reported. Here, we present another PLS1 missense variant, c.805G > A (p.E269K), in a Turkish family with autosomal dominant non-syndromic HL confirming the causative role of PLS1 mutations in HL. We propose that HL due to the p.E269K variant is from the loss of a stable PLS1-ACTB interaction.