‘When you visit a man you should prepare yourself’: male community care worker approaches to working with men living with HIV in Cape Town,South Africa

Caring is typically constructed as a feminised practice, resulting in women shouldering the burden of care-related work. Health-seeking behaviours are also constructed as feminine and men have poorer health outcomes globally. Employing men as carers may not only improve the health of the men they assist but also be transformative with regards to gendered constructions of caring. Using semi-structured interviews and observational home visits, this study explored the techniques that community care workers employ when working with male clients. The empirical analysis draws on the perspectives of eight care workers and three of their male clients from the Cape Town area. Interviews reveal how care workers and clients perform and negotiate masculinities as they navigate hegemonic masculine norms that require men to act tough, suppress emotions and deny weakness and sickness. Both parties bump up against ideals of what it means to be a man as they strive to provide care and receive support. Community care workers avoid rupturing client performances of hegemonic masculinities which inhibit confession and support. To do this, they use techniques of indirectly broaching sensitive subjects, acting in a friendly way and being clear about the intention of their work.     

Electronic health records and support for primary care teamwork

Objective Consensus that enhanced teamwork is necessary for efficient and effective primary care delivery is growing. We sought to identify how electronic health records (EHRs) facilitate and pose challenges to primary care teams as well as how practices are overcoming these challenges.Methods Practices in this qualitative study were selected from those recognized as patient-centered medical homes via the National Committee for Quality Assurance 2011 tool, which included a section on practice teamwork. We interviewed 63 respondents, ranging from physicians to front-desk staff, from 27 primary care practices ranging in size, type, geography, and population size.Results EHRs were found to facilitate communication and task delegation in primary care teams through instant messaging, task management software, and the ability to create evidence-based templates for symptom-specific data collection from patients by medical assistants and nurses (which can offload work from physicians). Areas where respondents felt that electronic medical record EHR functionalities were weakest and posed challenges to teamwork included the lack of integrated care manager software and care plans in EHRs, poor practice registry functionality and interoperability, and inadequate ease of tracking patient data in the EHR over time.Discussion Practices developed solutions for some of the challenges they faced when attempting to use EHRs to support teamwork but wanted more permanent vendor and policy solutions for other challenges.Conclusions EHR vendors in the United States need to work alongside practicing primary care teams to create more clinically useful EHRs that support dynamic care plans, integrated care management software, more functional and interoperable practice registries, and greater ease of data tracking over time.     

肺腺癌对一代EGFR-TKIs原发耐药的危险因素分析

目的:分析对一代表皮生长因子受体酪氨酸激酶抑制剂(epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitors,EGFR-TKIs)原发耐药的EGFR突变肺腺癌患者的临床特征,为预测肺腺癌患者是否对一代EGFR-TKIs原发耐药提供依据。方法:收集2014年01月至2019年04月于本院住院,一线使用一代EGFR-TKIs且随访时间超过6个月的EGFR敏感突变(19Del/21L858R)肺腺癌患者,根据疗效纳入原发性耐药组(NR=40)和敏感组(NS=237),比较两组患者的临床、影像特征及实验室指标之间的差异,分析对一代EGFR-TKIs原发耐药的危险因素。结果:EGFR敏感突变患者的原发性耐药发生率为14.4%。原发性耐药组与敏感组患者相比,二者在吸烟指数(P=0.004)及淋巴结转移(P=0.03)的差异有统计学意义。血清神经元特异性烯醇化酶(neuron specific enolase,NSE)≥10.725 ng/mL、肿瘤直径≥3.55 cm的患者更易对一代EGFR-TKIs耐药(P<0.05),各因素AUC值分别为0.615、0.716。联合NSE+肿瘤直径两项指标时AUC为0.735(95%CI:0.665~0.804),联合NSE+肿瘤直径+吸烟指数三项指标时AUC为0.751(95%CI:0.679~0.822),均优于单项指标。多因素Logistics回归分析证实,血清NSE浓度、肿瘤直径及吸烟指数是预测EGFR敏感突变患者对一代EGFR-TKI原发耐药的独立影响因素(P<0.05)。结论:吸烟指数≥400、病灶直径≥3.55 cm、血清NSE浓度≥10.725 ng/mL的患者更易对一代EGFR-TKIs原发耐药。单因素对预测EGFR突变患者是否对一代EGFR-TKIs原发耐药准确性较低,综合上述三项指标预测效果更好。     

Are Medicare's Nursing Home Compare Ratings Accurate Predictors of 90-Day Complications,Readmission, and Bundle Cost for Patients Undergoing Primary Total Joint Arthroplasty?

Background

Nursing Home Compare (NHC) ratings, created and maintained by Medicare, are used by both hospitals and consumers to aid in the skilled nursing facility (SNF) selection process. To date, no studies have linked NHC ratings to actual episode-based outcomes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether NHC ratings are valid predictors of 90-day complications, readmission, and bundle costs for patients discharged to an SNF after primary total joint arthroplasty (TJA).

A Review of Primary Thyroid Lymphoma: Molecular Factors,Diagnosis and Management

Purpose/aim: To focus on current aspects of primary thyroid lymphoma (PTL), which is a rare clinical entity usually manifested by a rapidly growing mass in the neck that can cause pressure symptoms.

Materials and Methods: Relevant papers in PubMed published through June 2017 were selected to track updated information about PTL with an emphasis on diagnosis and novel therapeutic management.

Results: The most frequent cases include non-Hodgkin lymphoma derived from B-cells, mainly diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) followed by mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma or a mixed type. Other subtypes are less common. Lymphomas derived from T-cells and Hodgkin lymphomas are extremely rare. Hashimoto's autoimmune thyroiditis has been implicated as a risk factor for lymphoma. At the molecular level, the Wnt5a protein and its receptor Ror2 are involved in the course of the disease. Ultrasonography, fine needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy, and core or open biopsy combined with new diagnostic facilities contribute to an accurate diagnosis. An increased potential exists for a cure without the need for a radical surgical procedure. Modern chemoradiation therapy plus the monoclonal antibody rituximab, which acts against CD20, have limited the need for surgical interventions and provide an excellent outcome in most cases. However, some cases have resulted in treatment failure or recurrence.

Conclusions: A multidisciplinary approach must be used to define the management policy in each case. Future efforts by researchers are likely to be focused on the molecular level.     

临床药师在导管接触性溶栓联合抗凝治疗急性下肢深静脉血栓的用药分析与药学监护中的作用

目的 探讨临床药师在急性下肢深静脉血栓患者个体化治疗中的作用。 方法 对南京鼓楼医院血管外科2018年8月收治的8例急性下肢深静脉血栓患者的治疗过程进行分析，结合临床药学知识制定导管接触性溶栓及抗凝用药方案，对患者实施全程药学监护。 结果 溶栓治疗期间，患者血浆纤维蛋白原水平呈明显下降趋势，血浆D-二聚体水平呈先升高后降低的趋势，血小板未见明显下降趋势；8例患者在溶栓治疗过程中，2例出现轻微牙龈出血后自行止血，1例出现血尿，停止溶栓治疗后改为口服抗凝药，血尿现象消失。患者预后改善明显，血栓完全溶解，静脉恢复畅通，用药安全得到有效保障。 结论 临床药师在导管接触性溶栓联合抗凝治疗急性下肢深静脉血栓患者的个体化用药监护方面发挥了积极作用。