Management of Chronic Pain in Nursing Homes: Navigating Challenges to Improve Person-Centered Care

Despite the dynamic demands in the nursing home (NH), a definitive approach to managing chronic pain in older adults has yet to be established. Due to concerns for potential adverse pharmacologic effects, balancing appropriate pain management is a challenge among NH residents. The challenges encompass but are not limited to medical complexities, functional disabilities, and physical frailty. Barriers to the successful implementation of a comprehensive chronic pain management at the NH may include ambiguous directions on specific therapeutic interventions, insufficient guidance on treatment duration, and limited available treatment options. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ reporting requirement of adequate pain control among NH residents coupled with widely variable clinician-prescribing habits highlights the difficulties in overcoming the preceding challenges and barriers. The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has further complicated pain management due to its negative consequences on well-being of residents of NHs. Associated symptoms of psychosocial stress, anxiety and depression, and chronic pain symptoms can exacerbate during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to increased requirement for pain medications including but not limited to opioids.Pain is a multidimensional symptom and requires a strategic multimodal approach for its management. Nonpharmacologic modalities are underutilized in the NH setting and are the preferred first steps for mild pain, and nonopioid pharmacological agents can be added as a second step for a synergistic effect for moderate to severe pain. Opioids should be used as a last resort. Short-acting opioids are preferred over extended-release/long-acting opioids for chronic pain. Clinicians are encouraged to engage residents in proactive strategies in managing their pain, and to set realistic expectations toward improving their quality of life, as complete elimination of pain is not feasible in most cases.This review article provides the interdisciplinary team with a contemporary perspective of the multitude of changes and challenges influencing the prescribing as well as deprescribing of various pain medications.     

Robot-Assisted vs Laparoscopic Right Hemicolectomy in Octogenarians

ObjectiveWith increasing age, there is greater need for right-sided colonic resections than its left-sided counterparts. Older age is associated with limited physical and functional status, which carries greater operative risk. Improvements in robotic surgery questions its role, especially in older adults, compared with laparoscopy. The objective is to investigate whether robotic right hemicolectomy (RRH) is as safe and effective as laparoscopic right hemicolectomy (LHR) in octogenarians (age >80 years).DesignRetrospective cross-sectional analysis.Settings and ParticipantsOctogenarians who underwent elective RRH and LRH by the Tweed Colorectal Group over 5 years.MethodsComplications within 30 days, age, gender, smoking status, immunocompromised status, presence of diabetes, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status score, preoperative Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status, mFI-5 (modified frailty index), operative time, method of anastomosis, postoperative length of stay (LOS), need for rehabilitation, and short-term oncologic data using the TNM criteria were compared using univariate and multivariate analysis.ResultsSeventy-eight elective patients were included. LRH and RRH groups had similar median ages, gender distribution, and comorbidities. Across the entire cohort, 61.5% had no 30-day complications. RRH had nonsignificantly shorter operative time but significantly shorter LOS (5 vs 8 days) and fewer minor complications (24.5% vs 34.5%). Major complications and overall complications were not significantly different between the groups. Lower ASA and ECOG status were associated with lower complication rates across both groups. Oncologic resection outcomes were similar for both approaches.Conclusions and ImplicationsRRH does not confer an increased risk of complications compared to LRH in the octogenarians and may be a viable alternative in the field of minimally invasive surgery for older patients. Future research should focus on intracorporeal anastomoses, as it is a potential confounder leading to the shorter inpatient LOS shown in our robotic group.     

Cementless Hemiarthroplasty for Intracapsular Femoral Neck Fractures in the Octa- and Nonagenarians

BackgroudCurrent evidence supports the use of cemented hemiarthroplasty for treatment of intracapsular femoral neck fractures since it is associated with a lower risk of implant-related complications. However, many medical centers employ the cementless technique for the frail elderly population because it is faster and has lower cardiovascular risks and perioperative mortality. This observational study reports the outcomes of cementless bipolar hemiarthroplasty for intracapsular femoral neck fractures in patients aged 80 years and older.MethodsA total of 424 patients (female, 77.1%) with a mean age of 86.9 years were operated for intracapsular femoral neck fractures between January 2009 and December 2017. Of those, 66.7% had an American Society of Anaesthesiologists (ASA) score of 3 or more. All operations were performed with the posterolateral surgical approach and all patients received a cementless stem. Intraoperative and perioperative values and in-hospital outcomes were evaluated, and clinical and radiographical follow-up was done at 40 days, 90 days, and when possible between 5 months and 12 months postoperatively. Multivariate analysis was performed to evaluate if there were factors affecting mortality.ResultsThe mean operative time was 50 minutes. There were no deaths intraoperatively. Intraoperative periprosthetic fractures occurred in 2.1% of the cases with 66.7% of them fixed through cerclage wires intraoperatively. The median length of hospitalization was 11 days (interquartile range, 8.75–15) and 2.4% of patients died while in hospital after surgery. Approximately 91.5% of patients presented with perioperative anemia. Only 1.9% of the complications were related to the implant, 62.5% of which were dislocations. More than 90% of patients were ambulatory either autonomously or with support at each follow-up assessment. Age, male sex, and higher ASA score were related to increased mortality.ConclusionsDespite some limitations, this observational study underlines that a cementless femoral stem of modern design can give good clinical outcomes, thus being an appropriate solution especially for the frail elderly.     

COVID-19 and its effects upon orthopaedic surgery: The Trinidad and Tobago experience

The World Health Organisation(WHO) declared coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) a pandemic on March 11, 2020. COVID-19 is not the first infectious disease to affect Trinidad and Tobago. The country has faced outbreaks of both Chikungunya and Zika virus in 2014 and 2016 respectively. The viral pandemic is predicted to have a significant impact upon all countries, but the healthcare services in a developing country are especially vulnerable. The Government of Trinidad and Tobago swiftly established a parallel healthcare system to isolate and treat suspected and confirmed cases of COVID-19. Strick ‘lockdown' orders, office closures, social distancing and face mask usage recommendation were implemented following advice from the WHO. This approach has seen Trinidad and Tobago emerge from the second wave of infections, with the most recent Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker report indicating a favourable risk of openness index for the country. The effects of the pandemic on the orthopaedic services in the public and private healthcare systems show significant differences. Constrained by shortages in personal protective equipment and inadequate testing facilities, the public system moved into emergency mode prioritizing the care of urgent and critical cases. Private healthcare driven more by economic considerations, quickly instituted widespread safety measures to ensure that the clinics remained open and elective surgery was not interrupted. Orthopaedic teaching at The University of the West Indies was quickly migrated to an online platform to facilitate both medical students and residents. The Caribbean Association of Orthopedic Surgeons through its frequent virtual meetings provided a forum for continuing education and social interaction amongst colleagues. The pandemic has disrupted our daily routines leading to unparalleled changes to our lives and livelihoods. Many of these changes will remain long after the pandemic is over, permanently transforming the practice of orthopaedics.     

Community-living older people’s interpretation of the Norwegian version of older people’s quality of life (OPQOL) questionnaire

The aim of this study is to investigate how community-living older people interpret the Norwegian version of Older People's Quality of Life (OPQOL) questionnaire. The original OPQOL questionnaire was translated based on guidelines for cross-cultural translation. The Three-Step Test-Interview instrument was adopted to investigate how community-living older people interpreted the questionnaire. Data were collected from 14 participants (72–89 years). The questionnaire was filled in under observation. Semi-structured interviews were then conducted to clarify the observational data and elicit the participants’ experiences and opinions. Lastly, data were analysed using a hermeneutic interpretation approach. Our findings indicate that most of the participants managed to complete the OPQOL questionnaire without problems. The data analysis resulted in four primary themes: relevance & applicability, formulation, consistency & accuracy and subjectivity. The questionnaire covered all aspects related to the participants’ quality of life. However, statements related to religion were found to be irrelevant to their quality of life. Most of the participants thought that religion, philosophy and culture should be separate rather than included in the same statement. The participants missed the option of ‘not applicable’ when the statements were irrelevant to them. The statements are formulated in both positive and negative ways, which was sometimes confusing to them. The participants perceived phases such as “around me” “local,” and “things” as ambiguous, and thus they raised concerns about whether the OPQOL questionnaire could capture consistent data regarding their quality of life. The results of this study pinpoint the issues that community-living older people faced when interpreting and answering the Norwegian version of OPQOL questionnaire. These issues were mostly caused by sociocultural differences. Our work provides an overview of the changes that must be made in the questionnaire in order to address these sociocultural differences while using the OPQOL questionnaire in the Norwegian context.     

2003—2020年兰溪市艾滋病疫情分析

摘 要：目的：探讨通过调节体质预防老年人常见病的对策。 方法：选择天津市某社区参加免费健康体检的65岁以上 老年人,对其进行中医体质辨识,并收集相关临床检测指标,对所有数据进行统计学分析。结果：女性腹型肥胖发生率为 86.4%,明显高于男性的54.3%。参加体检的老年人中偏颇体质占58.9%。不同性别的老年人疾病患病率只在血脂异常方面存 在明显差异。腹型肥胖老年人的血脂异常患病率明显高于正常体型老年人。腹型肥胖老年人气虚质比例明显高于正常体型老 年人, 而正常体型老年人中平和质的比例明显高于腹型肥胖老年人。结论：老年女性及老年腹型肥胖者是血脂异常预防的 重点人群。可针对性开展对老年女性及腹型肥胖老年人的中医体质调摄。     

社区老年人社会隔离与抑郁症状的纵向研究

目的 采用交叉滞后分析模型探讨社区老年人社会隔离与抑郁症状的纵向关联。方法 采用分层整群抽样法对济南市789名社区老年人在2019年10月至2020年8月进行为期10个月的纵向追踪调查,使用Lubben社会网络量表简化版和老年抑郁量表简化版进行两次测量（T1和T2）。结果 社区老年人社会隔离与抑郁症状均具有一定稳定性;2个时间点的社会隔离与抑郁症状均呈负相关（r=-0.429,-0.327,P<0.001）。交叉滞后回归分析显示,在控制T1抑郁症状后,T1社会隔离显著预测T2抑郁症状（β=-0.136,P<0.001）;控制T1社会隔离后,T1抑郁症状对T2社会隔离的预测作用无统计学意义（β=-0.012,P=0.750）。结论 社会隔离是老年人抑郁症状的前因变量,社会隔离可以显著预测抑郁症状。     

4型腺病毒载体的构建和β－半乳糖苷酶基因的表达

以４型腺病毒疫苗株感染Ａ５４９细胞，提取病毒ＤＮＡ，将ＥｃｏＲＩ消化的Ｄ片段（７０．５－８３．０基因图谱单位）克隆入ｐＵＣ１８质粒，得ｐＡｄ４（７０．５－８３）质粒，质粒ｐＡｄ４（７０．５－８３）和ｐＡｄ４Ｃ１－２５经酶切、系列亚克隆、加接头等方法得到大部分和部分缺失Ｅ３区的重组质粒。聚合酶链反应（ＰＣＲ）法获得ｐｏｌｙ（Ａ），构建约８００ｂＰ腺病毒晚期表达盒，在所构建的腺病毒重组质粒Ｅ３缺失区或Ｅ４与ＩＴＲ间插入表达盒，得到可同时表达２个或２个以上外源基因和保留了Ｅ３区编码分子量为１９３００糖蛋白基因的３种Ａｄ４载体。将ｌａｃＺ基因插入载体表达区，与Ｂｅｌｌ消化的Ａｄ４ＤＮＡＡ片段共转染Ａ５４９细胞，ＯＮＰＧ法检测证实所构建的载体和表达盒功能良好。本项工作对于在国内研究口服活疫苗及开展基因治疗均具有重要意义。