Training the Anesthesiologist Trainer: Enhancing the Quality of Feedback during Human Patient Simulations

An essential piece of anesthesiologist training is attending resident feedback sessions. Yet, few attending anesthesiologists have formal teaching education and little time to acquire it. In this field experiment, attending physicians were randomly assigned to a control group or to receive 30 minutes of feedback training inspired by Implicit Person Theory (IPT). As such, IPT training encouraged physicians to praise process-oriented learning while discouraging performance-oriented mindsets. Attending physicians then observed residents participate in a human patient simulation (HPS) activity and provided residents with feedback. Content and statistical analyses revealed trained attending physicians praised learning goals and challenged performance goals more often than untrained physicians during feedback sessions. Thus, the training provides a rapid method of enhancing the quality of attending physicians’ training communication.     

An Environmental Scan of the National and Provincial Diagnostic Reference Levels in Canada for Common Adult Computed Tomography Scans

Several regulatory bodies have agreed that low-dose radiation used in medical imaging is a weak carcinogen that follows a linear, non-threshold model of cancer risk. While avoiding radiation is the best course of action to mitigate risk, computed tomography (CT) scans are often critical for diagnosis. In addition to the as low as reasonably achievable principle, a more concrete method of dose reduction for common CT imaging exams is the use of a diagnostic reference level (DRL). This paper examines Canada's national DRL values from the recent CT survey and compares it to published provincial DRLs as well as the DRLs in the United Kingdom and the United States of America for the 3 most common CT exams: head, chest, and abdomen/pelvis. Canada compares well on the international scale, but it should consider using more electronic dose monitoring solutions to create a culture of dose optimization.     

A novel technique to measure severity of pediatric pectus excavatum using white light scanning.

Background/purpose

Computed tomography (CT) derived Haller Index (HI) remains the standard for quantifying severity in patient with pectus excavatum (PE). Optical scanning described in literature reports optimistic results and new indices that correlate with HI. This study assessed the feasibility of a handheld White Light Scanner (WLS) to obtain 3D measurements and indices of PE deformity.

The expression and perception of facial emotion in brain-damaged patients

This study examined the expression and perception of facial emotion in patients with unilateral cerebrovascular pathology. Subjects were 12 right brain-damaged (RBD), 15 left brain-damaged (LBD) aphasic, and 16 normal control (NC) right-handed males. Expressions were elicited during posed and spontaneous conditions. Both positive and negative emotions were studied. RBDs were significantly impaired, relative to LBDs and NCs, in expressing and perceiving facial emotion. There were no group differences as a function of condition, but there were differences as a function of emotional valence. Qualitative performance differences also were observed. There was no evidence that the ability to produce a particular emotion was related to the ability to identify the same emotion. Overall, these findings support the notion that the right cerebral hemisphere is dominant for expressing and perceiving facial emotion.     

Status of Women and Infants in Complex Humanitarian Emergencies

Women and children bear the greatest burden in the midst of war and long‐term disasters. Complex humanitarian emergencies are characterized by social disruption, armed conflict, population displacement, collapse of public health infrastructure, and food shortages. Humanitarian assistance for refugees and internally displaced populations requires particular attention to the common issues affecting morbidity and mortality in women and infants. Gender‐based violence and reproductive health concerns are discussed within the context of populations affected by conflict and forced migration. Recommendations for midwives and women's health care providers engaging in care for women and children in complex humanitarian emergencies are discussed.     

Applying the neoadjuvant paradigm to ductal carcinoma in situ

Local treatment options for ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) are virtually identical to those for early invasive breast cancer, despite the fact that the survival from this condition is much higher. Our ability to more appropriately tailor therapy for DCIS is hampered by a lack of understanding of the natural history of DCIS, our limited ability to predict the rate of progression to invasive cancer and the response to therapy, and the absence of tools to follow patients who have not had invasive treatments. Neoadjuvant therapy, which has been proven to be both safe and effective in tailoring treatments for invasive cancer, could be ideally suited to DCIS. However, neoadjuvant therapy requires that doctors and patients delay surgical treatment that has known benefits. In order to successfully introduce this approach into clinical practice, risk assessment and decision support tools will be needed to help physicians and patients feel comfortable that they are not being exposed to unnecessary or excessive risk. In addition, we need better imaging to track extent and progression of disease. Among the possible benefits of the neoadjuvant approach, we may discover that many lesions are responsive and some even reversible, leaving us with treatments that might be tailored to biology and with important clues for breast cancer prevention in high-risk women.     

Acute Renal Allograft Rejection Following Pegylated IFN-α Treatment for Chronic HCV in a Repeat Allograft Recipient on Hemodialysis: A Case Report

Interferon alpha (IFN-alpha) can be effective therapy for patients with chronic kidney disease who have chronic hepatitis C (HCV). However, acute allograft rejection has been reported in association with IFN-alpha following kidney transplantation, and therefore IFN therapy is recommended prior to, rather than after, kidney transplantation whenever feasible. The special case of repeat allograft recipients who contract HCV after the first transplantation presents special difficulties. This report features the case of a repeat allograft recipient who presented with neutropenic fevers after 5 months of pegylated IFN-alpha therapy, initiated 6 months following the functional loss of his third graft and the reinitiation of hemodialysis (HD). Physical exam, radiographic and laboratory findings led to allograft nephrectomy. The pathologic findings supported a diagnosis of acute-on-chronic rejection. This represents a rare case of IFN-alpha induced rejection following allograft failure and return to HD in a repeat allograft recipient. It also calls attention to the need for a high index of suspicion for the development of allograft rejection, which may require allograft nephrectomy even after allograft 'failure'.     

Complications of intestinal augmentation and substitution cystoplasty

Summary The content of these papers has been heavily weighted towards reconstructions performed utilizing segments of stomach. This was not done to place a value judgment on this type of reconstruction, rather it helps establish an awareness of: (1) potentially serious metabolic and gastrointestinal complications not previously reported in children and (2) particularly frequent symptomatic disturbances collectively included in the hematuria-dysuria syndrome. Recognition of problems specifically associated with a certain type of intestinal segment, as well as complications generally accompanying any form of intestinal reconstruction, will hopefully provide pediatric urologists and nephrologists with a better understanding of the issues that must be addressed in using these newer surgical techniques and focus attention on the specific indications and contraindications for incorporating intestinal segments into the urinary tract. Although long-term follow-up information still remains sparse, it appears that regular surveillance programs are required and both pediatric nephrologists and urologists need to be part of these programs.     

Spatiotemporal pattern of striatal ERK1/2 phosphorylation in a rat model of L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia and the role of dopamine D1 receptors.

BACKGROUND: We examined the activation pattern of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1 and 2 (ERK1/2) and its dependence on D1 versus D2 dopamine receptors in hemiparkinsonian rats treated with 3,4-dihydroxyphenyl-L-alanine (L-DOPA). METHODS: 6-Hydroxydopamine-lesioned rats were treated acutely or chronically with L-DOPA in combination with antagonists for D1 or D2 receptors. Development of dyskinesia was monitored in animals receiving chronic drug treatment. Phosphorylation of ERK1/2, mitogen- and stress-activated protein kinase-1 (MSK-1), and the levels of FosB/DeltaFosB expression were examined immunohistochemically. RESULTS: L-DOPA treatment caused phosphorylation of ERK1/2 in the dopamine-denervated striatum after acute and chronic administration. Similar levels were observed in matrix and striosomes, and in enkephalin-positive and dynorphin-positive neurons. The severity of dyskinesia was positively correlated with phospho-ERK1/2 levels. Phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and MSK-1 was dose-dependently blocked by SCH23390, but not by raclopride. SCH23390 also inhibited the development of dyskinesia and the induction of FosB/DeltaFosB. CONCLUSIONS: L-DOPA produces pronounced activation of ERK1/2 signaling in the dopamine-denervated striatum through a D1-receptor-dependent mechanism. This effect is associated with the development of dyskinesia. Phosphorylated ERK1/2 is localized to both dynorphinergic and enkephalinergic striatal neurons, suggesting a general role of ERK1/2 as a plasticity molecule during L-DOPA treatment.