Preparing IR for COVID-19: The Singapore Experience

This paper describes country-wide special measures undertaken for interventional radiology staff during the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Although each interventional radiology service around the world faces unique challenges, the principles outlined in this article will be useful when designing or strengthening individual practices and integrating them within wider hospital and national measures. Moving beyond the current outbreak, these measures will be useful for any future infectious diseases which are likely to arise.     

A Tool to Assess Patient and Surrogate Knowledge About the POLST (Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) Program

ContextIt is especially important that patients are well informed when making high-stakes, preference-sensitive decisions like those on the Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) form. However, there is currently no way to easily evaluate whether patients understand key concepts when making these important decisions.ObjectivesTo develop a POLST knowledge survey.MethodsExpert (n = 62) ratings of key POLST facts were used to select items for a POLST knowledge survey. The survey was administered to nursing facility residents (n = 97) and surrogate decision-makers (n = 112). A subset (n = 135) were re-administered the survey after a standardized advance care planning discussion to assess the scale's responsiveness to change.ResultsThe 19-item survey demonstrated adequate reliability (α = 0.72.). Residents' scores (x = 11.4, standard deviation 3.3) were significantly lower than surrogate scores (x = 14.7, standard deviation 2.5) (P < 0.001). Scores for both groups increased significantly after administration of a standardized advance care planning discussion (P < 0.001). Although being a surrogate, age, race, education, cognitive functioning, and health literacy were significantly associated with higher POLST Knowledge Survey scores in univariate analyses, only being a surrogate (P < 0.001) and being white (P = 0.028) remained significantly associated with higher scores in multivariate analyses.ConclusionThe 19-item POLST Knowledge Survey demonstrated adequate reliability and responsiveness to change. Findings suggest the survey could be used to identify knowledge deficits and provide targeted education to ensure adequate understanding of key clinical decisions when completing POLST.     

Preoperative Risk Factors Associated With PACU Pediatric Respiratory Complications: An Integrative Review

PurposeThis article reviews state of the science of preoperative risk factors associated with postanesthesia care unit (PACU) pediatric respiratory complications.DesignAn integrative review.MethodsA search of PubMed, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), MEDLINE, Scopus, Cochrane, and Joanna Briggs Institute databases was performed. Thirty-one articles, published between 2006 and 2018, were appraised for quality and the level of evidence using the Johns Hopkins Nursing Evidence-Based Practice Model.FindingsThese articles were grouped into the following categories: age, American Society of Anesthesiologists status, gender, airway comorbidities, syndromes, anomalies, pulmonary comorbidities, ethnicity, obesity, neurologic comorbidities, and cardiac comorbidities.ConclusionsEvidence identified significant preoperative and anesthesia risk factors that are associated with PACU pediatric respiratory complications. This article reveals the importance for the perioperative team to identify, assess for, communicate, and develop a management plan for pediatric respiratory complications.     

Computer-generated vegan menus: The importance of food composition database choice

Precise data on food chemical composition is crucial for any quantitative nutrition research and indispensable for evaluation and planning of computer-based menus. Moreover, exact food chemical composition is of the utmost importance in composing specific diets that may be low in certain essential nutrients. Therefore, this research evaluated a weekly vegan menu using three different food composition databases (FCDB): the Croatian, the official Danish Food Composition Database and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) – National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference. Significant differences (p < 0.05) were determined in evaluated and optimised offers for the same menu when using different FCDBs. Furthermore, in these menus quantities of some nutrients have not reached official daily recommendations needed for prevention of non-communicable diseases. In this research, new vegan menus that can provide adequate quantity of essential nutrients, regardless of FCDB utilized, were created with linear optimisation (LO). This resulted in high quality daily menu offers. However, depending on the FCDB that was used, optimal menus differed in daily meal combinations, and the effectiveness of the optimisation in the minimisation of differences caused by differences of data in FCDBs was tested. Linear optimisation has been proved to be an effective tool in planning of specific diets, such as vegan diets. Nonetheless, the quality of computer-planned menus depends heavily on the quality of FCDB used.     

提高选题策划质量 提升行业期刊品牌影响力——以金属加工杂志社实践为例

【目的】 探讨行业期刊进行选题策划的方法,提升选题策划的质量。【方法】 利用互联网技术及新媒体资源,结合金属加工杂志社选题策划实例,归纳出几种选题策划的途径及方法。【结果】 结合行业热点进行选题策划,注重实效性和内容深度,提升期刊内容的可读性,可使期刊获得更多读者的关注和认可,提升期刊的行业影响力。【结论】 提高选题策划质量,可有效提升期刊内容的可读性,从而进一步提升期刊在行业的影响力。