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Spears posted an update 9 months, 1 week ago
Students were prepared to teach in the following ways designing curriculum, implementation, and reflective practice. Students felt unprepared to teach citing needing more practice and continued skills development. These findings highlight the need for flexibility in the face of the pandemic and underscore the importance of using the new knowledge and practices generated about student learning to reinvent early childhood teacher education programs when faced with post-pandemic realities.A 40-year-old man with stage IV gastric adenocarcinoma was found to have coronary artery vasospasm in the setting of recent 5-fluorouracil administration.In patients presenting with focal neurologic findings involving the lower extremities, a thorough abdominal examination should be considered an integral part of the full neurologic work up.
Hematology and oncology patients represent a complex population that requires timely follow-up to prevent clinical decompensation and delays in treatment. Previous reports have demonstrated that follow-up within 14 days is associated with decreased 30-day readmissions, and the magnitude of this effect is greater for higher-risk patients. This project was designed to standardize the discharge process with the primary goal of reducing average time to hematology and oncology follow-up to < 14 days.
Using Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) quality improvement methodology, a multidisciplinary team of hematology and oncology staff developed and implemented a standardized discharge process. Rotating resident physicians were trained through online and in-person education. Additional interventions included the development of a discharge checklist handout, and a clinical decision support tool including a note template and embedded order set. All patients discharged during the 2-month period before and after the implementased process variation. Timelier follow-up for this complex patient population will prevent clinical decompensation and delays in treatment.
This quality initiative to standardize the discharge process for the hematology and oncology service decreased time to hematology and oncology follow-up appointments, improved communication between inpatient and outpatient teams, and decreased process variation. Timelier follow-up for this complex patient population will prevent clinical decompensation and delays in treatment.
Within the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), breast cancer prevalence has more than tripled from 1995 to 2012. Women veterans may be at an increased breast cancer risk based on service-related exposures and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Women veterans aged ≥ 35 years with no personal history of breast cancer were enrolled at 2 urban VA medical centers. We surveyed women veterans for 5-year and lifetime risks of invasive breast cancer using the Gail Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool (BCRAT). Data regarding demographics, PTSD status, eligibility for chemoprevention, and genetic counseling were also collected. Descriptive statistics were used to determine results.
A total of 99 women veterans participated, of which 60% were Black. In total, 35% were high risk with a 5-year BCRAT > 1.66%. Breast biopsies had been performed in 22% of our entire population; 57% had a family history positive for breast cancer. Comparatively, in our high-risk Black population, 33% had breast biopsies and 94% hrage rate of PTSD among women veterans who are at high risk for developing breast cancer. Historically, breast cancer rates among Black women are lower than those found in the general population. High participation among Black women veterans in this pilot study uncovered the potential for further study of this population, which is otherwise underrepresented in research. Limitations included a small sample size, exclusively urban population, and self-selection for screening. Future directions include the evaluation of genetic and molecular mutations in high risk Black women veterans, possibly even a role for PTSD epigenetic changes.
Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) has become the standard of care for inoperable early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Many patients cannot safely undergo a biopsy because of poor pulmonary function and are empirically treated with radiotherapy. This study aimed to evaluate factors associated with radiation toxicity in patients receiving empiric SABR.
We performed a retrospective review of 69 patients. Patients and tumor characteristics, radiation doses, pulmonary function tests, and toxicity (acute ≤ 90 days and late > 90 days) were analyzed to find associations with overall survival on Kaplan-Meier curves and differences in patient populations with χ
and Mann-Whitney U tests.
Median age was 71 years. Tumors were classified as peripheral in 62 patients (89.9%). After a median follow-up of 18 months, 39 patients (56.5%) were alive with 4 local recurrences (5.7%), 10 regional failures (14.3%), and 15 distant metastases (21.4%). Nineteen of 67 (26.3%) patients had acute toxicity of which 9 had acute grade ≥ 2 toxicity. There were differences in overall survival based on operability status (
= .031) and acute toxicity (
< .001). Pretreatment oxygen dependence (
= .003), central location (
< .001), and new oxygen requirement (
= .02) were significantly associated with acute grade ≥ 2 toxicity. No association was found with performance on pulmonary function tests.
Empiric SABR in presumed early-stage NSCLC appears to be safe and may increase overall survival. Acute grade ≥ 2 toxicity was significantly associated with pretreatment oxygen dependence, central location, and new oxygen requirement. No association was found with poor pulmonary function.
Empiric SABR in presumed early-stage NSCLC appears to be safe and may increase overall survival. Acute grade ≥ 2 toxicity was significantly associated with pretreatment oxygen dependence, central location, and new oxygen requirement. No association was found with poor pulmonary function.
Our objective was to review the utility of pretreatment comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) and its impact on decision making regarding choice and intensity of oncologic therapeutic regimens for older, frail, or poor-functional-status patients, as well as using this prospective assessment to predict chemotherapy-related toxicities. Database searches were conducted in Medline, PubMed, and Ovid for clinical studies, review articles, and journal publications. Search terms included
,
,
,
,
, and
. click here Thirty-seven pertinent articles were retrieved and serve as the basis for this clinical review.
CGA is an important tool for examining aspects of frailty and functional status that are not captured by traditional performance status measures. These findings may then be used in selection of appropriate therapeutic regimens for a given patient that are efficacious and tolerable. Such pretreatment assessments also have been used in predicting therapy-related toxicities.
Frail and older patients are common in oncology practices and are at high risk for therapy-related toxicities because of comorbidities and physiologic changes, presenting a considerable clinical challenge.