Respiratory care
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Pediatric airway management is a challenging process at community emergency departments (CEDs) due to lower pediatric volume, a lack of pediatric expertise among staff, and a lack of pediatric-specific equipment and resources. This has contributed to increased mortality in pediatric patients presenting to CEDs in comparison to pediatric academic medical centers (AMCs). We hypothesized that a collaborative program between CEDs and the state AMC would improve the quality of pediatric airway management provided by CEDs in simulated settings and the CEDs' pediatric emergency readiness scores. ⋯ A collaborative improvement program between a pediatric AMC and CEDs improved the CEDs' simulated pediatric emergency airway management. This model can be utilized to improve management of other pediatric critical conditions in these CEDs.
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Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is considered a multisystem degenerative disease due to its autonomic dysfunction effects. Autonomic cardiac control disorders can be seen in ALS and influence the quality of life and the life expectancy of affected individuals. We evaluated heart rate variability in subjects with ALS and with variable lung capacity. ⋯ The subjects with ALS and with decreased pulmonary capacity had reduced heart rate variability.
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This study sought to explore factors in adults with cystic fibrosis (CF) that predicted whether (i) someone was engaged in full-time paid work, and (ii) those engaged in paid work reported problems with absenteeism and/or presenteeism. ⋯ In this study, the majority of adults with cystic fibrosis worked full time and a low percentage of the sample reported problems with absenteeism and presenteeism.
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Because both dyspnea and pain have common features from a clinical and physiologic point of view, we hypothesized that stellate ganglion irradiation by using a linear polarized near-infrared ray device, which is often used for pain management, might be applicable for dyspnea relief. To evaluate the use of stellate ganglion irradiation as a novel noninvasive treatment for dyspnea, we investigated the influence of stellate ganglion irradiation on dyspnea. ⋯ Stellate ganglion irradiation significantly alleviated dyspnea induced by an external inspiratory load in healthy adults. Stellate ganglion irradiation might be an option to treat dyspnea in some cases. Further studies in individuals with diverse types of dyspnea and clinical settings are warranted.