Annals of the American Thoracic Society
-
Multicenter Study
Acceptability and Perceived Utility of Telemedical Consultation during Cardiac Arrest Resuscitation. A Multicenter Survey.
Rationale: Many clinicians who participate in or lead in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) resuscitations lack confidence for this task or worry about errors. Well-led IHCA resuscitation teams deliver better care, but expert resuscitation leaders are often unavailable. Objectives: To determine the acceptability and perceived utility of using telemedicine technology to enable remote IHCA resuscitation participation by a critical care physician. ⋯ The majority of respondents expected a telemedical copilot for IHCA teams to exert a positive or neutral effect on patient care (51% [95% CI, 44-59%] and 33% [95% CI, 30-37%], respectively). Overall, 41% (95% CI, 31-51%) of respondents favored adding a telemedical critical care physician as IHCA team "copilot," 35% (95% CI, 30-40%) were neutral, and 24% (95% CI, 18-32%) were opposed. Clinicians based at smaller hospitals or on the ward or ICU were most likely to foresee beneficial effects from a telemedicine physician "copilot."Conclusions: ICU- and, especially, ward-based IHCA resuscitation teams at community and rural hospitals were amenable to adding a telemedical critical care physician consultant as IHCA team "copilot." Respondents expected the greatest benefits for IHCA events occurring on the wards.
-
The effects of cystic fibrosis (CF) transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) modulators on lung function, pulmonary exacerbations, and quality of life have been well documented. However, CF is a multiorgan disease, and therefore an evidence base is emerging on the systemic effects of CFTR modulators beyond the pulmonary system. This is of great clinical importance, as many of these studies provide proof of concept that CFTR modulators might be used one day to prevent or treat extrapulmonary manifestations stemming from CFTR dysfunction. ⋯ Although many of these studies have reported beneficial extrapulmonary effects related to the use of ivacaftor (IVA) in patients with CF with at least one gating mutation, most of the evidence is low or very low quality, given the limited number of patients evaluated and the lack of control groups. Based on an even smaller number of studies evaluating the extrapulmonary effects of lumacaftor-IVA, the benefits are less clear. Although limited, these studies may provide the basis for future clinical trials to evaluate CFTR modulators on the extrapulmonary manifestations of CF.
-
Multicenter Study Comparative Study
A New Bronchodilator Response Grading Strategy Identifies Distinct Patient Populations.
Rationale: A positive bronchodilator response (BDR) according to American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society (ATS/ERS) guidelines require both 200 ml and 12% increase in forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) or forced vital capacity (FVC) after bronchodilator inhalation. This dual criterion is insensitive in those with high or low FEV1. Objectives: To establish BDR criteria with volume or percentage FEV1 change. ⋯ Conclusions: BDR grading by FEV1 volume or percentage response identified subjects otherwise missed by ATS/ERS criteria. BDR grades were associated with functional exercise performance, quality of life, exacerbation frequency, dyspnea, and radiological airway measures. BDR grades in FEV1 and FVC indicate different clinical and radiological characteristics.
-
Guideline implementation tools are designed to improve uptake of guideline recommendations in clinical settings but do not uniformly accompany the clinical practice guideline documents. Performance measures are a type of guideline implementation tool with the potential to catalyze behavior change and greater adherence to clinical practice guidelines. However, many performance measures suffer from serious flaws in their design and application, prompting the American Thoracic Society (ATS) to define its own performance measure development standards in a previous workshop in 2012. ⋯ We include a detailed explanation of the rationale for the specifications chosen, identification of areas in need of further validity testing, and a preliminary strategy for pilot testing of the performance measure. Pending additional resources and broader performance measure expertise, issuing "preliminary performance measures" and their specifications alongside an ATS clinical practice guideline offers a first step to further the ATS's guideline implementation agenda. We recommend selectively proceeding with full performance measure development for those measures with positive early user feedback and the greatest potential impact in accordance with ATS leadership guidance.