Internal medicine journal
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Internal medicine journal · Aug 2021
Medical Emergency Team Training - Needs Assessment, Feedback and Learning Objectives (MET-NATLO).
There are no published studies assessing learning needs and attitudes prior to attending a medical emergency team (MET) education programme. ⋯ MET education programme participants overwhelmingly feel that training should be multidisciplinary. However, there are disparities between the perceived learning needs of medical and nursing personnel, and between intensive care team members and medical registrars, which may impact on the design and implementation of a multidisciplinary education programme.
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Internal medicine journal · Aug 2021
Real world outcomes for neoadjuvant capecitabine versus infusional 5-fluorouracil in the treatment of locally advanced rectal cancer.
Neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy is standard-of-care treatment for locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC). A pathological complete response (pCR) following chemoradiation therapy is an early indicator of treatment benefit and associated with excellent survival outcomes, with capecitabine largely replacing infusional 5-fluorouracil as the choice in routine care of LARC. ⋯ Capecitabine is now the dominantly used neoadjuvant chemotherapy in LARC. Capecitabine use was associated with a lower rate of pCR versus infusional 5-FU, a difference not explained by examined patient or tumour characteristics. Poor treatment compliance with oral therapy in the real-world setting is one possible explanation.
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Internal medicine journal · Aug 2021
Understanding myocardial infarction trends during the early COVID-19 pandemic: an infodemiology study.
During the first months of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in early 2020, Google Trends data in the United States showed a strong increase in search query frequency for chest pain symptoms despite a concurrent decrease in search interest for myocardial infarction. This suggests a reduced attention to acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and chest pain as its main symptom during this time period. These observations could help explain why cardiovascular mortality rose dramatically despite a strong decrease in hospitalisation rates for ACS.
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Internal medicine journal · Aug 2021
Use of telehealth to increase treatment access for prisoners with chronic hepatitis C.
Prisons remain a priority population in the treatment of hepatitis C (HCV) in Australia. To improve treatment uptake, we created a novel telehealth-based model of care for prisoners with HCV that is both cost-effective and requires minimal infrastructure. ⋯ A large number (29%) of patients was lost to follow up after release from prison - highlighting the vital opportunity for HCV treatment during incarceration. We propose that similar models of care can be used to improve HCV treatment access for other priority populations in Australia.