Bnai-Zion Medical Center Healthcare Workers' Levels of Professional Burnout during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Objectives: Unprecedented challenges in hospital care were imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic due to the highly contagious disease. Healthcare services adjusted for working with additional personal protection equipment and hygiene measures while attending to a large number of critically ill patients. In this study, we aimed to determine burnout rates and preferred interventions among healthcare staff, including nurses and physicians, at Bnai-Zion Medical Center during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory questionnaire was administered to 185 cross-sectional volunteer participants from the nursing and medical staff between June and August 2020, when Israel experienced its second surge of COVID-19. Results: We found a statistically significant correlation between work-related and personal burnout. COVID-19 ward staff had greater burnout levels than the rest of our institution's personnel. Most highly burned-out healthcare workers were interested in intervention therapy. Conclusions: Dealing with burnout is imperative to improve the well-being of our hospital staff and ensure the best possible performance. Nursing management should consider first-line responders' stressful conditions to be alleviated through support programs.

Treatment of Rare Mutations in Patients with Lung Cancer.

Lung cancer is a worldwide prevalent malignancy. This disease has a low survival rate due to diagnosis at a late stage challenged by the involvement of metastatic sites. Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is presented in 85% of cases. The last decade has experienced substantial advancements in scientific research, leading to a novel targeted therapeutic approach. The newly developed pharmaceutical agents are aimed towards specific mutations, detected in individual patients inflicted by lung cancer. These drugs have longer and improved response rates compared to traditional chemotherapy. Recent studies were able to identify rare mutations found in pulmonary tumors. Among the gene alterations detected were mesenchymal epithelial transition factor (MET), human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2), B-type Raf kinase (BRAF), c-ROS proto-oncogene (ROS1), rearranged during transfection (RET) and neurotrophic tyrosine kinase (NTRK). Ongoing clinical trials are gaining insight onto possible first and second lines of medical treatment options intended to enable progression-free survival to lung cancer patients.

Real-world epidemiology, treatment patterns and survival of multiple myeloma patients in a large nationwide health plan.

BACKGROUND: Survival of patients with multiple myeloma (MM) has improved significantly with access to autologous stem cell transplant (SCT) and new treatments. This study aims to describe epidemiology, treatment patterns, and outcomes of MM in Israel. METHODS: A retrospective observational study was conducted in Maccabi Healthcare Services, a 2-million-member nationwide health plan in Israel. MM was defined by cross-linking data on MM diagnoses, dispensed treatments, and serum free light-chain assays. Point prevalence (31/12/2016) and incidence (2012-2016) rates were age-standardized. Newly diagnosed and treated patients (2009-2015) were followed through 31/12/2016 for progression to second-line (L2), with death as a competing risk. RESULTS: MM prevalence and incidence rates were 26.2 and 4.6 per 100,000 population, respectively. In the treatment cohort (N = 552), mean ±â€¯SD) age was 65.6 ±â€¯11.3) years (60.1% male) and median (95% CI) OS in years was 5.2 (4.3-6.1) overall and 6.5 (4.9-8.1) for first-line (L1) bortezomib (N = 421). In a multivariable analysis, OS was significantly higher among patients starting L1 in 2012-2015 vs. 2009-2011. Within a year, 38.4% underwent SCT. Cumulative incidence of L2 was 38.2% and 51.4% within 1 and 2 years, respectively, and was associated with older age (≥65y; P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: These results from a large heterogeneous population demonstrate MM incidence and survival rates that are in line with the literature, together with a significant improvement in overall survival over time. Approximately half of newly treated patients progressed to L2 within two years. These results will serve as a baseline for further research to evaluate the clinical impact of new interventions.