Sepsis recognition tools in acute ambulatory care: associations with process of care and clinical outcomes in a service evaluation of an Emergency Multidisciplinary Unit in Oxfordshire.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the performance of currently available sepsis recognition tools in patients referred to a community-based acute ambulatory care unit. DESIGN: Service evaluation of consecutive patients over a 4-month period. SETTING: Community-based acute ambulatory care unit. DATA COLLECTION AND OUTCOME MEASURES: Observations, blood results and outcome data were analysed from patients with a suspected infection. Clinical features at first assessment were used to populate sepsis recognition tools including: systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) criteria, National Early Warning Score (NEWS), quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA) and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) criteria. Scores were assessed against the clinical need for escalated care (use of intravenous antibiotics, fluids, ongoing ambulatory care or hospital treatment) and poor clinical outcome (all-cause mortality and readmission at 30 days after index assessment). RESULTS: Of 533 patients (median age 81 years), 316 had suspected infection with 120 patients requiring care escalated beyond simple community care. SIRS had the highest positive predictive value (50.9%, 95% CI 41.6% to 60.3%) and negative predictive value (68.9%, 95% CI 62.6% to 75.3%) for the need for escalated care. Both NEWS and SIRS were better at predicting the need for escalated care than qSOFA and NICE criteria in patients with suspected infection (all P<0.001). While new-onset confusion predicted the need for escalated care for infection in patients ≥85 years old (n=114), 23.7% of patients ≥85 years had new-onset confusion without evidence for infection. CONCLUSIONS: Acute ambulatory care clinicians should use caution in applying the new NICE endorsed criteria for determining the need for intravenous therapy and hospital-based location of care. NICE criteria have poorer performance when compared against NEWS and SIRS and new-onset confusion was prevalent in patients aged ≥85 years without infection.

Effectiveness of the Health Complex Model in Iranian primary health care reform: the study protocol.

BACKGROUND: Iranian traditional primary health care (PHC) system, although proven to be successful in some areas in rural populations, suffers major pitfalls in providing PHC services in urban areas especially the slum urban areas. The new government of Iran announced a health reform movement including the health reform in PHC system of Iran. The Health Complex Model (HCM) was chosen as the preferred health reform model for this purpose. METHODS: This paper aims to report a detailed research protocol for the assessment of the effectiveness of the HCM in Iran. An adaptive controlled design is being used in this research. The study is planned to measure multiple endpoints at the baseline and 2 years after the intervention. The assessments will be done both in a population covered by the HCM, as intervention area, and in control populations covered by the traditional health care system as the control area. DISCUSSION: Assessing the effectiveness of the HCM, as the Iranian PHC reform initiative, could help health system policy makers for future decisions on its continuation or modification.

Neuromodulation for intractable headaches.

Intractable chronic headaches are a major challenge for both patients and healthcare professionals. Over the last two decades, implantable electrical neuromodulators, previously established to manage other forms of chronic pain, have been used increasingly for intractable primary and secondary headache disorders. We review the current approaches to the management of refractory headaches using neuromodulation. Indications, operative considerations and complications are discussed based on our experience and a review of the literature. The field of neuromodulation has been rapidly advancing, with many new targets being discovered and novel devices being developed for treating craniofacial pain. We discuss some of these targets, detailing the latest advances in the area of neuromodulation for intractable headaches.