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Background: High levels of empathy among resident physicians are associated with improved patient outcomes. Empathy may be learned and practiced when reading nonmedical writing through narrative transportation, a process by which readers identify with characters and become emotionally involved in the plot. We hypothesized that residents and fellows who reported more nonmedical reading would have higher empathy levels and that empathy would decrease during training. Methods: An emailed survey was sent to program directors of Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education-accredited anesthesiology residency and fellowship programs, with a request to distribute the survey to trainees. The Toronto Empathy Questionnaire, reading volume, and demographics were included in the survey. Response data were analyzed using a multiple variable regression model. Results: Of 136 responses, 119 were included for data analysis. Seventeen partially completed surveys were excluded. Higher empathy scores were reported among women (P < .0001) and residents who worked 60 to 80 hours per week (P = .039). Age, postgraduate year of training, relationship status, time spent with family, and avid reading were not significantly associated with increased empathy. Conclusion: In this study, we examined whether nonmedical fiction reading would increase empathy in medical trainees. Our study was not able to find any significant association with time spent reading and increased empathy; however, we found that trainees who worked more hours, specifically 60 to 80 hours, had higher empathy scores. Limitations for this study included a smaller sample size. Further research should be done in this field to determine if there are other intangible factors that affect empathy in trainees.
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OBJECTIVE: To identify risks factors associated with acute kidney injury (AKI) after esophageal cancer surgery. DESIGN: This was a retrospective study. SETTING: Single academic center. PARTICIPANTS: Subjects with non-metastatic esophageal cancer. Patients were excluded if they were younger than 18 years and had missing data. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Primary outcome of the study was AKI according to AKI Network criteria. Demographic and perioperative variables were compared in patients with and without AKI. A multivariate Cox proportional model was used to assess the association between perioperative variables and AKI; p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. AKI was found in 107 (11.9%) of the 898 patients included in the study. The multivariate analysis also showed that BMI (odds ratio [OR] 1.07, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.03-1.11), number of comorbidities (OR 1.52, 95% CI 1.20-1.93, p = 0.001), and preoperative creatinine concentrations (OR 2.37, 95% CI 1.14-4.92, p = 0.02) were independent predictors for AKI. The use of dexamethasone was associated with a reduced risk for AKI. CONCLUSIONS: In support of previous reports in the literature, the authors found that AKI was not an uncommon complication after esophageal surgery. Obesity, cardiovascular comorbidities, and high preoperative concentrations were predictors of AKI. Dexamethasone administration during surgery appeared to have a protective effect. This finding opens an opportunity to further study in a randomized controlled trial the efficacy of dexamethasone in the prevention of AKI.