Perceptions of patients and nurses regarding the use of wearables in inpatient settings: a mixed methods study.

Wearable devices for hospitalized patients could help improve care. The purpose of this study was to highlight key barriers and facilitators involved in adopting wearable technology in acute care settings using patient and clinician feedback. Hospitalized patients, 18 years or older, were recruited at the General Medicine inpatient units in Toronto, Ontario to wear the Fitbit® Charge 2 or Charge 3. Fifty General Medicine adult inpatients were recruited. Patients and nurses provided feedback on structured questionnaires. Key themes from open-ended questions were analyzed. Primary outcomes of interest included the exploring patient and nurse perceptions of their experiences with wearable devices as well as their feasibility in clinical settings. Overall, both patients (n = 39) and nurses (n = 28) valued the information provided by Fitbits and shared concerns about device functionality and wearable design. Specifically, patients were interested in using wearables to enhance their self-monitoring, while nurses questioned data validity, as well as ease of incorporating wearables into their workflow. We found that patients wanted improved device design and functionality and valued the opportunity to improve their self-efficacy and to work in partnership with the medical team using wearable technology. Nurses wanted more device functionality and validation and easier ways to incorporate them into their workflow. To achieve the potential benefits of using wearable devices for enhanced monitoring, this study identifies challenges that must first be addressed in order for this technology to be widely adopted in clinical settings.

Social media and vaccine hesitancy: new updates for the era of COVID-19 and globalized infectious diseases.

Despite major advances in vaccination over the past century, resurgence of vaccine-preventable illnesses has led the World Health Organization to identify vaccine hesitancy as a major threat to global health. Vaccine hesitancy may be fueled by health information obtained from a variety of sources, including new media such as the Internet and social media platforms. As access to technology has improved, social media has attained global penetrance. In contrast to traditional media, social media allow individuals to rapidly create and share content globally without editorial oversight. Users may self-select content streams, contributing to ideological isolation. As such, there are considerable public health concerns raised by anti-vaccination messaging on such platforms and the consequent potential for downstream vaccine hesitancy, including the compromise of public confidence in future vaccine development for novel pathogens, such as SARS-CoV-2 for the prevention of COVID-19. In this review, we discuss the current position of social media platforms in propagating vaccine hesitancy and explore next steps in how social media may be used to improve health literacy and foster public trust in vaccination.

Self-reported beta-lactam allergy and the risk of surgical site infection: A retrospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: To assess whether a self-reported ß-lactam allergy is associated with an increased risk of surgical site infection (SSI) across a broad range of procedures and to determine whether this association is mediated by the receipt of an alternate antibiotic to cefazolin. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. PARTICIPANTS: Surgical procedures sampled by an institutional National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database over an 18-month period (January 2017 to June 2018) from 7 surgical specialties. SETTING: Tertiary-care academic hospital. RESULTS: Of the 3,589 surgical procedures included in the study, 369 (10.3%) were performed in patients with a reported ß-lactam allergy. Those with a reported ß-lactam allergy were significantly less likely to receive cefazolin (38.8% vs 95.5%) or metronidazole (20.3% vs 26.1%) and were more likely to receive clindamycin (52.0% vs 0.2%), gentamicin (3.5% vs 0%), or vancomycin (2.2% vs 0.1%) than those without allergy. An SSI occurred in 154 of 3,220 procedures (4.8%) in patients without reported allergy and 27 of 369 (7.3%) with reported allergy. In the multivariable regression model, a reported ß-lactam allergy was associated with a statistically significant increase in SSI risk (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.61; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.04-2.51; P = .03). This effect was completely mediated by receipt of an alternate antibiotic to cefazolin (indirect effect aOR, 1.68; 95% CI, 1.17-2.34; P = .005). CONCLUSIONS: Self-reported ß-lactam allergy was associated with an increased SSI risk mediated through receipt of alternate antibiotic prophylaxis. Safely increasing use of cefazolin prophylaxis in patients with reported ß-lactam allergy can potentially lower the risk of SSIs.

Temporal trends in anti-vaccine discourse on Twitter.

Despite vaccination's role in preventing communicable diseases, misinformation threatens uptake. Social media may disseminate such anti-vaccination messages. We characterized trends in pro- and anti-vaccination discourse on Twitter. All tweets between 2010 and 2019 containing vaccine-related hashtags were identified. Pro- and anti-vaccine tweets and users per quarter (3-months) were tabulated; discussion subcommunities were identified with network analysis. 1,637,712 vaccine-related tweets were identified from 154 pro-vaccine and 125 anti-vaccine hashtags, with 86% of users posting exclusively pro-vaccine and 12% posting exclusively anti-vaccine hashtags. Pro-vaccine tweet volumes are larger than anti-vaccine tweets and consistently increase over time. In contrast, anti-vaccine tweet volumes have decreased since 2014, despite an increasing anti-vaccine user-base. Users infrequently responded across pro/anti-vaccine alignment (0.2%). Despite greater volumes of pro-vaccination discourse in recent years, and the anti-vaccination content userbase being smaller, the anti-vaccine community continues to grow in size. This finding coupled with the minimal inter-communication between communities suggests possible ideological isolation.

Unintentional sulfonylurea toxicity due to a drug-drug interaction: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Sulfonylureas are widely used for type 2 diabetes mellitus, but these medications carry a risk of hypoglycemia. Drug-drug interactions that inhibit sulfonylurea metabolism and thus increase systemic exposure can cause unintentional sulfonylurea toxicity. CASE PRESENTATION: A 56-year-old man presented with severe, recurrent hypoglycemia. He had a history of type 2 diabetes mellitus and was taking the sulfonylurea gliclazide with no prior episodes of hypoglycemia. The onset of his hypoglycemia occurred within days after starting voriconazole and subsequently fluconazole for a fungal pneumonia. Unintentional sulfonylurea toxicity developed due to an adverse drug-drug interaction between gliclazide and these antifungals. Azole antifungals inhibit the metabolism of sulfonylureas resulting in increased systemic exposure and consequent toxicity. After the diagnosis of sulfonylurea toxicity was recognized, the patient was treated initially with dextrose and then administered octreotide to prevent recurrent hypoglycemia. He was successfully managed, his hypoglycemic episodes resolved, and his medications were adjusted to avoid any further adverse interactions. CONCLUSIONS: Adverse drug-drug interactions continue to pose challenges to clinicians. Both individual vigilance and system wide strategies are needed to prevent and mitigate consequences. This case highlights an important drug-drug interaction and reviews the presentation, management and antidotal therapy of sulfonylurea toxicity.

Ultrafast mid-IR laser scalpel: protein signals of the fundamental limits to minimally invasive surgery.

Lasers have in principle the capability to cut at the level of a single cell, the fundamental limit to minimally invasive procedures and restructuring biological tissues. To date, this limit has not been achieved due to collateral damage on the macroscale that arises from thermal and shock wave induced collateral damage of surrounding tissue. Here, we report on a novel concept using a specifically designed Picosecond IR Laser (PIRL) that selectively energizes water molecules in the tissue to drive ablation or cutting process faster than thermal exchange of energy and shock wave propagation, without plasma formation or ionizing radiation effects. The targeted laser process imparts the least amount of energy in the remaining tissue without any of the deleterious photochemical or photothermal effects that accompanies other laser wavelengths and pulse parameters. Full thickness incisional and excisional wounds were generated in CD1 mice using the Picosecond IR Laser, a conventional surgical laser (DELight Er:YAG) or mechanical surgical tools. Transmission and scanning electron microscopy showed that the PIRL laser produced minimal tissue ablation with less damage of surrounding tissues than wounds formed using the other modalities. The width of scars formed by wounds made by the PIRL laser were half that of the scars produced using either a conventional surgical laser or a scalpel. Aniline blue staining showed higher levels of collagen in the early stage of the wounds produced using the PIRL laser, suggesting that these wounds mature faster. There were more viable cells extracted from skin using the PIRL laser, suggesting less cellular damage. ß-catenin and TGF-ß signalling, which are activated during the proliferative phase of wound healing, and whose level of activation correlates with the size of wounds was lower in wounds generated by the PIRL system. Wounds created with the PIRL systsem also showed a lower rate of cell proliferation. Direct comparison of wound healing responses to a conventional surgical laser, and standard mechanical instruments shows far less damage and near absence of scar formation by using PIRL laser. This new laser source appears to have achieved the long held promise of lasers in minimally invasive surgery.