Management Strategies and Nursing Activities for Nutritional Care in Hospitalized Patients with Cognitive Decline: A Scoping Review.

Cognitive impairment and dementia can negatively impact the nutritional capacities of older people. Malnutrition is common in hospitalized frail elderly people with cognitive impairment and negatively affects prognosis. Malnutrition worsens the quality of life and increases morbidity and mortality. This scoping review aimed to identify factors affecting the risk of malnutrition and preventive strategies in hospitalized patients with cognitive impairment, focusing on nursing interventions. The authors researched population, context, and concept in international databases of nursing interest. Full texts that met the inclusion criteria were selected and reviewed. The extracted data were subject to thematic analysis. A five-stage approach, already reported in the scientific literature, was utilized in the following scoping review. Of 638 articles yielded, 9 were included. Two focus areas were identified as follows: (1) prevalence and risk factors of malnutrition in older patients with cognitive decline; (2) nursing strategies used to enhance clinical outcomes. Nursing health interventions aim to recognize and reduce malnutrition risk, positively impacting this phenomenon. A multidisciplinary team is essential to meet the nutritional needs of these patients.

Riding a roller coaster: narrative typologies of patients with neuroendocrine tumors.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Illness stories have attracted growing attention in health care research in the context of learning from looking at the world through the patients' eyes. No narrative studies were found about the patients with neuroendocrine tumors (NETs); a rare illness including tumors usually starting in hormone-producing cells. The aim of this article was to develop an extended understanding of these patients' experiences and struggles, as well as their solutions to a common problem. METHODS: The data source was 21 letters written by the patients with NETs treated at an ambulatory treatment center at a large urban hospital in Italy. The letters were analyzed using the Arthur Frank's narrative method. We paid particular attention to statements of self-experience, which is crucial to get the character of the story. RESULTS: We identified four different typologies: "Not illness stories", "Living in imbalance", "Living a new life in balance", and "Living a normal life". The main characteristics of these four groups could be linked to Frank's typologies. However, the patients with this periodically changing disease were continuously in the process of attaining balance in life, and they might move between these various typologies. CONCLUSION: The NETs are incurable illnesses that challenged the peoples to attaining a new balance in life. We will highlight stories focusing on the patients' imbalance and chaos because they illuminated the patients' concrete suffering, which might provide clinicians with specific information about the patients' emotional, physical, and spiritual state. Through learning from the stories of the patients attaining new balance, it seems possible to move forward to acceptance and to develop a model for a new way of living. However, we are skeptical about labeling these stories as a model for clinical practice because they might contribute to individualistic and heroic prescriptions for life that are impossible for others to achieve.

Management of suspected acute inflammatory pancreatopathies in a "real-world" setting: a single-centre observational study.

CONTEXT: Acute pancreatitis is defined as an acute inflammatory process in the pancreas with variable involvement of other regional tissues or remote organ systems. In Italy, the incidence ranges from 20 to 40 x100,000 inhabitants/year and the mortality rate ranges from 5 to 10%. OBJECTIVE: To assess the management of patients with suspected acute inflammatory pancreatopathy and to evaluate the impact of this management on clinical outcomes, including morbidity and mortality. METHODS: A "real-world" observational study based on the analysis of consecutive (one year) records from the Hospital Data Processing Centre: 112 cases with final diagnosis of "acute pancreatitis". RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Sixty-nine men and 43 women were analyzed; 91 (81.3%) patients were older than 40 years and 53 (47.3%) were older than 60 years. Two patients died. One-hundred and five patients (93.8%) had abdominal pain on admission. White blood cell count was greater than 15.0 x10³/dL in 26 patients (23.2%). Hematocrit levels were greater than 40% in 30 patients (26.8%). Triglycerides were elevated in 21 patients (18.8%). In 3 of them (14.3%) levels were higher than 1,000 mg/dL. Creatinine was altered in 22 (19.6%) patients. CRP values were increased in all patients. In the majority of cases (58 patients; 51.8%) pancreatitis was of biliary origin, while alcohol accounted for 16 (14.3%) cases. Four tumors were found (3.6%). Forty patients (35.7%) were discharged in the first week, 41 (36.6%) in the second week, 19 (17.0%) in the third week, and 12 (10.7%) after 21 days. After 72 hours, acute pancreatitis was classified as mild in 80 patients (71.4%) and as severe in 32 patients (28.6%).