Is central venous catheter in haemodialysis still the main factor of mortality after hospitalization?

BACKGROUND: Haemodialysis is the most frequently prescribed Renal Replacement Therapy modality worldwide. However, patients undergoing this therapy have an unpredictable evolution related to vascular access. OBJECTIVE: To determine the factors associated with the mortality and hospitalization rate in haemodialysis patients at a third-level care Centre in the Dominican Republic. METHODS: This was an observational and prospective study involving a cohort of 192 haemodialysis patients. The patient selection was non-probabilistic for convenience, and a direct source questionnaire was applied. RESULTS: Of the 192 patients in the cohort, 103 (53.6%) were hospitalized and evaluated. The most frequent cause of hospitalization was catheter-related bloodstream infections (53.4%). Almost one-third (28.2%) of the hospitalized patients died, mostly due to infections (12.6%). Of those who died 29 patients (90%) had a Central venous catheter (CVC) with a non-tunnelled catheter (NTCVC) (65.5%); having an NTC CVC makes a patient 85.5 times more likely to be hospitalized than patients with arteriovenous fistulas. CONCLUSION: Vascular access plays a predominant role in the hospitalization and mortality rates in haemodialysis. Patients with an arteriovenous fistula obtained significantly better outcomes than those with central venous catheters.

Development of Communication Skills Through Virtual Reality on Nursing School Students: Clinical Trial.

Multiple studies demonstrate benefits of virtual simulations as recreation of reality in the development of instrumental skills, but few randomized studies prove its efficacy in the development of communication and interpersonal relationships skills. The objective was to develop a virtual reality simulator to improve communication skills and compare its results with a traditional workshop based on cases and theoretical content explained through video. This is a randomized and controlled clinical trial, with a pretest and a posttest. Participants were first-year students from the Faculty of Nursing, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain (n = 100). The sample was divided into two groups: the intervention group (n = 50) was provided a virtual reality simulation teaching process as a novel resource, whereas the control group was provided with a case-based traditional workshop. Because data followed a normal distribution, it was analyzed with Student t test for independent samples, the group sample comparison, and analysis of variance, to find differences among age subgroups. Significant changes were observed at the time of evaluating the skills for the intervention group ( P < .01) in comparison with the control group. Both interventions are effective after the first evaluation; however, virtual reality-based intervention stands above the usual method and showed better results in older students.

[Education interventions in heart failure using m-Health: Systematic review]. / Educación terapéutica en insuficiencia cardiaca mediante e-Salud: revisión sistemática.

OBJECTIVE: To provide the best scientific evidence available on the effectiveness of therapeutic education programs through digital health in patients with heart failure. DESIGN: Systematic review of randomized clinical trials. DATA SOURCES: Six databases were included due to their relevance in Health Sciences: PubMed, EMBASE, Scielo, Cochrane, CINAHL, and Web of Science. SELECTION OF STUDIES: In English and Spanish, studies carried out between 2018 and 2023 were selected. After evaluating the methodological quality of the studies, the Jadad tool was used to discriminate those that did not meet said quality. In total, 8 articles from 6 different countries were included. DATA EXTRACTION: The review and analysis of the documents were carried out by independent pairs. The Cochrane tool for RoB 2 randomized clinical trials was used to assess the risk of bias. RESULTS: All the applications had therapeutic education, it was also assessed that they had monitoring, evaluation of signs and symptoms, drug titration, and professional follow-up through the application. CONCLUSION: This review reveals the significant impact of therapeutic education in increasing patient knowledge, reducing hospital readmissions, and improving functional status and self-care. This makes digital health a valuable tool to complement nursing care in patients with heart failure.

Reduced phosphorus is associated with older age and hypoalbuminemia. Risk factors for all-cause mortality in peritoneal dialysis patients.

Introduction/aim: Hyperphosphatemia is a mortality risk factor in dialysis patients; however, low phosphorus levels too. Diabetes and malnutrition are strongly associated with mortality and with reduced serum phosphorus. This study analyzed the pattern of serum phosphorus in patients on Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) and its association with mortality. Methods: A Secondary analysis was performed on a multicenter cohort study in peritoneal dialysis patients from two previous studies done by our group. Results: Six hundred fifty-four patients were included. Serum phosphorus was <3.6 mg/dL in 28.29% of patients, 3.6 to 5.2 mg/dL in 48.16%, and >5.2 mg/dL in 23.55%. In logistic regression analysis; education, age, and hypoalbuminemia were risk factors for low P levels. In multivariate Cox analysis P < 3.6 mg/dL, age, and low albumin were predictors for all-cause mortality. When lower P and lower albumin were combined, this group had the highest risk for all cause and cardiovascular mortality. Conclusion: The frequency of patients with reduced serum phosphorus was higher in the Mexican population than in Europe or Asia. Low serum phosphorus levels, older age and hypoalbuminemia were risk factors for all-cause mortality. Low phosphorus combined with low albumin levels were the highest risk factor for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality.

Patient experience in automated peritoneal dialysis with telemedicine monitoring during the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico: Qualitative study.

AIM: The aim of the study was to understand the experiences of patients on automated peritoneal dialysis (APD) during the period of confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic. DESIGN: Qualitative exploratory study, phenomenological through semi-structured telephone interview. METHOD: A priori sampling was carried out with patients on APD with remote monitoring and telephone follow-up, in 13 hospitals in Mexico. RESULTS: Twenty-nine informants, mean age 45.41 ± 16.93; 15 women and 14 men. The analysis revealed four categories of analysis: home isolation, clinical follow-up, socioeconomic challenges and infodemic. The experiences of these patients led them to somatize emotions, presenting symptoms such as anxiety, sadness, loneliness, sleep, eating and digestive disorders, situation that sets the tone for future research on telemedicine care models, coping styles, emotional support strategies and socioeconomic impact on patients with chronic home treatments during the pandemic.

"Comprehensive Care" Concept in Nursing: Systematic Review.

INTRODUCTION: Integrated health care is a concept widely used in the planning and organisation of nursing care. It is a highly topical concept, but at the same time it is deeply rooted in the theory and models of Nursing right from its inception as a science. There is no clear, agreed definition that describes it. OBJETIVE: To systematise the knowledge available on the concept of "comprehensive care" in Nursing from the point of view of nursing care, its domains and characteristics. METHODS: A literature search has been carried out in several languages (Spanish, Portuguese, English and Romanian) in the databases Web of Science, Scopus, Medline, PubMed, Cochrane and Dialnet, covering the period between 2013 and 2019. The search terms used were: comprehensive health care, health and nursing. Prospero register 170327. RESULTS: Sixteen documents were identified, which grouped 8 countries, mainly Brazil, being the country with the highest output on this context 10 documents were found within the qualitative paradigm and 6 quantitative ones. The concept "Comprehensive Care" is commonly used to refer to comprehensive nursing care techniques, protocols, programmes and plans, covering care in all aspects of the individual as a complement to or independent of the clinical needs arising from health care. CONCLUSIONS: The definition of features pertaining to the concept "Comprehensive Care" encourages the use and standardisation of nursing care plans, improving patient follow-up, the detection of new risk factors, complications and new health problems not related to the reason for admission.This increases the capacity for prevention and improves the patients quality of life, and their primary and/or family caregivers, which translates into lower costs in the health system.

Relationship Between the Gut Microbiota and Alzheimer's Disease: A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: In recent years, scientific research on the gut microbiota and their relationship with some diseases, including neurological ones, has notably increased. As a result of these investigations, the so-called gut-brain axis arises. Despite its influence on the evolution and development of cognitive impairment, the gut-brain axis is little defined and demonstrated. OBJECTIVE: To provide the best scientific evidence available on the relationship between the gut microbiota and Alzheimer's disease. METHOD: Systematic and narrative review of the information generated in the last 5 years in national and international databases, in English and Spanish. RESULTS: Eight observational studies were selected, carried out in humans and, therefore, suitable for inclusion in this review. CONCLUSION: The results of these studies support the hypothesis that there is a relationship between the gut microbiota and cognitive disorders through the gut-brain axis. However, today, there is a substantial lack of human studies, especially clinical trials, which makes it difficult to formulate clinical recommendations on this topic.

Best Nursing Intervention Practices to Prevent Non-Communicable Disease: A Systematic Review.

Objectives: To explore nursing health education interventions for non-communicable disease patients. Methods: The design was a systematic review of research work published between 2008 and 2018. The data sources included the Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, COCHRANE, and LILACS. The studies that met the inclusion were assessed, and the analysis for methodological quality through the recommended tools CASPe, and JADAD. Results: Fifteen original studies from eight counties were included in the review; Findings revealed 13 studies with randomized samples and six used power analysis. Nurses' interventions included house calls, home care, and individual and group health education. Conclusion: Nursing interventions showed 76.4% the effectiveness of results in patient outcomes to promote and improve healthier lifestyles and quality of life of non-communicable disease patients. This review discloses the significant impact of nursing health education interventions. Nursing leadership and political decision-makers should consider providing programs to enhance health education knowledge and abilities. All of this can favor the sustainability of the global economy by changing the life style of thousands of people worldwide. Systematic Review Registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/, identifier CRD42020208809.

A COVID-19 pandemic-specific, structured care process for peritoneal dialysis patients facilitated by telemedicine: Therapy continuity, prevention, and complications management.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been declared a pandemic. Peritoneal dialysis (PD), being a home therapy, allows for physical distancing measures and movement restrictions. In order to prevent COVID-19 contagioun among the Dominican Republic National Health System PD program patients, a follow-up virtual protocol for this group was developed. The aim of this study is to outline the protocol established by the PD program's healthcare team using telemedicine in order to avoid COVID-19 transmission and to report initial results and outcomes of this initiative. This is an observational prospective longitudinal study with 946 patients being treated in seven centers distributed throughout the country between April 1 and June 30. The protocol was implemented focusing on the patient follow-up; risk mitigation data were registered and collected from electronic records. During the follow-up period, 95 catheters were implanted, 64 patients initiated PD, and the remaining were in training. A total of 9532 consultations were given by the different team specialists, with 8720 (91%) virtual and 812 (9%) face-to-face consultations. The transfer rate to hemodialysis was 0.29%, whereas the peritonitis rate was 0.11 episode per patient/year. Eighteen adults tested positive for COVID-19. The implementation of the protocol and telemedicine utilization have ensured follow-up and monitoring, preserved therapy, controlled complications, and PD lives protected.

The Implementation of Nursing Specialties in Spain, 2005-2018: A Documental Study.

Nursing specialization is considered a significant professional requirement to meet the challenges and needs of the health systems under evolving epidemiological patterns and scientific, technological, and social advances. In Spain, experiences in the training of specialist nurses have followed the same pattern and have been consolidated through legislation. This study aimed to analyze the implementation of the Spanish Nursing Specialty process according to the Royal Decree 450/2005. It used the documentary and systematic analysis method: a systematic review of official regulation documents published in the State Official Bulletin of Spain, Spanish legislative and historical nursing inventories, and other nursing-specific literature. This study shows an extensive account of nursing specialties' development process through a rather long period in Spain. It evidences the complexity involved to ensure legislative legality. The study also points to the need for homogeneity within the programs across the national territory and legal definition for specialty practice. This study could be an illustration to stimulate other nurse leaders in the world working in regulation and nursing specialty development to empower nurses' development and enhance the nurse specialists' contribution to archive the needs of the health system and healthcare of the population. HIGHLIGHTS:.