Functional neurological disorder is a feminist issue.

Functional neurological disorder (FND) is a common and disabling disorder, often misunderstood by clinicians. Although viewed sceptically by some, FND is a diagnosis that can be made accurately, based on positive clinical signs, with clinical features that have remained stable for over 100 years. Despite some progress in the last decade, people with FND continue to suffer subtle and overt forms of discrimination by clinicians, researchers and the public. There is abundant evidence that disorders perceived as primarily affecting women are neglected in healthcare and medical research, and the course of FND mirrors this neglect. We outline the reasons why FND is a feminist issue, incorporating historical and contemporary clinical, research and social perspectives. We call for parity for FND in medical education, research and clinical service development so that people affected by FND can receive the care they need.

A clinical classification framework for identifying persons with high social and medical needs: The COMPLEXedex-SDH.

BACKGROUND: First-generation algorithms resulted in high-cost features as a representation of need but unintentionally introduced systemic bias based on prior ability to access care. Improved precision health approaches are needed to reduce bias and improve health equity. PURPOSE: To integrate nursing expertise into a clinical definition of high-need cases and develop a clinical classification algorithm for implementing nursing interventions. METHODS: Two-phase retrospective, descriptive cohort study using 2019 data to build the algorithm (n = 19,20,848) and 2021 data to test it in adults ≥18 years old (n = 15,99,176). DISCUSSION: The COMPLEXedex-SDH algorithm identified the following populations: cross-cohort needs (10.9%); high-need persons (cross-cohort needs and other social determinants) (17.7%); suboptimal health care utilization for persons with medical complexity (13.8%); high need persons with suboptimal health care utilization (6.2%). CONCLUSION: The COMPLEXedex-SDH enables the identification of high-need cases and value-based utilization into actionable cohorts to prioritize outreach calls to improve health equity and outcomes.

Communication Openings: A Novel Approach for Serious Illness Communication in Homecare.

Serious illness communication in homecare about hospice and/or palliative care transitions is lacking due to clinical culture. The purpose of the current study was to understand communication openings using COMFORT™, a palliative care communication model used to train nurses. Qualitative, focus group interviews with 31 homecare nurses were conducted. Data were transcribed verbatim and thematically analyzed using NVivo software, followed by hand-sorting. Four themes for communication openings for initiating discussions about potential hospice and/or palliative care transitions were identified: Organizational Openings (homecare appropriateness, eligibility requirements, and staffing); Patient Openings (patient physical decline, psychosocial changes, safety concerns, and denying/stopping care); Caregiver Openings (caregiver physical changes and patient readiness); and Nurse Openings (need for hospice, checking for prognosis understanding, increasing interprofessional care needs, and providing end-of-life care). This study extends the concept of communication openings in the COMFORT model. Further development of communication openings as part of COMFORT communication is needed in educational and intervention research. [Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 49(11), 33-41.].

COMFORT communication in the ICU: Pilot test of a nurse-led communication intervention for surrogates.

AIM: This study was designed to investigate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a nurse-led communication intervention among surrogates in the intensive care unit (ICU) guided by the COMFORT (Connect; Options; Making meaning; Family caregivers; Openings; Relating; Team) communication model. BACKGROUND: As frontline communicators, nurses experience communication difficulties with surrogates who face complex informational and emotional barriers when making decisions for critically ill patients in the ICU. However, research on effective nurse communication focusing on both curative and end-of-life (EOL) care is lacking in the literature. DESIGN: A single-centre two-group pretest-posttest quasi-experiment. METHOD: The total sample included 41 surrogates of adult ventilated patients. Twenty participants were allocated to the intervention group who received a daily 20-min telephone call with content based on the COMFORT communication model. Twenty-one participants comprised the control group who received usual care. Participants completed a questionnaire before and after the study measuring satisfaction, anxiety and depression, decisional conflict, and quality of communication. The Transparent Reporting of Evaluations with Nonrandomized Designs (TREND) checklist was followed for nonrandomised controlled trials. RESULT: The intervention was feasible, with 19 of 20 surrogates completing the follow-up surveys, and 48 telephone conversations completed (48% of the planned phone calls). Surrogates' satisfaction was higher in the intervention group than in the control group after adjusting for the selected covariates (25.43 and 24.15, respectively; p = .512). Preliminary efficacy outcomes favouring the intervention included quality of communication with healthcare providers, but not surrogates' perceived depression/anxiety and decisional conflicts. CONCLUSION: Implementation of the intervention is feasible, acceptable, and favourable among surrogates to improve quality of communication with healthcare providers in the ICU. Further research is needed to determine whether the intervention could be implemented by nurses to improve surrogates' outcomes in other ICUs.

TILE-12 index: an interpretable instrument for identifying older adults at risk for transitions in living environment within the next 12-months.

Few evidence-based tools exist to support identification of older community dwelling adults at risk for unwanted transitions in living environment leading to missed opportunities to modify care plans to support aging-in-place and/or establish end-of-life care goals. An interpretable and actionable tool for assessing a person's risk of experiencing a transition is introduced. Logistic regression analysis of 14,772 transition opportunities (i.e. 12-month periods) for 4,431 respondents to the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) rounds 1-7. Results were visualized in a nomogram. Unmarried males of increasing age with chronic disease, greater functional dependence, overnight hospitalizations, not living in a single-family home, and limited social network, have elevated risk of experiencing a transition in living environment in a 12-month period. Homecare nurses are uniquely qualified to identify social determinants of health and can use this evidence-based tool to identify individuals who may benefit from transitional care assistance.

Dementia caregiver burdens predict overnight hospitalization and hospice utilization.

OBJECTIVES: To determine sociodemographics and caregiver burdens associated with overnight hospitalization, hospice utilization, and hospitalization frequency among persons with dementia (PWD). METHODS: Cross-sectional analysis of PWD (n = 899) of the National Health and Aging Trends Study linked to the National Study of Caregiving. Logistic and proportional odds regression determined the effects of caregiver burdens on overnight hospitalization, hospice use, and hospitalization frequency. Differences between PWD alive not-alive groups were compared on overnight hospitalization and frequency. RESULTS: Alive PWD (n = 804) were 2.36 times more likely to have an overnight hospital stay (p = 0.004) and 1.96 times more likely to have multiple hospitalizations when caregivers found it physically difficult to provide care (p = 0.011). Decedents aged 65-74 (n = 95) were 4.55 times more likely to experience overnight hospitalizations than 85+, hospitalizations were more frequent (odds ratio [OR] = 4.84), and there was a significant difference between PWD alive/not alive groups (p = 0.035). Decedents were 5.60 times more likely to experience an overnight hospitalization when their caregivers had financial difficulty, hospitalizations were more frequent when caregivers had too much to handle (OR = 8.44) and/or no time for themselves (OR = 10.67). When caregivers had no time for themselves, a significant difference between alive/not alive groups (p = 0.018) was detected in hospitalization frequency. PWD whose caregivers had emotional difficulty helping were 5.89 times more likely to utilize hospice than caregivers who did not report emotional difficulty. SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS: Care transitions among PWD at the end of life are impacted by the circumstances and experiences of their caregivers. Subjective caregiver burdens represent potentially modifiable risks for undesired care transitions and opportunities for promoting hospice use. Future work is warranted to identify and address these issues as they occur.

Homecare nurses guide goals for care and care transitions in serious illness: A grounded theory of relationship-based care.

AIMS: To identify the process that homecare nurses use when recognizing serious illness, engaging patients and families in goals-for-care discussions and guiding transitions to comfort-focused care. DESIGN: Constructivist grounded theory. METHODS: Semi-structured focus group interviews of 31 homecare Registered Nurses were recorded and transcribed (June-August 2019). Line-by-line coding using the constant comparative method until saturation was achieved and a grounded theory was identified. Credibility, transferability, and confirmability establish study rigor. RESULTS: A grounded theory of relationship-based care. Nurses cogitate and act when recognizing serious illness. They have difficult conversations and support care transitions with wisdom and knowing, by identifying changes in illness trajectories and being informed and alert to diminishing quality of life. Nurses are skilled at engaging patients, families, and the team and accommodate care in the home for as long as possible, while manoeuvring through complex systems of care; ultimately relinquishing and guiding care to other providers and settings. However, nurses feel inadequately prepared and frustrated with a fragmented healthcare system and lack of collaboration among the team. CONCLUSION: This study identifies a grounded theory to support clinical decision-making and position homecare nurses as leaders in guiding goal care discussions and transitions to comfort-focused care. These findings reinforce the importance of developing health policy that ensures care continuity in serious illness. Further research is needed to improve relationships across care settings and enhance training for the delivery of comfort-focused care in the home as changing needs emerge during serious illness management.

Mortality Risk in Homebound Older Adults Predicted From Routinely Collected Nursing Data.

BACKGROUND: Newer analytic approaches for developing predictive models provide a method of creating decision support to translate findings into practice. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to develop and validate a clinically interpretable predictive model for 12-month mortality risk among community-dwelling older adults. This is done by using routinely collected nursing assessment data to aide homecare nurses in identifying older adults who are at risk for decline, providing an opportunity to develop care plans that support patient and family goals for care. METHODS: A retrospective secondary analysis of Medicare and Medicaid data of 635,590 Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS-C) start-of-care assessments from January 1, 2012, to December 31, 2012, was linked to the Master Beneficiary Summary File (2012-2013) for date of death. The decision tree was benchmarked against gold standards for predictive modeling, logistic regression, and artificial neural network (ANN). The models underwent k-fold cross-validation and were compared using area under the curve (AUC) and other data science metrics, including Matthews correlation coefficient (MCC). RESULTS: Decision tree variables associated with 12-month mortality risk included OASIS items: age, (M1034) overall status, (M1800-M1890) activities of daily living total score, cancer, frailty, (M1410) oxygen, and (M2020) oral medication management. The final models had good discrimination: decision tree, AUC = .71, 95% confidence interval (CI) [.705, .712], sensitivity = .73, specificity = .58, MCC = .31; ANN, AUC = .74, 95% CI [.74, .74], sensitivity = .68, specificity = .68, MCC = .35; and logistic regression, AUC = .74, 95% CI [.735, .742], sensitivity = .64, specificity = .70, MCC = .35. DISCUSSION: The AUC and 95% CI for the decision tree are slightly less accurate than logistic regression and ANN; however, the decision tree was more accurate in detecting mortality. The OASIS data set was useful to predict 12-month mortality risk. The decision tree is an interpretable predictive model developed from routinely collected nursing data that may be incorporated into a decision support tool to identify older adults at risk for death.

CD45 Expression in Mitral Valve Endothelial Cells After Myocardial Infarction.

RATIONALE: Ischemic mitral regurgitation, a complication after myocardial infarction (MI), induces adaptive mitral valve (MV) responses that may be initially beneficial but eventually lead to leaflet fibrosis and MV dysfunction. We sought to examine the MV endothelial response and its potential contribution to ischemic mitral regurgitation. OBJECTIVE: Endothelial, interstitial, and hematopoietic cells in MVs from post-MI sheep were quantified. MV endothelial CD45, found post MI, was analyzed in vitro. METHODS AND RESULTS: Ovine MVs, harvested 6 months after inferior MI, showed CD45, a protein tyrosine phosphatase, colocalized with von Willebrand factor, an endothelial marker. Flow cytometry of MV cells revealed significant increases in CD45+ endothelial cells (VE-cadherin+/CD45+/α-smooth muscle actin [SMA]+ and VE-cadherin+/CD45+/αSMA- cells) and possible fibrocytes (VE-cadherin-/CD45+/αSMA+) in inferior MI compared with sham-operated and normal sheep. CD45+ cells correlated with MV fibrosis and mitral regurgitation severity. VE-cadherin+/CD45+/αSMA+ cells suggested that CD45 may be linked to endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndMT). MV endothelial cells treated with transforming growth factor-ß1 to induce EndMT expressed CD45 and fibrosis markers collagen 1 and 3 and transforming growth factor-ß1 to 3, not observed in transforming growth factor-ß1-treated arterial endothelial cells. A CD45 protein tyrosine phosphatase inhibitor blocked induction of EndMT and fibrosis markers and inhibited EndMT-associated migration of MV endothelial cells. CONCLUSIONS: MV endothelial cells express CD45, both in vivo post MI and in vitro in response to transforming growth factor-ß1. A CD45 phosphatase inhibitor blocked hallmarks of EndMT in MV endothelial cells. These results point to a novel, functional requirement for CD45 phosphatase activity in EndMT. The contribution of CD45+ endothelial cells to MV adaptation and fibrosis post MI warrants investigation.

Reducing Emergency Room Visits and In-Hospitalizations by Implementing Best Practice for Transitional Care Using Innovative Technology and Big Data.

BACKGROUND: Efforts to improve care transitions require coordination across the healthcare continuum and interventions that enhance communication between acute and community settings. AIMS: To improve post-discharge utilization value using technology to identify high-risk individuals who might benefit from rapid nurse outreach to assess social and behavioral determinants of health with the goal of reducing inpatient and emergency department visits. METHODS: The project employed a before and after comparison of the intervention site with similar primary care practice sites using population-level Medicaid claims data. The intervention targeted discharged persons with preexisting chronic disease and delivered a care transition alert to a nurse care coordinator for immediate telephonic outreach. The nurse assessed social determinants of health and incorporated problems into the EHR to share across settings. The project evaluated health outcomes and the value of nursing care on existing electronic claims data to compare utilization in the years before and during the intervention using negative binomial regression to account for rare events such as inpatient visits. RESULTS: Avoiding readmissions and emergency visits, and increasing timely outpatient visits improved the individual's experience of care and the work life of healthcare providers, while reducing per capita costs (Quadruple Aim). In the intervention practice, the nurse care coordinator demonstrated the value of nursing care by reducing inpatient (25%) and emergency (35%) visits, and increasing outpatient visits (27%). The estimated value of avoided encounters over the secular Medicaid trend was $664 per adult with chronic disease, generating $71,289 in revenue from additional outpatient visits. LINKING EVIDENCE TO ACTION: Using health information exchange to deliver appropriate and timely evidence-based clinical decision support in the form of care transition alerts and assessment of social determinants of health, in conjunction with data science methods, demonstrates the value of nursing care and resulted in achieving the Quadruple Aim.

Complexity of Chronic Conditions' Impact on End-of-Life Expense Trajectories of Medicare Decedents.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to determine if the pattern of monthly medical expense can be used to identify individuals at risk of dying, thus supporting providers in proactively engaging in advanced care planning discussions. BACKGROUND: Identifying the right time to discuss end of life can be difficult. Improved predictive capacity has made it possible for nurse leaders to use large data sets to guide clinical decision making. METHODS: We examined the patterns of monthly medical expense of Medicare beneficiaries with life-limiting illness during the last 24 months of life using analysis of variance, t tests, and stepwise hierarchical linear modeling. RESULTS: In the final year of life, monthly medical expense increases rapidly for all disease groupings and forms distinct patterns of change. CONCLUSION: Type of condition can be used to classify decedents into distinctly different cost trajectories. Conditions including chronic disease, system failure, or cancer may be used to identify patients who may benefit from supportive care.

Integrating social context into comprehensive shared care plans: A scoping review.

BACKGROUND: Failure to address social determinants of health (SDH) may contribute to the problem of readmissions in high-risk individuals. Comprehensive shared care plans (CSCP) may improve care continuity and health outcomes by communicating SDH risk factors across settings. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study to evaluate the state of knowledge for integrating SDH into a CSCP. Our scoping review of the literature considered 13,886 articles, of which seven met inclusion criteria. RESULTS: Identified themes were: integrate health and social sectors; interoperability; standardizing ontologies and interventions; process implementation; professional tribalism; and patient centeredness. DISCUSSION: There is an emerging interest in bridging the gap between health and social service sectors. Standardized ontologies and theoretical definitions need to be developed to facilitate communication, indexing, and data retrieval. CONCLUSIONS: We identified a gap in the literature that indicates that foundational work will be required to guide the development of a CSCP that includes SDH that can be shared across settings. The lack of studies published in the United States suggests that this is a critical area for future research and funding.

Impact of psychogenic nonepileptic seizures on epilepsy presurgical investigation and surgical outcomes.

INTRODUCTION: We sought to determine the percentage of patients undergoing presurgical assessment that had both psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNESs) and epileptic seizures (ESs) captured within our telemetry unit and how this affected progression to surgery and describe eventual outcomes in patients with a history of mixed PNESs/ESs who underwent surgery. MATERIAL AND METHODS: To determine what happened to patients who had PNESs recorded during a presurgical workup, we reviewed the records of 725 patients admitted to our telemetry unit for presurgical assessment between 2007 and 2013 and identified those with PNESs and ESs recorded. To determine outcomes postsurgery in operated patients who had mixed PNESs/ESs, we also reviewed the records of 519 patients who had had epilepsy surgery between 1999 and 2012 and identified those within this group who also had PNESs prior to surgery. RESULTS: Nineteen of the 725 patients had PNESs captured during their presurgical telemetry along with ESs captured on either this or a previous study. Four of these patients were ultimately offered surgery. Nine of the 519 patients with a history of PNESs underwent epilepsy surgery. At 1 to 5years of follow-up (mean: 4.1years) of those nine patients, five were still having ESs and three patients had worsening or new-onset PNESs. At the last follow-up, four had had a worthwhile improvement. DISCUSSION: This study suggests that recent outcomes for people with mixed PNESs/ESs are not as promising as previously described and that PNESs should remain a relative contraindication for surgery.

National Priorities for Dementia Care: Perspectives of Individuals Living with Dementia and Their Care Partners.

The current article reports the consensus recommendations from individuals living with dementia and their care partners on priorities for public policy and research funding, which were found using a nationwide, Delphi study. A modified snowball sample was used. Listservs, personal contacts, and advocacy groups were asked to distribute the survey. Paper versions were provided upon request. In Rounds 1 and 2 of the study, 388 and 301 responses, respectively, were received. Borda counts produced a ranked order consensus of priorities. Research ranked third, after the need for caregiver support and resources for the provision of long-term care. Education and training in person-centered practices for all care partners was also a high priority. Responses indicated that research funding should be expanded beyond its current emphasis on cure. Policymakers should reconsider the current priorities of the National Alzheimer's Project Act to better address the long-term needs of individuals living with dementia and their care partners.

Late repair of ischemic mitral regurgitation does not prevent left ventricular remodeling: importance of timing for beneficial repair.

BACKGROUND: Ischemic mitral regurgitation (MR) is a frequent complication of myocardial infarction associated with left ventricular (LV) dilatation and dysfunction, which doubles mortality. At the molecular level, moderate ischemic MR is characterized by a biphasic response, with initial compensatory rise in prohypertrophic and antiapoptotic signals, followed by their exhaustion. We have shown that early MR repair 30 days after myocardial infarction is associated with LV reverse remodeling. It is not known whether MR repair performed after the exhaustion of compensatory mechanisms is also beneficial. We hypothesized that late repair will not result in LV reverse remodeling. METHODS AND RESULTS: Twelve sheep underwent distal left anterior descending coronary artery ligation to create apical myocardial infarction and implantation of an LV-to-left atrium shunt to create standardized moderate volume overload. At 90 days, animals were randomized to shunt closure (late repair) versus sham (no repair). LV remodeling was assessed by 3-dimensional echocardiography, dP/dt, preload-recruitable stroke work, and myocardial biopsies. At 90 days, animals had moderate volume overload, LV dilatation, and reduced ejection fraction (all P<0.01 versus baseline, P=NS between groups). Shunt closure at 90 days corrected the volume overload (regurgitant fraction 6 ± 5% versus 27 ± 16% for late repair versus sham, P<0.01) but was not associated with changes in LV volumes (end-diastolic volume 106 ± 15 versus 110 ± 22 mL; end-systolic volume 35 ± 6 versus 36 ± 6 mL) or increases in preload-recruitable stroke work (41 ± 7 versus 39 ± 13 mL mm Hg) or dP/dt (803 ± 210 versus 732 ± 194 mm Hg/s) at 135 days (all P=NS). Activated Akt, central in the hypertrophic process, and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), a critical node in the hypertrophic stimulus by cytokines, were equally depressed in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: Late correction of moderate volume overload after myocardial infarction did not improve LV volume or contractility. Upregulation of prohypertrophic intracellular pathways was not observed. This contrasts with previously reported study in which early repair (30 days) reversed LV remodeling. This suggests a window of opportunity to repair ischemic MR after which no beneficial effect on LV is observed, despite successful repair.

Assessing quality of life questionnaires in urogynaecology--tick or type?

It is recognised that urogynaecological symptoms can have a significant impact on patient quality of life (QoL). Many of the QoL questionnaires are long and provide a burden to patients. The aim of this study was to compare patients' responses to utilising equivalent QoL questionnaires in different formats. The electronic personal assessment questionnaire, ePAQ-PF, was compared to the paper-based Queensland questionnaire. ePAQ-PF appeared to be of greater value but not more burdensome. However, women were more likely to complete the sexual function section using the Queensland questionnaire.

"I Finally Feel Like I Have Help. Before, I Was Completely Alone": A Grounded Theory of Community-Based Hospice Transitions.

Little is known about community-based transitions to home hospice care. We used a Straussian grounded theory approach to understand the basic social process of care transitions that patients and their caregivers use when electing hospice care. Participants were recruited from hospice agencies serving 3 counties in New York State. Data were collected through 7 interviews of patients, patient-and-caregiver dyads, and a hospice nurse (n = 10). Data were analyzed using the constant comparative method. Our results generated an emerging grounded theory of the hospice care transition processes rooted in maintaining personhood and autonomy. There were 5 contemporaneous steps: (1) recognizing futility and pursuing comfort; (2) seeking help and input as health declines; (3) shopping for the right services, overcoming obstacles, and self-referring to hospice care; (4) attending to the business of dying while living; and (5) processing and expressing emotions. Although not central to the care transition process, an additional step was identified that occurred after the transition to hospice care: planning for an uncertain future. The hospice care transition process identified in the study reveals important mechanistic targets for the development of interventions that promote patient-centered hospice care transitions in the home setting.

A Telemedicine Analytic Framework for Fully and Semi-automatic Alzheimer's Disease Screening using Clock Drawing Test.

More than 6 million Americans are at risk for Alzheimer's Disease Related Dementias (ADRD), most of whom are 65 or older. The clock drawing test (CDT) is a quick, simple, and effective technique that has the potential advantage of self-management and screening for ADRD patients. Current CDT-based ADRD screening studies focus more on efficacy, involving many handcrafted features, ignoring data modalities, and lacking validation. This paper aims to propose a unified telemedicine framework for fully and semi-automatic effective early ADRD screening based on multimodal and agile data fusion, focusing on the interpretability and validation of the model by using gradient-weighted class activation mapping (Grad-CAM) and locally linear embedding (LLE). The datasets for this work include 1,662 samples of CDT images and related demographic and cognitive information. The fully automatic case involving only CDT images can achieve the highest AUC of 81% with a 75% recall rate in binary screening. The multimodal data fusion in the semi-automatic case can achieve up to 90% AUC with an 83% recall rate. The visualization of the Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) shows that it can automatically obtain critical information about the outline, scale, and clock hands from CDT images, and the analysis of structured features shows that the memory test is key to effective ADRD screening.