A lay navigator-led, early palliative care intervention for African American and rural family caregivers of individuals with advanced cancer (Project Cornerstone): Results of a pilot randomized trial.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and potential efficacy of ENABLE (Educate, Nurture, Advise, Before Life Ends) Cornerstone-a lay navigator-led, early palliative care telehealth intervention for African American/Black and/or rural-dwelling family caregivers of individuals with advanced cancer (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT03464188). METHODS: This was a pilot randomized trial (November 2019 to March 2021). Family caregivers of patients with newly diagnosed, stage III/IV, solid-tumor cancers were randomized to receive either an intervention or usual care. Intervention caregivers were paired with a specially trained lay navigator who delivered 6 weekly, 20-minute to 60-minute telehealth coaching sessions plus monthly follow-up for 24 weeks, reviewing skills in stress management, self-care, getting help, staying organized, and future planning. Feasibility was assessed according to the completion of sessions and questionnaires (predefined as a completion rate ≥80%). Acceptability was determined through intervention participants' ratings of their likelihood of recommending the intervention. Measures of caregiver distress and quality of life were collected at 8 and 24 weeks. RESULTS: Sixty-three family caregivers were randomized (usual care, n = 32; intervention, n = 31). Caregivers completed 65% of intervention sessions and 87% of questionnaires. Average ratings for recommending the program were 9.4, from 1 (not at all likely) to 10 (extremely likely). Over 24 weeks, the mean ± SE Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale score improved by 0.30 ± 1.44 points in the intervention group and worsened by 1.99 ± 1.39 points in the usual care group (difference, -2.29; Cohen d, -0.32). The mean between-group difference scores in caregiver quality of life was -1.56 (usual care - intervention; d, -0.07). Similar outcome results were observed for patient participants. CONCLUSIONS: The authors piloted ENABLE Cornerstone, an intervention for African American and rural-dwelling advanced cancer family caregivers. The acceptability of the intervention and data collection rates were high, and the preliminary efficacy for caregiver distress was promising. LAY SUMMARY: To date, very few programs have been developed to support under-resourced cancer family caregivers. To address this need, the authors successfully pilot tested an early palliative care program, called Educate, Nurture, Advise, Before Life Ends (ENABLE) Cornerstone, for African American and rural family caregivers of individuals with advanced cancer. Cornerstone is led by specially trained lay people and involves a series of weekly phone sessions focused on coaching caregivers to manage stress and provide effective support to patients with cancer. The authors are now testing Cornerstone in a larger trial. If the program demonstrates benefit, it may yield a model of caregiver support that could be widely implemented.

Head and Neck CTA Utilization: Analysis of Ordering Frequency and Nonroutine Results Communication, With Focus on the 50 Most Common Emergency Department Clinical Presentations.

BACKGROUND. Utilization of head and neck CTA in the emergency department (ED) has grown disproportionately to other neuroimaging examinations. OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this article was to characterize utilization of head and neck CTA in the ED, comparing utilization and frequency of nonroutine results communication among patients' chief concerns. METHODS. All adult ED visits for a single health care system from January 2014 to December 2017 were retrospectively reviewed. Variables recorded included chief concerns, whether head and neck CTA was performed, and, if so, whether the report documented nonroutine results communication. The 50 chief concerns resulting in the highest number of head and neck CTA examinations were identified. Frequencies of head and neck CTA ordering and of nonroutine results communication were calculated. A subset of reports documenting nonroutine communication were manually reviewed. RESULTS. Head and neck CTA was ordered in 2.5% (17,903) of 708,145 ED visits in 236,476 patients (mean age, 49.8 ± 20.5 [SD] years; 110,952 men, 125,521 women, 3 unknown sex). Head and neck CTA was ordered for 833 distinct chief concerns. Nonroutine results communication was documented for 17.6% (3155/17,903) of examinations. Among the 50 chief concerns associated with the highest number of examinations, frequency of ordering head and neck CTA ranged from less than 0.5% (five concerns) to 55.2% (stroke code), and frequency of nonroutine communication ranged from 5.6% (transient ischemic attack) to 67.5% (unresponsive). Chief concerns not among the 50 most common accounted for 50.0% (8956/17,903) of examinations; these exhibited a collective frequency of nonroutine communication of 4.8% (429/8956). Manual review of 11.1% (350/3155) of reports with a nonroutine communication indicated an acute finding related to the indication in 51.1%, nonemergent but potentially explanatory finding in 14.0%, incidental finding in 28.0%, and communication of negative results in 6.9%. CONCLUSION. Head and neck CTA is ordered in 2.5% of ED visits for a wide range of chief concerns. Frequencies of ordering and of nonroutine results communication are highly variable among chief concerns. Acute indication-related findings account for half of nonroutine radiologist communications. CLINICAL IMPACT. Insight into patterns regarding head and neck CTA ordering and nonroutine results may help optimize patient selection and radiologist communications in the ED setting.

Scenarios to improve CT head utilization in the emergency department delineated by critical results reporting.

PURPOSE: Increasing use of advanced imaging in the emergency department (ED) has resulted in higher cost without better outcomes. Our goal was to evaluate the yield of CT head exams by scenario to guide efforts at improving patient selection. METHODS: We performed a retrospective study at an academic medical center over 4 years (1/1/2014-12/31/2017). The chief complaint, imaging order, and exam result text were obtained for all adult ED encounters. For the 50 most common chief complaints leading to CT head exams, the ratio of exams to total encounters and ratio of critical results to imaging studies were calculated. Significant difference in "yield" was assessed via binomial test. RESULTS: Over 708,145 adult ED encounters, 58,783 CT head exams were ordered, with an overall critical result yield of 8.0%. The three most common chief complaints had higher yield (p < 0.05): altered mental status (9.8%), fall (9.7%), and new headache (10.1%). Lower yield (p < 0.05) was found for 19 chief complaints: dizziness (6.2%), falls in patients > 65 years old (7.1%), syncope (5.3%), seizure with known epilepsy (4.8%), chest pain (3.7%), head injury (4.9%), headache re-evaluation (7.0%), alcohol intoxication (2.5%), fatigue (6.5%), headache-recurrent or in the setting of known migraines (5.2%), hypertension (4.4%), lethargy (5.8%), loss of consciousness (5.3%), migraine (3.2%), psychiatric evaluation (2.9%), near syncope (4.6%), drug problem (3.1%), symptomatically decreased blood sugar (3.2%), and suicidal (1.7%). CONCLUSION: Our study provides a priority list of low yield scenarios of CT head use for improvement of patient selection.

Documentation of Shared Decisionmaking in the Emergency Department.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: While patient-centered communication and shared decisionmaking are increasingly recognized as vital aspects of clinical practice, little is known about their characteristics in real-world emergency department (ED) settings. We constructed a natural language processing tool to identify patient-centered communication as documented in ED notes and to describe visit-level, site-level, and temporal patterns within a large health system. METHODS: This was a 2-part study involving (1) the development and validation of an natural language processing tool using regular expressions to identify shared decisionmaking and (2) a retrospective analysis using mixed effects logistic regression and trend analysis of shared decisionmaking and general patient discussion using the natural language processing tool to assess ED physician and advanced practice provider notes from 2013 to 2020. RESULTS: Compared to chart review of 600 ED notes, the accuracy rates of the natural language processing tool for identification of shared decisionmaking and general patient discussion were 96.7% (95% CI 94.9% to 97.9%) and 88.9% (95% confidence interval [CI] 86.1% to 91.3%), respectively. The natural language processing tool identified shared decisionmaking in 58,246 (2.2%) and general patient discussion in 590,933 (22%) notes. From 2013 to 2020, natural language processing-detected shared decisionmaking increased 300% and general patient discussion increased 50%. We observed higher odds of shared decisionmaking documentation among physicians versus advanced practice providers (odds ratio [OR] 1.14, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.23) and among female versus male patients (OR 1.13, 95% CI 1.11 to 1.15). Black patients had lower odds of shared decisionmaking (OR 0.8, 95% CI 0.84 to 0.88) compared with White patients. Shared decisionmaking and general patient discussion were also associated with higher levels of triage and commercial insurance status. CONCLUSION: In this study, we developed and validated an natural language processing tool using regular expressions to extract shared decisionmaking from ED notes and found multiple potential factors contributing to variation, including social, demographic, temporal, and presentation characteristics.

Resilience, preparedness, and distress among family caregivers of patients with advanced cancer.

OBJECTIVE: Resilience has been proposed as a primary factor in how many family caregivers of patients with advanced cancer are able to resist psychological strain and perform effectively in the role while bearing a high load of caregiving tasks. To evaluate this hypothesis, we examined whether self-perceived resilience is associated with distress (anxiety and depressive symptoms), caregiver preparedness, and readiness for surrogate decision-making among a racially diverse sample of family caregivers of patients with newly diagnosed advanced cancer. METHODS: Secondary analysis of baseline data from two small-scale, pilot clinical trials that both recruited family caregivers of patients with newly diagnosed advanced cancer. Using multivariable linear regression, we analyzed relationships of resilience as a predictor of mood, caregiving preparedness, and readiness for surrogate decision-making, controlling for sociodemographics. RESULTS: Caregiver participants (N = 112) were mean 56 years of age and mostly female (76%), the patient's spouse/partner (52%), and White (56%) or African-American/Black (43%). After controlling for demographics, standardized results indicated that higher resilience was relevantly associated with higher caregiver preparedness (beta = .46, p < .001), higher readiness for surrogate decision-making (beta = .20, p < .05) and lower anxiety (beta = - .19, p < .05), and depressive symptoms (beta = - .20, p < .05). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that resilience may be critical to caregivers' abilities to manage stress, be effective sources of support to patients, and feel ready to make future medical decisions on behalf of patients. Future work should explore and clinicians should consider whether resilience can be enhanced in cancer caregivers to optimize their well-being and ability to perform in the caregiving and surrogate decision-making roles.

Early Prediction of Acute Kidney Injury in the Emergency Department With Machine-Learning Methods Applied to Electronic Health Record Data.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Acute kidney injury occurs commonly and is a leading cause of prolonged hospitalization, development and progression of chronic kidney disease, and death. Early acute kidney injury treatment can improve outcomes. However, current decision support is not able to detect patients at the highest risk of developing acute kidney injury. We analyzed routinely collected emergency department (ED) data and developed prediction models with capacity for early identification of ED patients at high risk for acute kidney injury. METHODS: A multisite, retrospective, cross-sectional study was performed at 3 EDs between January 2014 and July 2017. All adult ED visits in which patients were hospitalized and serum creatinine level was measured both on arrival and again with 72 hours were included. We built machine-learning-based classifiers that rely on vital signs, chief complaints, medical history and active medical visits, and laboratory results to predict the development of acute kidney injury stage 1 and 2 in the next 24 to 72 hours, according to creatinine-based international consensus criteria. Predictive performance was evaluated out of sample by Monte Carlo cross validation. RESULTS: The final cohort included 91,258 visits by 59,792 unique patients. Seventy-two-hour incidence of acute kidney injury was 7.9% for stages greater than or equal to 1 and 1.0% for stages greater than or equal to 2. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for acute kidney injury prediction ranged from 0.81 (95% confidence interval 0.80 to 0.82) to 0.74 (95% confidence interval 0.74 to 0.75), with a median time from ED arrival to prediction of 1.7 hours (interquartile range 1.3 to 2.5 hours). CONCLUSION: Machine learning applied to routinely collected ED data identified ED patients at high risk for acute kidney injury up to 72 hours before they met diagnostic criteria. Further prospective evaluation is necessary.

Unmet social support needs among older adults with cancer.

BACKGROUND: Adequate social support for older adults is necessary to maintain quality of life and reduce mortality and morbidity. However, little is known regarding the social support needs of older adults with cancer. The objective of the current study was to examine social support needs, specifically the unmet needs, among older adults with cancer. METHODS: Medicare beneficiaries (those aged ≥65 years) with cancer were identified from the University of Alabama at Birmingham Health System Cancer Community Network. Social support needs were assessed using a modified version of the Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey. The authors defined an "unmet need" if participants reported having some/a little/never availability of support and requiring support for that need. RESULTS: Of the 1460 participants in the current study, the average age was 74 years (standard deviation, 5.8 years). Approximately two-thirds of participants (986 participants; 67.5%) reported having at least 1 social support need, with the highest needs noted in the emotional (49.5%) and physical (47.4%) support subdomains. Of those individuals with a support need, approximately 45% had at least 1 unmet need, with the greatest percentages noted in the medical (39%) and informational (36%) subdomains. Multivariable analyses demonstrated that participants who were nonwhite, were divorced or never married, or had a high symptom burden were at greatest risk of having unmet social support needs across subdomains. CONCLUSIONS: In this population of older adults with cancer, the authors found high levels of unmet social support needs, particularly in the medical and informational support subdomains. Participants who were nonwhite, were divorced or never married, or had a high symptom burden were found to be at greatest risk of having unmet needs.

Healthcare utilization, Medicare spending, and sources of patient distress identified during implementation of a lay navigation program for older patients with breast cancer.

PURPOSE: Despite benefits for patients, sustainability of breast cancer navigation programs is challenging due to the lack of reimbursement for navigators. This analysis describes distress reported by breast cancer patients to navigators and the impact of navigation on healthcare utilization for older adults with breast cancer. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of Medicare administrative claims data and patient-reported distress assessments. The primary outcome was Medicare spending per beneficiary per quarter. Secondary outcomes included (1) the number of hospitalizations or ER visits in each quarter; (2) distress levels; and (3) causes of distress reported by patients to their navigators. A subset analysis was conducted for stage I/II/III versus stage IV patients. RESULTS: 776 navigated and 776 control patients were included in the analysis. The average age at diagnosis was 74 years; 13% of the subjects were African American; 95% of patients had stage I-III. Medicare spending declined faster for the navigated group than the matched comparison group by $528 per quarter per patient (95% CL -$667, -$388). Stage I/II/III navigated patients showed a statistically significant decline in Medicare spending, ER visits, and hospitalizations over time compared to the matched comparison group. No differences were observed for stage IV patients. Eighteen percent of patients reported moderate distress. Informational and physical distress were more common in late stage than in early-stage breast cancer. CONCLUSIONS: Lay navigation reduced healthcare utilization in older adults with breast cancer, with the greatest impact observed in early-stage breast cancer patients.

Participation and interest in support services among family caregivers of older adults with cancer.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to describe distressed and underprepared family caregiver's use of and interest in formal support services (eg, professional counseling, education, organizational assistance). METHOD: Cross-sectional mail survey conducted in communities of 8 cancer centers in Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida (response rate: 42%). Family caregivers of Medicare beneficiaries with pancreatic, lung, brain, ovarian, head and neck, hematologic, and stage IV cancers reported support service use and completed validated measures of depression, anxiety, burden, preparedness, and health. RESULTS: Caregivers (n = 294) were on average age 65 years and mostly female (73%), White (91%), and care recipients' spouse/partner (60%); patients averaged 75 years were majority male (54%) with lung cancer (39%). Thirty-two percent of caregivers reported accessing services while 28% were "mostly" or "extremely" interested. Thirty-five percent of caregivers with high depressive symptoms (n = 122), 33% with high anxiety symptoms (n = 100), and 25% of those in the lowest quartile of preparedness (n = 77) accessed services. Thirty-eight percent of those with high depressive symptoms, 47% with high anxiety symptoms, and 36% in the lowest quartile of preparedness were "mostly" or "extremely" interested in receiving services. Being interested in support services was significantly associated with being a minority, shorter durations of caregiving, and with higher stress burden. CONCLUSIONS: A large proportion of family caregivers, including those experiencing depression and anxiety symptoms and who were underprepared, are not using formal support services but have a strong interest in services. Strategies to increase service use may include targeting distressed caregivers early in their caregiving experience.

What happens during early outpatient palliative care consultations for persons with newly diagnosed advanced cancer? A qualitative analysis of provider documentation.

BACKGROUND: Early outpatient palliative care consultations are recommended by clinical oncology guidelines globally. Despite these recommendations, it is unclear which components should be included in these encounters. AIM: Describe the evaluation and treatment recommendations made in early outpatient palliative care consultations. DESIGN: Outpatient palliative care consultation chart notes were qualitatively coded and frequencies tabulated. SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: Outpatient palliative care consultations were automatically triggered as part of an early versus delayed randomized controlled trial (November 2010 to April 2013) for patients newly diagnosed with advanced cancer living in the rural Northeastern US. RESULTS: In all, 142 patients (early = 70; delayed = 72) had outpatient palliative care consultations. The top areas addressed in these consultations were general evaluations-marital/partner status (81.7%), spirituality/emotional well-being (80.3%), and caregiver/family support (79.6%); symptoms-mood (81.7%), pain (73.9%), and cognitive/mental status (68.3%); general treatment recommendations-counseling (39.4%), maintaining current medications (34.5%), and initiating new medication (23.9%); and symptom-specific treatment recommendations-pain (22.5%), constipation (12.7%), depression (12.0%), advanced directive completion (43.0%), identifying a surrogate (21.8%), and discussing illness trajectory (21.1%). Compared to the early group, providers were more likely to evaluate general pain ( p = 0.035) and hospice awareness ( p = 0.005) and discuss/recommend hospice ( p = 0.002) in delayed group participants. CONCLUSION: Outpatient palliative care consultations for newly diagnosed advanced cancer patients can address patients' needs and provide recommendations on issues that might not otherwise be addressed early in the disease course. Future prospective studies should ascertain the value of early outpatient palliative care consultations that are automatically triggered based on diagnosis or documented symptom indicators versus reliance on oncologist referral.

Assessment of the Feasibility of automated, real-time clinical decision support in the emergency department using electronic health record data.

BACKGROUND: The use of big data and machine learning within clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) has the potential to transform medicine through better prognosis, diagnosis and automation of tasks. Real-time application of machine learning algorithms, however, is dependent on data being present and entered prior to, or at the point of, CDSS deployment. Our aim was to determine the feasibility of automating CDSSs within electronic health records (EHRs) by investigating the timing, data categorization, and completeness of documentation of their individual components of two common Clinical Decision Rules (CDRs) in the Emergency Department. METHODS: The CURB-65 severity score and HEART score were randomly selected from a list of the top emergency medicine CDRs. Emergency department (ED) visits with ICD-9 codes applicable to our CDRs were eligible. The charts were reviewed to determine the categorization components of the CDRs as structured and/or unstructured, median times of documentation, portion of charts with all data components documented as structured data, portion of charts with all structured CDR components documented before ED departure. A kappa score was calculated for interrater reliability. RESULTS: The components of the CDRs were mainly documented as structured data for the CURB-65 severity score and HEART score. In the CURB-65 group, 26.8% of charts had all components documented as structured data, and 67.8% in the HEART score. Documentation of some CDR components often occurred late for both CDRs. Only 21 and 11% of patients had all CDR components documented as structured data prior to ED departure for the CURB-65 and HEART score groups, respectively. The interrater reliability for the CURB-65 score review was 0.75 and 0.65 for the HEART score. CONCLUSION: Our study found that EHRs may be unable to automatically calculate popular CDRs-such as the CURB-65 severity score and HEART score-due to missing components and late data entry.

The self-care practices of family caregivers of persons with poor prognosis cancer: differences by varying levels of caregiver well-being and preparedness.

PURPOSE: Little is known about the impact of family caregiving for adults with poor prognosis cancer on caregivers' own individual self-care practices. We explored differences in caregivers' discrete self-care practices associated with varying levels of caregiver well-being, preparedness, and decision-making self-efficacy. METHODS: Cross-sectional survey within eight community-based southeastern U.S. cancer centers was conducted. Family caregivers of Medicare beneficiaries ≥65 years with pancreatic, lung, brain, ovarian, head and neck, hematologic, or stage IV cancer completed measures of individual self-care practices (health responsibility, physical activity, nutrition, spiritual growth, interpersonal relations, stress management, and sleep), well-being (anxiety, depression, and health-related quality of life [HRQoL]), preparedness, and decision-making self-efficacy. RESULTS: Caregivers (n = 294) averaged 66 years, were mostly female (72.8%), white (91.2%), Protestant (76.2%), retired (54.4%), and patients' spouse/partner (60.2%). Approximately, half were rural-dwellers (46.9%) with incomes <$50,000 (53.8%). Most provided support 6-7 days/week (71%) for >1 year (68%). Nearly a quarter (23%) reported high depression and 34% reported borderline or high anxiety. Low engagement in all self-care practices was associated with worse caregiver anxiety, depression, and mental HRQoL (all p values < .05). Caregivers with lower health responsibility, spiritual growth, interpersonal relation, and stress management scores had lower preparedness and decision-making self-efficacy. CONCLUSIONS: A significant proportion of caregivers simultaneously report low engagement in all forms of self-care practices, high depression and anxiety, and low HRQoL mental health scores. Caregiver well-being, preparedness, and decision-making self-efficacy might be optimized through interventions targeted at enhancing health responsibility, stress management, interpersonal relationships, and spiritual growth self-care practices.

Guiding Lay Navigation in Geriatric Patients With Cancer Using a Distress Assessment Tool.

BACKGROUND: There is growing interest in psychosocial care and evaluating distress in patients with cancer. As of 2015, the Commission on Cancer requires cancer centers to screen patients for distress, but the optimal approach to implementation remains unclear. METHODS: We assessed the feasibility and impact of using distress assessments to frame lay navigator interactions with geriatric patients with cancer who were enrolled in navigation between January 1, 2014, and December 31, 2014. RESULTS: Of the 5,121 patients enrolled in our lay patient navigation program, 4,520 (88%) completed at least one assessment using a standardized distress tool (DT). Navigators used the tool to structure both formal and informal distress assessments. Of all patients, 24% reported distress scores of 4 or greater and 5.5% reported distress scores of 8 or greater. The most common sources of distress at initial assessment were pain, balance/mobility difficulties, and fatigue. Minority patients reported similar sources of distress as the overall program population, with increased relative distress related to logistical issues, such as transportation and financial/insurance questions. Patients were more likely to ask for help with questions about insurance/financial needs (79%), transportation (76%), and knowledge deficits about diet/nutrition (76%) and diagnosis (66%) when these items contributed to distress. CONCLUSIONS: Lay navigators were able to routinely screen for patient distress at a high degree of penetration using a structured distress assessment.

Restricted life-space mobility impacts physical but not mental quality of life in older cancer survivors.

BACKGROUND: Older cancer survivors often value quality of life (QOL) over survival. Life-space mobility (LSM), defined as the individual's spatial geographic mobility range, is an important QOL indicator in older adults with chronic illnesses; however, this relationship is unexplored in older cancer survivors. METHODS: We examined the longitudinal associations and causal relationships between LSM and QOL in 153 older cancer survivors (≥65 years) from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Study of Aging. LSM was assessed using the UAB Life-Space Assessment-Composite score (LSA-C), and QOL was assessed by the SF-12 Mental Component Score (MCS12) and Physical Component Score (PCS12) at 0 (study entry), 6, 18, 36, 54, and 72 months. We examined the causal relationship between LSM and QOL using a cross-lagged panel model (CLPM). RESULTS: The cohort (n = 153) was 76 years old on average and predominantly White (58%), female (58%), and married (55%). Longitudinal analyses found LSM decreased over time (p < 0.0001), and this decrease was associated with decreased QOL (PCS12, p < 0.0001, MCS12, p < 0.0001). In the CLPM causal analysis, lower LSM resulted in worse PCS12 (p < 0.001), but not worse MSC12. CONCLUSIONS: Restricted LSM resulted in worse physical QOL over 72 months in a sample of 153 older cancer survivors. Developing and evaluating interventions to preserve greater LSM could be a promising approach to improving QOL.

Real-Time Electronic Patient Portal Use Among Emergency Department Patients.

Importance: Patients with inequitable access to patient portals frequently present to emergency departments (EDs) for care. Little is known about portal use patterns among ED patients. Objectives: To describe real-time patient portal usage trends among ED patients and compare demographic and clinical characteristics between portal users and nonusers. Design, Setting, and Participants: In this cross-sectional study of 12 teaching and 24 academic-affiliated EDs from 8 health systems in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington, patient portal access and usage data were evaluated for all ED patients 18 years or older between April 5, 2021, and April 4, 2022. Exposure: Use of the patient portal during ED visit. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcomes were the weekly proportions of ED patients who logged into the portal, viewed test results, and viewed clinical notes in real time. Pooled random-effects models were used to evaluate temporal trends and demographic and clinical characteristics associated with real-time portal use. Results: The study included 1 280 924 unique patient encounters (53.5% female; 0.6% American Indian or Alaska Native, 3.7% Asian, 18.0% Black, 10.7% Hispanic, 0.4% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 66.5% White, 10.0% other race, and 4.0% with missing race or ethnicity; 91.2% English-speaking patients; mean [SD] age, 51.9 [19.2] years). During the study, 17.4% of patients logged into the portal while in the ED, whereas 14.1% viewed test results and 2.5% viewed clinical notes. The odds of accessing the portal (odds ratio [OR], 1.36; 95% CI, 1.19-1.56), viewing test results (OR, 1.63; 95% CI, 1.30-2.04), and viewing clinical notes (OR, 1.60; 95% CI, 1.19-2.15) were higher at the end of the study vs the beginning. Patients with active portal accounts at ED arrival had a higher odds of logging into the portal (OR, 17.73; 95% CI, 9.37-33.56), viewing test results (OR, 18.50; 95% CI, 9.62-35.57), and viewing clinical notes (OR, 18.40; 95% CI, 10.31-32.86). Patients who were male, Black, or without commercial insurance had lower odds of logging into the portal, viewing results, and viewing clinical notes. Conclusions and Relevance: These findings suggest that real-time patient portal use during ED encounters has increased over time, but disparities exist in portal access that mirror trends in portal usage more generally. Given emergency medicine's role in caring for medically underserved patients, there are opportunities for EDs to enroll and train patients in using patient portals to promote engagement during and after their visits.

Clinical criteria to exclude acute vascular pathology on CT angiogram in patients with dizziness.

BACKGROUND: Patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with dizziness may be imaged via CTA head and neck to detect acute vascular pathology including large vessel occlusion. We identify commonly documented clinical variables which could delineate dizzy patients with near zero risk of acute vascular abnormality on CTA. METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional analysis of adult ED encounters with chief complaint of dizziness and CTA head and neck imaging at three EDs between 1/1/2014-12/31/2017. A decision rule was derived to exclude acute vascular pathology tested on a separate validation cohort; sensitivity analysis was performed using dizzy "stroke code" presentations. RESULTS: Testing, validation, and sensitivity analysis cohorts were composed of 1072, 357, and 81 cases with 41, 6, and 12 instances of acute vascular pathology respectively. The decision rule had the following features: no past medical history of stroke, arterial dissection, or transient ischemic attack (including unexplained aphasia, incoordination, or ataxia); no history of coronary artery disease, diabetes, migraines, current/long-term smoker, and current/long-term anti-coagulation or anti-platelet medication use. In the derivation phase, the rule had a sensitivity of 100% (95% CI: 0.91-1.00), specificity of 59% (95% CI: 0.56-0.62), and negative predictive value of 100% (95% CI: 0.99-1.00). In the validation phase, the rule had a sensitivity of 100% (95% CI: 0.61-1.00), specificity of 53% (95% CI: 0.48-0.58), and negative predictive value of 100% (95% CI: 0.98-1.00). The rule performed similarly on dizzy stroke codes and was more sensitive/predictive than all NIHSS cut-offs. CTAs for dizziness might be avoidable in 52% (95% CI: 0.47-0.57) of cases. CONCLUSIONS: A collection of clinical factors may be able to "exclude" acute vascular pathology in up to half of patients imaged by CTA for dizziness. These findings require further development and prospective validation, though could improve the evaluation of dizzy patients in the ED.

The Project ENABLE Cornerstone randomized controlled trial: study protocol for a lay navigator-led, early palliative care coaching intervention for African American and rural-dwelling advanced cancer family caregivers.

BACKGROUND: Family caregivers play a vital, yet stressful role in managing the healthcare needs and optimizing the quality of life of patients with advanced cancer, from the time they are newly diagnosed until end of life. While early telehealth palliative care has been found to effectively support family caregivers, little work has focused on historically under-resourced populations, particularly African American and rural-dwelling individuals. To address this need, we developed and are currently testing Project ENABLE (Educate, Nurture, Advise, Before Life Ends) Cornerstone, a lay navigator-led, early palliative care coaching intervention for family caregivers of African American and rural-dwelling patients with newly diagnosed advanced cancer. METHODS: This is a 2-site, single-blind, hybrid type I implementation-effectiveness trial of the Cornerstone intervention versus usual care. Cornerstone is a multicomponent intervention based on Pearlin's Stress-Health Process Model where African American and/or rural-dwelling family caregivers of patients with newly diagnosed advanced cancer (target sample size = 294 dyads) are paired with a lay navigator coach and receive a series of six, brief 20-60-min telehealth sessions focused on stress management and coping, caregiving skills, getting help, self-care, and preparing for the future/advance care planning. Subsequent to core sessions, caregivers receive monthly follow-up indefinitely until the patient's death. Caregiver and patient outcomes are collected at baseline and every 12 weeks until the patient's death (primary outcome: caregiver distress at 24 weeks; secondary outcomes: caregiver: quality of life and burden; patient: distress, quality of life, and healthcare utilization). Implementation costs and the intervention cost effectiveness are also being evaluated. DISCUSSION: Should this intervention demonstrate efficacy, it would yield an implementation-ready model of early palliative care support for under-resourced family caregivers. A key design principle that has centrally informed the Cornerstone intervention is that every caregiving situation is unique and each caregiver faces distinct challenges that cannot be addressed using a one-size-fits all approach. Hence, Cornerstone employs culturally savvy lay navigator coaches who are trained to establish a strong, therapeutic alliance with participants and tailor their coaching to a diverse range of individual circumstances. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04318886 . Registered on 20 March, 2020.

Risk factor identification and predictive models for central line requirements for patients on vasopressors.

Vasopressors are ubiquitous in intensive care units. While central venous catheters are the preferred route of infusion, recent evidence suggests peripheral administration may be safe for short, single-agent courses. Here, we identify risk factors and develop a predictive model for patient central venous catheter requirement using the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care, a single-centre dataset of patients admitted to an intensive care unit between 2008 and 2019. Using prior literature, a composite endpoint of prolonged single-agent courses (>24 hours) or multi-agent courses of any duration was used to identify likely central venous catheter requirement. From a cohort of 69,619 intensive care unit stays, there were 17,053 vasopressor courses involving one or more vasopressors that met study inclusion criteria. In total, 3807 (22.3%) vasopressor courses involved a single vasopressor for less than six hours, 7952 (46.6%) courses for less than 24 hours and 5757 (33.8%) involved multiple vasopressors of any duration. Of these, 3047 (80.0%) less than six-hour and 6423 (80.8%) less than 24-hour single vasopressor courses used a central venous catheter. Logistic regression models identified associations between the composite endpoint and intubation (odds ratio (OR) 2.36, 95% confidence intervals (CI) 2.16 to 2.58), cardiac diagnosis (OR 0.72, CI 0.65 to 0.80), renal impairment (OR 1.61, CI 1.50 to 1.74), older age (OR 1.002, Cl 1.000 to 1.005) and vital signs in the hour before initiation (heart rate, OR 1.006, CI 1.003 to 1.009; oxygen saturation, OR 0.996, CI 0.993 to 0.999). A logistic regression model predicting the composite endpoint had an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (standard deviation) of 0.747 (0.013) and an accuracy of 0.691 (0.012). This retrospective study reveals a high prevalence of short vasopressor courses in intensive care unit settings, a majority of which were administered using central venous catheters. We identify several important risk factors that may help guide clinicians deciding between peripheral and central venous catheter administration, and present a predictive model that may inform future prospective trials.

Tunable structural and optical properties of CuInS2 colloidal quantum dots as photovoltaic absorbers.

Facile phase selective synthesis of CuInS2 (CIS) nanostructures has been an important pursuit because of the opportunity for tunable optical properties of the phases, and in this respect is investigated by hot-injection colloidal synthesis in this study. Relatively monodispersed colloidal quantum dots (3.8-5.6 nm) of predominantly chalcopyrite structure synthesized at 140, 180 and 210 °C over 60 minutes from copper(ii) hexafluoroacetylacetonate hydrate and indium(iii) diethyldithiocarbamate precursors exhibit temperature-dependent structural variability. The slightly off-stoichiometric quantum dots are copper-deficient in which copper vacancies , indium interstitials , indium-copper anti-sites and surface trapping states are likely implicated in broad photoluminescence emission with short radiative lifetimes, τ 1, τ 2, and τ 3 of 1.5-2.1, 7.8-13.9 and 55.2-70.8 ns and particle-size dependent tunable band gaps between 2.25 and 2.32 eV. Further structural and optical tunability (E g between 2.03 and 2.28 eV) is achieved with possible time-dependent wurtzite to chalcopyrite phase transformation at 180 °C likely involving a dynamic interplay of kinetic and thermodynamic factors.

Implementing a Clinic-Based Telehealth Support Service (FamilyStrong) for Family Caregivers of Individuals with Grade IV Brain Tumors.

Background: Nearly 3 million U.S. family caregivers support someone with cancer. However, oncology clinic-based service lines that proactively screen, assess, and support cancer caregivers are nearly nonexistent. Objective: To examine first-year experiences of a nurse-led clinic-based telehealth support service (FamilyStrong) for family caregivers of patients with recently diagnosed grade IV brain tumors. Methods: This is a retrospective evaluation of operational outcomes from initial implementation of the FamilyStrong Service, developed in partnership with Caregiver and Bereavement Support Services at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and the UAB Center for Palliative and Supportive Care. From August 2018 to December 2019, 53 family caregivers were proactively identified and enrolled by a palliative care nurse, working approximately one day/week, who performed monthly caregiver distress thermometer screenings by phone and provided emotional, educational, problem-solving, and referral support. Results: Enrolled family caregivers were a mean age of 53.5 years and mostly female (62.3%), full- or part-time employed (67.9%), and the patient's spouse/partner (79.3%). Caregivers provided support 6.7 days/week for 11.2 hours/day. The palliative care nurse performed 235 distress screenings and provided support that included 68 documented instances of emotional, problem-solving, and educational support, 41 nurse-facilitated communications with the neuro-oncology team about patient issues, and 24 referrals to UAB and community services (e.g., counseling). The most common problems caregivers wanted assistance with included: managing their relative's health condition and symptoms (51%), coordinating care/services (21%), and planning for the future/advance care planning (17%). Discussion: The FamilyStrong Program is among the first "real world" oncology clinic-based formal support services for advance cancer family caregivers.