Inter-rater agreement in pPOSSUM scores of geriatric trauma patients: a prospective evaluation.

PURPOSE: Risk prediction models are widely used in the perioperative setting to identify high-risk patients who may benefit from additional care and to aid clinical decision-making. pPOSSUM is such a prediction model, however, little is known about the inter-rater agreement when scoring subjective parameters. This study assessed the inter-rater agreement between clinicians of different specialties and work-level when scoring 30 clinical case reports of geriatric hip fracture patients with pPOSSUM. METHODS: Eighteen clinicians of the department of Surgery (three specialists, four residents), Anaesthesiology (four specialists, two residents) and Emergency Medicine (three specialists, two residents) who were familiar with the pPOSSUM scoring system were asked to calculate the scores. The kappa statistic and the statistical method of Fleiss were used to analyse inter-rater agreement. RESULTS: The response rate was 100%. Among surgeons, Anaesthesiologists and Emergency department doctors (ED), the overall mean kappa values were 0.42, 0.08 and 0.20, respectively. Among surgery, anaesthesiology and ED residents the overall mean kappa values were 0.21, 0.33 and 0.37, respectively. Within the department of Surgery, Anaesthesiology and Emergency Medicine the overall mean kappa values were 0.23, 0.12 and 0.22, respectively. An overall mean kappa value of 0.19 was seen among all specialists. All residents had an overall mean kappa value of 0.21 and all clinicians had an overall mean kappa value of 0.21. CONCLUSION: The overall inter-rater agreement of clinicians and interdisciplinary agreement when scoring geriatric hip fracture patients with pPOSSUM was low and prone to subjectivity in our study. A higher work-experience level did not lead to better agreement. When pPOSSUM is calculated without clinical assessment by the same clinician, caution is advised to prevent over-reliance on the pPOSSUM risk prediction model. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: III.

Video gaming in children improves performance on a virtual reality trainer but does not yet make a laparoscopic surgeon.

BACKGROUND: In children, video game experience improves spatial performance, a predictor of surgical performance. This study aims at comparing laparoscopic virtual reality (VR) task performance of children with different levels of experience in video games and residents. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: A total of 32 children (8.4 to 12.1 years), 20 residents, and 14 board-certified surgeons (total n = 66) performed several VR and 2 conventional tasks (cube/spatial and pegboard/fine motor). Performance between the groups was compared (primary outcome). VR performance was correlated with conventional task performance (secondary outcome). RESULTS: Lowest VR performance was found in children with low video game experience, followed by those with high video game experience, residents, and board-certified surgeons. VR performance correlated well with the spatial test and moderately with the fine motor test. CONCLUSIONS: The use of computer games can be considered not only as pure entertainment but may also contribute to the development of skills relevant for adequate performance in VR laparoscopic tasks. Spatial skills are relevant for VR laparoscopic task performance.

ANCA-associated vasculitis with renal involvement: an outcome analysis.

BACKGROUND: The anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitides are a group of heterogeneous diseases. This study was undertaken to investigate the outcome of Wegener's granulomatosis (WG), microscopic polyangiitis (MPA) and renal-limited vasculitis (RLV). Furthermore, we analysed the differences in patients with proteinase 3-ANCA (PR3-ANCA) and those with myeloperoxidase-ANCA (MPO-ANCA), which have not been assessed in a homogeneously treated group of patients with renal involvement. METHODS: In this retrospective analysis, 80 patients with a new diagnosis of WG, MPA or RLV with biopsy-proven renal involvement were followed over a median of 46.7 months (range: 0.8-181.9 months). All patients had induction treatment with cyclophosphamide and oral corticosteroids. RESULTS: At the end of follow-up, 23% were dependent on dialysis. Renal survival was significantly worse in patients with WG compared with patients with MPA or RLV (P = 0.04). A higher rate of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) was noticed in PR3-ANCA- vs MPO-ANCA-positive patients. A total of 21 patients (26%) died. Predictors of patient mortality were development of ESRD, older age and the maximum creatinine in the first month. Mortality was found to be higher in patients with WG and was significantly higher in PR3-ANCA-positive cases (P = 0.02). The relative risk of death was 9.32 times higher in PR3-ANCA- vs MPO-ANCA-positive patients. CONCLUSIONS: Our data underscore the pathogenetic potential of ANCA by demonstrating a more aggressive disease state and a poorer outcome in patients with PR3-ANCA.