Canadian Academy of Sport and Exercise Medicine Position Paper: The Clinician's Role in Addressing and Preventing Maltreatment in Sport-10-year Anniversary.

ABSTRACT: In 2011, the Canadian Academy of Sport and Exercise Medicine released their first position paper on Abuse, Harassment, and Bullying in Sport. Since this time, there have been significant advancements within the global sport landscape, including the emergence of regulatory bodies and initiatives aimed at prioritizing athletes' health and well-being. While the shift to a more proactive approach for safeguarding athletes is evident and promising, athletes continue to be affected by cases of maltreatment. To advance safe sport, it is critical that all supporters of safe and healthy performance are aware of their roles and responsibilities for preventing and addressing maltreatment, including the Canadian sport medicine community. In this updated position statement, recent advancements in research on issues of maltreatment are summarized and specific recommendations are provided on how the medical community can contribute to appropriately identifying, treating, and preventing harm in sport, as well as their role in advocating for the health and well-being of athletes in their care.

Diagnostic Delays in Sepsis: Lessons Learned From a Retrospective Study of Canadian Medico-Legal Claims.

Although rapid treatment improves outcomes for patients presenting with sepsis, early detection can be difficult, especially in otherwise healthy adults. OBJECTIVES: Using medico-legal data, we aimed to identify areas of focus to assist with early recognition of sepsis. DESIGN SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Retrospective descriptive design. We analyzed closed medico-legal cases involving physicians from a national database repository at the Canadian Medical Protective Association. The study included cases closed between 2011 and 2020 that had documented peer expert criticism of a diagnostic issue related to sepsis or relevant infections. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: We used univariate statistics to describe patients and physicians and applied published frameworks to classify contributing factors (provider, team, system) and diagnostic pitfalls based on peer expert criticisms. RESULTS: Of 162 involved patients, the median age was 53 years (interquartile range [IQR], 34-66 yr) and mortality was 49%. Of 218 implicated physicians, 169 (78%) were from family medicine, emergency medicine, or surgical specialties. Eighty patients (49%) made multiple visits to outpatient care leading up to sepsis recognition/hospitalization (median = two visits; IQR, 2-4). Almost 40% of patients were admitted to the ICU. Deficient assessments, such as failing to consider sepsis or not reassessing the patient prior to discharge, contributed to the majority of cases (81%). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Sepsis continues to be a challenging diagnosis for clinicians. Multiple visits to outpatient care may be an early warning sign requiring vigilance in the patient assessment.

Grocery Shopping before, during and after the Pandemic: A Qualitative Study.

This research compares grocery shopping attitudes and behaviors before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly online/offline shopping modes. Prior to COVID-19, more consumers shopped in person, even if it was not preferred; consumers who preferred to shop online were found to have greater need for control. During the pandemic, more consumers adopted online grocery shopping, and differences in need for control disappeared. Qualitative research suggests that need for control was superseded by lower-order needs related to food/safety. There is also a growing consumer desire to grocery shop in person, so postpandemic, this is anticipated to increase relative to online shopping.

Physician choices in pulmonary embolism testing.

BACKGROUND: Evidence-based guidelines advise excluding pulmonary embolism (PE) diagnosis using d-dimer in patients with a lower probability of PE. Emergency physicians frequently order computed tomography (CT) pulmonary angiography without d-dimer testing or when d-dimer is negative, which exposes patients to more risk than benefit. Our objective was to develop a conceptual framework explaining emergency physicians' test choices for PE. METHODS: We conducted a qualitative study using in-depth interviews of emergency physicians in Canada. A nonmedical researcher conducted in-person interviews. Participants described how they would test simulated patients with symptoms of possible PE, answered a knowledge test and were interviewed on barriers to using evidence-based PE tests. RESULTS: We interviewed 63 emergency physicians from 9 hospitals in 5 cities, across 3 provinces. We identified 8 domains: anxiety with PE, barriers to using the evidence (time, knowledge and patient), divergent views on evidence-based PE testing, inherent Wells score problems, the drive to obtain CT rather than to diagnose PE, gestalt estimation artificially inflating PE probability, subjective reasoning and cognitive biases supporting deviation from evidence-based tests and use of evidence-based testing to rule out PE in patients who are very unlikely to have PE. Choices for PE testing were influenced by the disease, environment, test qualities, physician and probability of PE. INTERPRETATION: Analysis of structured interviews with emergency physicians provided a conceptual framework to explain how these physicians use tests for suspected PE. The data suggest 8 domains to address when implementing an evidence-based protocol to investigate PE.

Oral Hypertonic Saline Is Effective in Reversing Acute Mild-to-Moderate Symptomatic Exercise-Associated Hyponatremia.

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether oral administration of 3% hypertonic saline (HTS) is as efficacious as intravenous (IV) 3% saline in reversing symptoms of mild-to-moderate symptomatic exercise-associated hyponatremia (EAH) in athletes during and after a long-distance triathlon. DESIGN: Noninferiority, open-label, parallel-group, randomized control trial to IV or oral HTS. We used permuted block randomization with sealed envelopes, containing the word either "oral" or "IV." SETTING: Annual long-distance triathlon (3.8-km swim, 180-km bike, and 42-km run) at Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, Canada. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty race finishers with mild to moderately symptomatic EAH. INDEPENDENT VARIABLES: Age, sex, race finish time, and 9 clinical symptoms. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Time from treatment to discharge. METHODS: We successfully randomized 20 participants to receive either an oral (n = 11) or IV (n = 9) bolus of HTS. We performed venipuncture to measure serum sodium (Na) at presentation to the medical clinic and at time of symptom resolution after the intervention. RESULTS: The average time from treatment to discharge was 75.8 minutes (SD 29.7) for the IV treatment group and 50.3 minutes (SD 26.8) for the oral treatment group (t test, P = 0.02). Serum Na before and after treatment was not significantly different in both groups. There was no difference on presentation between groups in age, sex, or race finish time, both groups presented with an average of 6 symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Oral HTS is effective in reversing symptoms of mild-to-moderate hyponatremia in EAH.