A facile and green strategy for the synthesis of Au, Ag and Au-Ag alloy nanoparticles using aerial parts of R. hypocrateriformis extract and their biological evaluation.

A facile and green strategy is reported here to synthesize gold (Au), silver (Ag) and gold-silver (Au-Ag) alloy nanoparticles (NPs) through bio-reduction reactions of aqueous corresponding metal precursors mediated by extracts of aerial parts of R. hypocrateriformis, which act as both reducing and stabilizing agents, under microwave irradiation. UV-vis spectrophotometer, XRD, FT-IR, FESEM/TEM, TGA and EDAX analysis were used to characterize the obtained NPs. The formation of NPs is evident from their surface plasmon resonance peak observed at λmax=∼550, 450 and 500nm for Au, Ag and Au-Ag alloy NPs respectively. XRD pattern revealed that fcc structure, while FT-IR spectra signify the presence of phytochemicals adsorbed on NPs. Such a biofunctionalized NPs were characterized by their weight loss, 30% due to thermal degradation of plant phytochemicals observed in TG analysis. The spherical shape of Au, Ag and Au-Ag alloy NPs (∼10-50nm) is observed by FE-SEM/TEM images. EDAX analysis confirms the expected elemental composition. Moreover, these NPs showed enhanced antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anticancer activities, though it is more pronounced for Au-Ag alloy NPs, which is due to the combining effect of phytochemicals, Au and Ag metals. Thus, the biosynthesized NPs could be applied as effective growth inhibitors for various biomedical applications.

Evaluation of Viewpoints of Health Care Professionals on the Role of Ethics Committees and Hospitals in the Resolution of Clinical Ethical Dilemmas Based on Practice Environment.

We sought to evaluate whether health care professionals' viewpoints differed on the role of ethics committees and hospitals in the resolution of clinical ethical dilemmas based on practice location. We conducted a survey study from December 21, 2013 to March 15, 2014 of health care professionals at six hospitals (one tertiary care academic medical center, three large community hospitals and two small community hospitals). The survey consisted of eight clinical ethics cases followed by statements on whether there was a role for the ethics committee or hospital in their resolution, what that role might be and case specific queries. Respondents used a 5-point Likert scale to express their degree of agreement with the premises posed. We used the ANOVA test to evaluate whether respondent views significantly varied based on practice location. 240 health care professionals (108-tertiary care center, 92-large community hospitals, 40-small community hospitals) completed the survey (response rate: 63.6 %). Only three individual queries of 32 showed any significant response variations across practice locations. Overall, viewpoints did not vary across practice locations within question categories on whether the ethics committee or hospital had a role in case resolution, what that role might be and case specific queries. In this multicenter survey study, the viewpoints of health care professionals on the role of ethics committees or hospitals in the resolution of clinical ethics cases varied little based on practice location.

A comparison of ED and direct admission care of cancer patients with febrile neutropenia.

OBJECTIVE: We compared the quality of care in admitted febrile neutropenic cancer patients presenting through the emergency department (ED) vs those directly admitted (DA) from the clinic or infusion center. We hypothesized that the quality of care would be comparable between these 2 pathways. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective, observational cohort study of all adult cancer patients hospitalized with subjective or objective fever (≥100.4°F) and documented neutropenia (absolute neutrophil count ≤1000/mm(3)) from January 1, 2011 to June 30, 2013, at 2 hospitals. Two investigators retrieved data including patient age, sex, race, tumor type, blood culture growth, temperature (actual or reported), pathway to admission (ED or DA), time to antibiotic administration, length of stay, and the Multinational Association for Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC) risk score. The primary outcome measures were time to antibiotic administration, appropriateness of antibiotic(s) administered based on published guidelines, length of stay, and MASCC score-based risk assessment. We used the t test for the difference between 2 means with unequal population variances to compare these outcome measures between ED and DA patients. RESULTS: One hundred twenty-seven visits met inclusion criteria (42 [33%] ED visits, 85 [67%] DA visits). Mean time to antibiotic administration, mean length of stay, appropriateness of antibiotics, and MASCC score-based risk assessment were comparable between ED and DA visits (P>.05 for all comparisons). CONCLUSION: The quality of care for febrile neutropenia in patients presenting through the ED was comparable to those directly admitted to the hospital in this 2-center study.

Pharmacist addition to the post-ED visit review of discharge antimicrobial regimens.

OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to evaluate whether pharmacist addition to the postvisit review of discharged adult emergency department (ED) visits' prescriptions/cultures would reduce the prevalence of revised antimicrobial regimen inappropriateness. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective observational study of discharged adult ED visits to a single center with positive cultures requiring antimicrobial regimen revision (May 1 to October 31, 2012, nurse process; February 1 to July 31, 2013, nurse/pharmacist process). Investigators abstracted cohorts' medical records for demographic, ED diagnosis, original/revised antibiotic regimen, culture result, medical history, medications, and patient instruction data and determined whether the revised regimen was inappropriate based on Infectious Diseases Society of America/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and clinical guidelines. We used the large sample z-test to compare the prevalence of revised antimicrobial regimen inappropriateness between the 2 cohorts. RESULTS: In the prepharmacist cohort, there were 411 positive ED discharge cultures. Seventy-three (17.8%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 14.1%-21.5%) required antimicrobial regimen revision; 34 of these met 1 or more level of inappropriateness (46.6%; 95% CI, 35.1%-58.0%). In the postpharmacist cohort, there were 459 positive ED discharge cultures. Seventy-five (16.3%; 95% CI, 13.0%-19.7%) required revision; 11 of these met 1 or more level of inappropriateness (14.7%; 95% CI, 6.7%-22.7%; z = 4.2; P < .0001 for comparison). CONCLUSION: In this single-center study, pharmacist addition to the postvisit review of discharged adult ED patients' prescriptions/cultures reduced the prevalence of revised antimicrobial regimen inappropriateness.

Racial disparities in insurance reimbursement for physician professional services in the ED.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to determine whether racial disparities exist in emergency physician professional services reimbursement from insurance. We hypothesized that insured adult African American emergency department (ED) visits are reimbursed at a lower level than White visits. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective, observational cohort study of insured adult White and African American ED visits (January 1, 2012, to June 30, 2013) to a tertiary center. We downloaded for each included visit age, sex, race, residential zip code, insurance type, admission status, Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) Evaluation and Management (E/M) code charge reimbursement, and median household income for residential zip code. We chose as our primary outcome measure visit mean total insurance reimbursement/work relative value unit (wRVU). We report racial variation for this outcome measure with 95% confidence intervals (CI) and present the ß coefficient related to African American race within a multivariable regression model. RESULTS: A total of 50 297 visits met inclusion criteria (35 574 Whites and 14 723 African Americans). Overall, mean total insurance reimbursement/wRVU for White visits was $39.99 (95% CI, 39.80-40.18), for African American visits, $34.15 (95% CI, 33.88-34.42); P < .01. At the CPT E/M code level, African American visit reimbursement was lower than for White visits, ranging from $2.18/wRVU (95% CI, 0.87-3.49) (99282) to $7.55/wRVU (95 CI, 6.52-8.58) (99285). At the primary insurance level, African American visits showed lower reimbursement than White visits, ranging from $1.70/wRVU (95% CI, 0.75-2.65) in commercial insurance to $7.70/wRVU (95% CI, 5.42-9.98) in other insurance. Within the multivariable regression model, the ß coefficient for African American race was -$1.51/wRVU (95% CI, -1.85 to -1.18); P < .001. CONCLUSION: In this single-center study, professional services reimbursement was lower for African American ED visits compared with those of Whites.

Incorporating screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment into emergency nursing workflow using an existing computerized physician order entry/clinical decision support system.

INTRODUCTION: The objective of this study was to evaluate whether screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) could be incorporated into the emergency nursing workflow using a computerized physician order entry/clinical decision support system. We report demographic and operational factors associated with failure to initiate the protocol and revenue collection from SBIRT. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective, observational cohort analysis of a protocol adding SBIRT to the emergency nursing workflow of a single, tertiary care urban emergency department for all adult patient visits in 2012. Emergency nurses prescreened for unhealthy alcohol or drug use during triage assessment and, when positive, administered SBIRT during treatment area care, all documented in the computerized physician order entry/clinical decision support system. Using multivariable logistic regression, we report demographic and operational factors associated with failure to initiate the protocol. From October 2012, we submitted charges for brief interventions and analyzed collection results. RESULTS: The inclusion criteria were met for 47,693 visits. Of these, 39,758 (83.4%) received triage protocol initiation. Variables associated with decreased odds of protocol initiation were younger age (odds ratio [OR] for rising age, 1.044; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.042-1.045), arrival by ambulance (OR, 0.37; 95% CI, 0.35-0.40), and higher triage acuity (OR, 0.08; 95% CI, 0.07-0.09). Of visits with protocol initiation, 21.4% were documented as positive for at-risk alcohol and/or drug use. However, brief interventions were only administered during 971 visits. During the billing period, $3617.53 was collected on charges of $10,829.15 for 262 completed brief interventions. DISCUSSION: In this study electronic documentation of adults with at-risk alcohol and/or drug use was feasible by emergency nurses, but SBIRT execution and subsequent revenue collection were challenging.

Development and evaluation of educational materials for pre-hospital and emergency department personnel on the care of patients with autism spectrum disorder.

With the rising prevalence of patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), there has been an increase in the acute presentation of these individuals to the general health care system. Emergency medical services and emergency department personnel commonly address the health care needs of patients with ASD at times of crisis. Unfortunately, there is little education provided to front-line emergency medical technicians, paramedics and emergency nurses on the characteristics of ASD and how these characteristics can create challenges for individuals with ASD and their health care providers in the pre-hospital and emergency department settings. This paper describes the development of educational materials on ASD and the results of training of emergency medical services and emergency department personnel.

Delays in the administration of antimicrobials in the emergency department and the impact of an educational intervention to improve this administration.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to assess the factors associated with delays in emergency department (ED) antimicrobial administration and to determine whether an educational intervention would reduce the incidence of such delays. METHODS: We carried out a retrospective observational cohort study of patients aged 18-89 years who received intravenous antimicrobial(s) in a single ED and were subsequently admitted (March 2011). Using multivariable logistic regression, we analyzed whether demographic and operational factors were significantly associated with delayed ED antimicrobial administration (> 30 min from physician order to nurse initiation time). We then conducted an educational intervention with ED/hospital staff to disseminate knowledge of these identified factors. After the intervention, we carried out a prospective observational cohort study of participants with the same inclusion criteria (March 2012), using the large sample z-test to analyze whether the incidence of such delays was significantly reduced. RESULTS: A total of 575 ED antimicrobial orders (302 patients) before the intervention and 493 antimicrobial orders (275 patients) after the intervention fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The median time to antimicrobial administration (interquartile) was 48 min (17-130 min) before the intervention and 49 min (17-156 min) after the intervention. Variables significantly increasing or decreasing the odds of delayed ED antimicrobial administration were older age [OR: 1.01, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.003-1.03], one-time dosing (OR: 0.53, 95% CI 0.31-0.92), and second (OR: 2.40, 95% CI 1.39-4.14), and third (OR: 3.66, 95% CI 1.69-7.92) antimicrobial administration (multiple agents ordered). The incidence of antimicrobial administration was 35.8% within 30 min before the intervention and 34.7% after the intervention (z-test: 0.39, P = 0.70). CONCLUSION: Older age, multiple agent orders, and dosing ordering pattern showed a significant association with delays in ED antimicrobial administration. An educational intervention to disseminate knowledge of these factors did not result in a reduction in such delays.

An analysis of discrepancy between point-of-care and central laboratory international normalized ratio testing in ED patients with cerebrovascular disease.

OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to identify demographic, clinical, and operational variables associated with discrepancy between point-of-care (POC) and central laboratory international normalized ratio (INR) results in emergency department (ED) patients with acute cerebrovascular disease. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective, observational cohort study of a series of 637 patients with acute cerebrovascular disease over 30 months who underwent simultaneous POC, using the i-STAT POC analyzer (Abbott, Princeton, NJ), and central laboratory INR testing at ED presentation. Point-of-care INR results greater than ± 0.25 INR units from the central laboratory INR value were considered discrepant. We analyzed potential predictors of POC INR discrepancy from demographic, clinical, and operational variables using multivariable logistic regression. We evaluated the change in POC INR discrepancy incidence over the study interval using analysis of variance methodology. RESULTS: The final diagnoses of the 637 subjects were acute ischemic stroke (n=427), transient ischemic attack (n=105), and intracranial hemorrhage (n=105). Discrepant POC INR results occurred in 21.5% (137/637) of subjects. The mean bias between POC and central laboratory INR was 0.24 ± 0.69 (range, 0-11.3). Significant covariates of POC INR discrepancy were oral anticoagulant use (odds ratio, 3.03; confidence interval, 1.37-6.68) and increasing activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) (odds ratio, 1.07; confidence interval, 1.02-1.12). We observed a significant reduction trend in the incidence of POC-central laboratory discrepancy over the study period, decreasing on average at 0.42% per month (F=5.59, P=.025). CONCLUSION: In this retrospective study, oral anticoagulant use and increasing aPTT were significantly associated with POC INR discrepancy in ED patients with acute cerebrovascular disease. Point-of-care INR discrepancy incidence decreased over the study interval.

Perceptions of participating emergency nurses regarding an ED seasonal influenza vaccination program.

INTRODUCTION: Numerous professional organizations have recommended that emergency departments provide influenza vaccine to patients. However, no study has reported on the perceptions of participating emergency nurses regarding ED influenza vaccination programs. METHODS: We conducted an anonymous Web-based survey to assess the post-participation perceptions of emergency nurses regarding an ED influenza vaccination protocol. The vaccination protocol occurred at an urban, academic emergency department and was designed to be performed by emergency nurses without added staffing resources by using ED Electronic Medical Record technology. Data from the Web-based survey were analyzed using descriptive statistics and χ(2) analysis to assess significant associations of where emergency nurses believed the protocol was time inefficient. RESULTS: The ED influenza vaccination protocol was in effect from October 1-25, 2009, with 3091 eligible ED visits and 613 patients receiving ED seasonal influenza vaccination. Fifty-eight of 59 participating emergency nurses (98%) responded to the survey. Significant findings were that 59% of responding emergency nurses found the protocol too time consuming and believed it was inappropriate in the ED setting. Responding emergency nurses reported that protocol efficiency could be improved by adding staff, simplifying screening and vaccination documentation requirements, and improving vaccine supply and stocking procedures in the emergency department. CONCLUSION: A majority of surveyed emergency nurses who had participated in an ED influenza vaccination program reported that the protocol was too time consuming and inappropriate for the ED setting. Surveyed emergency nurses expressed the opinion that such protocols required added staff, simplified patient consent/vaccination documentation requirements, and improved vaccine supply and stocking processes.

An analysis of ED utilization by adults with intellectual disability.

OBJECTIVES: We sought to identify factors increasing the odds of ED utilization among intellectually disabled (ID) adults and differentiate their discharge diagnoses from the general adult ED population. METHODS: This was a retrospective, observational open cohort study of all ID adults residing at an intermediate care facility and their ED visits to a tertiary center (January 1, 2007-July 30, 2008). We abstracted from the intermediate care facility database subjects' demographic, ID, health and adaptive status variables, and their requirement of ED care/hospitalization. We obtained from the hospital database the primary International Classification of Diseases 9 ED/hospital discharge diagnoses for the study and general adult population. Using multivariate logistic regression, we computed odds ratios (OR) for ED utilization/hospitalization in the cohort. Using the conditional large-sample binomial test, we differentiated the study and general populations' discharge diagnoses. RESULTS: A total of 433 subjects met the inclusion criteria. Gastrostomy/jejunostomy increased the odds of ED utilization (OR, 4.16; confidence interval [CI], 1.64-10.58). Partial help to feed (OR, 2.59; CI, 1.14-5.88), gastrostomy/jejunostomy (OR, 3.26; CI, 1.30-8.18), and increasing number of prescribed medications (OR, 1.08; CI, 1.03-1.14) increased the odds of hospitalization. Auditory impairment (OR, 0.45; CI, 0.23-0.88) decreased the odds of hospitalization. For ED discharge diagnoses, ID adults were more likely (P < .05) than the general population to have diagnoses among digestive disorders and ill-defined symptoms/signs. For hospital discharge diagnoses, ID adults were more likely (P < .05) to have diagnoses among infectious/parasitic, nervous system, and respiratory disorders. CONCLUSION: Among ID adults, feeding status increased the odds of ED utilization, feeding status, and increasing number of prescribed medications of that hospitalization. Intellectually disabled adults' discharge diagnoses differed significantly from the general adult ED population.

Feasibility of integrating a clinical decision support tool into an existing computerized physician order entry system to increase seasonal influenza vaccination in the emergency department.

While emergency department (ED) seasonal influenza vaccination programs are feasible, reported implementation barriers include added staffing requirements to identify eligible patients and getting busy ED personnel to order and provide vaccination. We present a prospective, observational trial of integrating a clinical decision support tool into an existing ED computerized physician order entry (CPOE) system to increase ED seasonal influenza vaccination without added staffing resources, the operational barriers identified to program implementation, the revenue generated and data on opportunities for future quality improvement. Compared to the comparable pre-protocol period, ED influenza vaccination rose by 17.5% with a resultant profit margin of 34.5%.