A Clinical Decision Support System (KNOWBED) to Integrate Scientific Knowledge at the Bedside: Development and Evaluation Study.

BACKGROUND: The evidence-based medicine (EBM) paradigm requires the development of health care professionals' skills in the efficient search of evidence in the literature, and in the application of formal rules to evaluate this evidence. Incorporating this methodology into the decision-making routine of clinical practice will improve the patients' health care, increase patient safety, and optimize resources use. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to develop and evaluate a new tool (KNOWBED system) as a clinical decision support system to support scientific knowledge, enabling health care professionals to quickly carry out decision-making processes based on EBM during their routine clinical practice. METHODS: Two components integrate the KNOWBED system: a web-based knowledge station and a mobile app. A use case (bronchiolitis pathology) was selected to validate the KNOWBED system in the context of the Paediatrics Unit of the Virgen Macarena University Hospital (Seville, Spain). The validation was covered in a 3-month pilot using 2 indicators: usability and efficacy. RESULTS: The KNOWBED system has been designed, developed, and validated to support clinical decision making in mobility based on standards that have been incorporated into the routine clinical practice of health care professionals. Using this tool, health care professionals can consult existing scientific knowledge at the bedside, and access recommendations of clinical protocols established based on EBM. During the pilot project, 15 health care professionals participated and accessed the system for a total of 59 times. CONCLUSIONS: The KNOWBED system is a useful and innovative tool for health care professionals. The usability surveys filled in by the system users highlight that it is easy to access the knowledge base. This paper also sets out some improvements to be made in the future.

Tratamiento del cáncer de laringe avanzado y calidad de vida. Revisión sistemática / Treatment of advanced laryngeal cancer and quality of life. Systematic review

Introducción y objetivos: El objetivo fue comparar la calidad de vida de los pacientes con cáncer de laringe en estadio avanzado tratados con preservación de órgano respecto a aquellos tratados quirúrgicamente. Métodos: Se realizó una revisión sistemática consultando MedLine, EMBASE, y PubMed (1991-2014) y Web of Science (2012-2014). Los términos de búsqueda fueron: cáncer de laringe, preservación de órgano, quimioterapia, laringectomía, resultados de tratamiento y calidad de vida. Se incluyeron revisiones sistemáticas, metaanálisis, informes de evaluación de tecnologías sanitarias y estudios comparativos con grupo control, publicados en idioma español, francés o inglés. La selección y evaluación de la calidad fue realizada por dos investigadores. Se usaron los criterios de la Colaboración Cochrane para evaluar el riesgo de sesgo y los del Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) para el nivel de evidencia. Resultados: De los 208 estudios identificados en la búsqueda se incluyeron tres: un ensayo clínico y dos estudios observacionales, con un total de 211 pacientes. Su calidad y nivel de evidencia fueron bajos. Los resultados fueron contradictorios, en algunas ocasiones favorables a la cirugía y en otras, a la combinación de radioterapia y quimioterapia, pero en general, sin diferencias significativas entre los tratamientos. Se trataba de estudios heterogéneos, con metodología diferente, tamaño insuficiente, limitaciones en su calidad, con importante riesgo de sesgo y utilización de escalas de medida distintas. Conclusiones: Carecemos de estudios de calidad suficiente para establecer si la calidad de vida en los pacientes con cáncer de laringe en estadio avanzado es diferente en función del tratamiento recibido (AU)

Introduction and objectives: The objective was the comparison of the quality of life in patients with advanced laryngeal cancer treated with organ preservation versus surgical treatment. Methods: We performed a systematic review in the databases MedLine, EMBASE, and PubMed (2014 1991) and Web of Science (2012 - 2014). The search terms were: Laryngeal cancer, organ preservation, chemotherapy, laryngectomy, treatment outcomes and quality of life. Systematic reviews, meta-analysis, reports of health technology assessment and comparative studies with control group, published in Spanish, French or English were included. The selection and quality assessment was made by two researchers. The criteria of the Cochrane Collaboration were used to assess the risk of bias and Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) for the level of evidence. Results: Of the 208 studies identified in the search, three were included a clinical trial and two observational studies, with a total of 211 patients. Quality and level of evidence was low. The results were contradictory, on occasion they favoured surgery, and on other occasions chemotherapy, but in general there were no statistical differences between the treatments. The studies were heterogeneous, with different methodology, undersized, limitations in quality with high risk of bias and use of different measurement scales. Conclusions: There are not enough studies of quality to establish differences in the quality of life in patients with advanced laryngeal cancer according to the treatment received (AU)

Factores determinantes en la indicación de la prótesis invertida de hombro / Facteurs déterminant l'indication de prothèse d'épaule inversée / Determining Factors in Inverted Shoulder Prosthesis Indication

Objetivo: Desarrollar criterios para determinar las indicaciones apropiadas de la prótesis invertida de hombro en artropatías por lesión del manguito rotador y las variables determinantes de este proceso. Método: Se utilizó un panel de expertos mediante metodología RAND/UCLA con 9 expertos en Traumatología, 2 en Rehabilitación y 1 en Reumatología, que evaluaron 192 casos hipotéticos. Cada experto puntuó mediante una escala del 1 (extremadamente inadecuado) al 9 (extremadamente apropiado). Resultados: 22 casos hipotéticos fueron considerados adecuados. El dolor, limitación funcional, necesidad funcional, defecto glenoideo, edad, artrosis y posibilidad de reparación del manguito rotador son variables determinantes para indicar la implantación de una prótesis invertida de hombro. Conclusiones: El método RAND/UCLA es útil para el estudio de las indicaciones de procedimientos como la prótesis invertida de hombro, y proporciona una lista de las indicaciones adecuadas. Las variables requieren ser validadas mediante estudios prospectivos o revisión de historias clínicas(AU)

Objective: Develop criteria to determine the appropriate indications of inverted shoulder prosthesis in arthropathies due to rotator cuff injury and the variables that determine this process. Method: A panel of experts assessed 192 hypothetical cases using RAND/UCLA methodology. Nine Traumatology experts, two Rehabilitation experts and one Rheumatology expert comprised this panel. Each expert scored on a scale from 1 (extremely unsuitable) to 9 (extremely appropriate). Results: 22 hypothetical cases were considered adequate. Pain, functional limitation, functional need, glenoid defect, age, osteoarthritis and possibility of rotator cuff repair are determining as variables to indicate the implantation of an inverted shoulder prosthesis. Conclusions: The RAND/UCLA method is useful for the study of procedure indications such as the inverted shoulder prosthesis, and it provides a list of suitable indications. Prospective studies or medical record reviews should validate these variables(AU)

Objectif: Proposer les critères définissant l'indication appropriée de prothèse d'épaule inversée dans les arthropathies pour lésion de la coiffe des rotateurs, et les variables déterminant ce processus. Méthodes: Un panel d'experts, compris par 9 traumatologues, 2 kinésithérapeutes et 1 rhumatologue, a été utilisé pour évaluer 192 cas hypothétiques par la méthode RAND/UCLA. Chaque expert a fait son évaluation sur une échelle de 1 (extrêmement inapproprié) à 9 (extrêmement approprié). Résultats: Vingt-deux cas hypothétiques ont été considérés comme appropriés. Des variables telles que la douleur, la limitation fonctionnelle, la nécessité fonctionnelle, le défaut glénoïdien, l'âge, l'arthrose et la possibilité de correction de la coiffe des rotateurs, ont déterminé l'indication de prothèse d'épaule inversée. Conclusions: La méthode RAND-UCLA est utile pour l'étude des indications de procédés, tels que la prothèse d'épaule inversée, et procure une liste des indications appropriées. Il faut valider les variables avec des études prospectives ou une révision des dossiers médicaux(AU)

HEMIC Project: Design of a Clinical Information Modelling Tool Based on ISO13972 Technical Specification.

The Andalusian Health Service is the public healthcare provider for 8.302.923 inhabitants in the South Spain. This organization coordinates primary and specialized care with an IT infrastructure composed by multiple Electronic Health Record Systems. According to the large volume of healthcare professionals involved, there is a need for providing a consistent management of information through multiple locations and systems. The HEMIC project aims to address this need developing and validating a methodology based on a software tool for standardizing information contained within EHR systems. The developed tool has been designed for supporting the participation of healthcare professionals the establishment of mechanisms for information governance. This research presents the requirements and designs for of a software tool focused on the adoption of recognized best practice in clinical information modeling. The designed tool has a Service Oriented Architecture that will be able to integrate terminology servers and repositories of clinical information models as part of the modeling process. Moreover, the defined tool organizes clinicians, IT developers and terminology experts involved in the modeling process in three levels to promote their coordination in the definition, specialization and validation of clinical information models. In order to ensure the quality of the developed clinical information models, the defined tool is based on the requirements defined in the ISO13972 Technical Specification.

Treatment of advanced laryngeal cancer and quality of life. Systematic review. / Tratamiento del cáncer de laringe avanzado y calidad de vida. Revisión sistemática.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: The objective was the comparison of the quality of life in patients with advanced laryngeal cancer treated with organ preservation versus surgical treatment. METHODS: We performed a systematic review in the databases MedLine, EMBASE, and PubMed (2014 1991) and Web of Science (2012 - 2014). The search terms were: Laryngeal cancer, organ preservation, chemotherapy, laryngectomy, treatment outcomes and quality of life. Systematic reviews, meta-analysis, reports of health technology assessment and comparative studies with control group, published in Spanish, French or English were included. The selection and quality assessment was made by two researchers. The criteria of the Cochrane Collaboration were used to assess the risk of bias and Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) for the level of evidence. RESULTS: Of the 208 studies identified in the search, three were included a clinical trial and two observational studies, with a total of 211 patients. Quality and level of evidence was low. The results were contradictory, on occasion they favoured surgery, and on other occasions chemotherapy, but in general there were no statistical differences between the treatments. The studies were heterogeneous, with different methodology, undersized, limitations in quality with high risk of bias and use of different measurement scales. CONCLUSIONS: There are not enough studies of quality to establish differences in the quality of life in patients with advanced laryngeal cancer according to the treatment received.

[Quality of life after brachytherapy or robot-assisted radical prostatectomy for localized prostate cancer]. / Evaluación de la calidad de vida de la braquiterapia vs prostatectomia robotizada en pacientes con carcinoma prostático localizado. Revisión sistemática.

OBJECTIVES: To perform a systematic bibliographic review of the literature assessing the quality of life and complications of robotic prostatectomy (RP) versus low-dose rate brachytherapy (LDR-BT) in patients with localized prostate cancer (PCa). PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrane, Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, Emergency Care Research Institute, Web of Knowledge, Technology Evaluation Center, Clinical Evidence, Uptodate, Hayes and Drug Effectiveness Review Project. Systematic reviews and prospective studies comparing RP to LDR-BT in men with localized PCa were included. The primary outcome was quality of life and the secondary endpoint complications rate. RESULTS: Three systematic reviews and four prospective studies were included. RP showed better results than LDR-BT for SF-12-physical domain (p<0.01) and faster recovery to pre-operative scores. LDR-BT improved scores for UCLAPCI questionnaire-urinary and sexual domains compared to RP during the first three years of follow-up (p<0.001). First postoperative year urinary incontinence rate was favorable for LDR-BT (88.0% vs 84.5%, p<0.001). No differences for intestinal function scores for the first three post-intervention years (p = 0.02) were found. Major complications of LDR-BT were gastrointestinal and genitourinary toxicity, although pooled weighted events rate of the studies was not analyzed. CONCLUSIONS: LDR-BT improves quality of life in terms of urinary and sexual function in patients with localized PCa vs RP during the first three years post-intervention.

Guía de práctica clínica sobre terapia intravenosa con dispositivos no permanentes en adultos / Clinical practice guideline on intravenous therapy with temporary devices in adults

El objetivo principal de la guía es proporcionar a los profesionales sanitarios una herramienta que les permita tomar decisiones basadas en evidencia sobre aspectos de la atención al paciente adulto con indicación de terapia intravenosa con dispositivos no permanentes. Además, se señalan los objetivos secundarios siguientes: aumentar la calidad de las intervenciones, evitar complicaciones relacionadas con la terapia intravenosa y reducir la variabilidad existente entre los profesionales sanitarios.

The guideline includes recommendations for taking care of adult patients with intravenous therapy who are at primary care centres, hospitals and homes.

Predictores de fragilidad en el anciano / No disponible

Objetivo: Identificar predictores de fragilidad en el anciano. Material y métodos: Se realizó una revisión sistemática para obtener posibles predictores de fragilidad en el anciano que, posteriormente, fueron evaluados por un panel multidisciplinar de expertos mediante metodología Delphi en tres rondas. De la revisión sistemática de la literatura se obtuvieron 16 predictores de fragilidad en el anciano, cada uno de ellos se concretó en un capítulo, en total se elaboraron 271 preguntas respecto a los predictores repartidas en estos 16 capítulos. Cada experto calificó los predictores de fragilidad mediante una escala tipo Likert del 1 al 9 (1 = predecía MUY MAL la fragilidad y 9 = predecía MUY BIEN la fragilidad). Los predictores de fragilidad que obtuvieron una puntuación con una mediana mayor de 7 fueron considerados como buenos predictores. Resultados: Los expertos coincidieron que algunas variables eran, por sí mismas y de forma independiente, predictoras de fragilidad: trastorno de la movilidad, caídas y alteración de las actividades básicas de la vida diaria, deterioro cognitivo, riesgo de sufrir úlceras por presión, pluripatología, aspectos sociodemográficos y ambientales (sólo existió consenso en la infraestructura del lugar de residencia), trastorno del ánimo (depresión, ansiedad y trastornos del sueño), deterioro visual y/o auditivo. Conclusión: No se ha encontrado una herramienta validada para identificar fragilidad, aunque se pueden agrupar en 16 categorías los posibles predictores y ello podría proporcionarnos una herramienta de detección de fragilidad en el anciano(AU)

Objectives: To define predictors of frailty in the elderly. Methods: A systematic review had been conducted in order to obtain possible predictors of frailty in the elderly. The predictors were evaluated by an expert in older adult’s care panel by three rounds of Delphi methodology. As a result of the systematic review of literature, 16 frailty predictors were obtained, and each predictor was included in a chapter. We have elaborated 271 questions about the frailty predictors. Every expert in the panel used a Likert scale from 1 to 9 (1 = predicted VERY BAD frailty, while 9 = predicted VERY GOOD frailty). Frailty predictors that obtained a median score higher than 7, were considered as good predictors. Results: Experts agreed that some variables were frailty predictors, by themselves and independently: mobility disorder, falls and limitation to basic activities of daily living, cognitive impairment, risk of pressure ulcers, multiple pathologies, socio-demographic features and environmental factors (there was consensus only regarding residence infrastructure), mood disorder (depression, anxiety and sleep disorders), and visual/hearing impairment. Conclusions: There is no single validated tool to identify frailty, though we found the possibility to group into 16 categories the possible predictors, and it would be helpful for the detection of frailty in the elderly(AU)

Eficacia y seguridad de la utilización del óxido nitroso al 50% como analgesia en el parto / Efficacy and safety of 50% nitrous oxide as analgesia during delivery

Objetivos. Evaluar la eficacia y seguridad del óxido nitroso mezclado al 50% con oxigeno en la utilización como analgésico inhalado durante el parto. Material y métodos. Revisión sistemática de la literatura científica. Para ello se realizó una búsqueda bibliográfica (2010) en bases de datos electrónicas. Como criterios de inclusión se seleccionaron estudios que comparasen la administración del óxido nitroso inhalado al 50% frente a otra intervención, en mujeres adultas durante la fase de parto, y que mostrasen resultados de seguridad y eficacia. Resultados. Se obtuvieron un total de 230 referencias, seleccionándose 24 trabajos que podían cumplir los criterios de inclusión. Tras el análisis a texto completo, se seleccionaron una revisión sistemática y 3 ensayos clínicos. La calidad de los ensayos incluidos ha sido moderada-alta. El óxido nitroso como técnica analgésica frente a placebo presenta resultados aceptables, pero frente a otros analgésicos sus resultados son menos satisfactorios. Los resultados de seguridad son similares a los que ocurren con otros tratamientos analgésicos. Conclusiones. La administración inhalada de óxido nitroso al 50% a mujeres durante el parto podría ser una alternativa frente a las intervenciones utilizadas habitualmente para este fin (AU)

Objectives. To evaluate the safety and efficacy of 50% nitrous oxide with oxygen as an inhaled analgesic during delivery. Material and methods. We performed a systematic review of the literature through a literature search (2010) of electronic databases. Studies comparing administration of inhaled nitrous oxide at 50% with another intervention in adult women during labor and reporting results on efficacy and safety were included. Results. A total of 230 references were obtained and 24 studies that met the inclusion criteria were selected. After analysis of the texts, one systematic review and three clinical trials were selected. The quality of the trials included was moderate-high. Nitrous oxide as an analgesic technique produced acceptable results when compared with placebo but the results were less satisfactory when nitrous oxide was compared with other analgesics. Safety results were similar to those found with other analgesic treatments. Conclusions. Administration of inhaled 50% nitrous oxide in women during labor could be an alternative to routinely used techniques (AU)

Is FDG-PET suitable for evaluating neoadjuvant therapy in non-small cell lung cancer? Evidence with systematic review of the literature.

BACKGROUND: Neoadjuvant therapy response assessment is crucial in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). FDG-PET has emerged as a valuable tool for defining therapy response assessment in other tumours. AIM: To systematically review publications appearing in the literature describing induction therapy response assessment with FDG-PET in NSCLC. METHODS: We performed a bibliographic search and selected only prospective studies in order to include the highest levels of evidence. RESULTS: Nine of 497 potentially relevant publications were selected. The ranges of sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value for primary tumour response assessment were 80-100%, 0-100%, 42.9-100%, and 66.7-100%, respectively. Pooling data for N2 restaging after neoadjuvant response the overall sensitivity was 63.8% (95% CI, 53.3-73.7%) and overall specificity was 85.3% (95% CI, 80.4-89.4%). CONCLUSION: The results of the analysis do not support the use of FDG-PET as the only re-assessment tool for mediastinal lymph node evaluation for routine clinical use. FDG-PET seems to predict primary tumour response to induction therapy but it could not be shown by pooling analysis.