Increasing influenza immunization rates among healthcare providers in an ambulatory-based, University Healthcare Setting☆.

OBJECTIVE: Despite its 'best practice' status as an intervention to combat healthcare-related influenza, many healthcare personnel (HCP) do not seek vaccinations themselves. The objective of this study was to achieve the Healthy People [HP] 2020's influenza vaccination goal of 90% among our HCP. DESIGN: The study utilized the model for improvement, consisting of Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles. Each influenza season served as a PDSA cycle until the HP 2020 vaccination goal was achieved. The quality improvement (QI) study was conducted over four influenza seasons (i.e. 2014-15; 2015-16; 2016-17 and 2017-18). SETTING: The study's setting was an ambulatory-based, university health center within a suburban university located in central New Jersey. PARTICIPANTS: Adapting the National Vaccine Advisory Committee's definition of HCP, clinical and non-clinical staff members (n = 110) participated in the QI-study. INTERVENTIONS: QI-interventions were centered on staff education/outreach, improved accessibility to influenza vaccines and frequent communication to staff over several PDSA cycles. MAIN OUTCOME & RESULTS: The QI-interventions significantly increased our overall vaccination coverage on our influenza vaccination status survey from 70.2% (2011-14 influenza seasons; n = 102) to 84.9% (2014-15 influenza season; n = 93) in PDSA 1, and 91.1% (2015-16 influenza season; n = 90) in PDSA cycle 2 (χ2 = 309.53, P < 0.001). Vaccination rates remained above the 90% performance goal during our quality control/assurance measuring periods (i.e. the 2016-18 influenza seasons). CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that influenza vaccination coverage can significantly improve among HCP through the application of concurrent and multifaceted QI-interventions.

Use of wound infusion catheters for postoperative local anaesthetic administration in cats.

OBJECTIVES: The present study aimed to document the use of the wound infusion catheter (WIC) following a variety of surgical procedures in cats, investigating complications and risk factors associated with catheter placement or local anaesthetic (LA) administration. METHODS: A retrospective, multicentric study was performed. Medical databases of eight veterinary referral hospitals from 2010 to 2021 were searched to identify records of cats where WICs were used. Information regarding signalment, type of surgery, size and type of WIC placed, and LA protocol used, as well as postoperative complications, were retrieved. RESULTS: One hundred and sixty-six cases fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Feline injection site sarcoma resection was the most common surgery. Overall complications were identified in 22/166 cats (13.2%). Thirteen cats (7.8%) experienced wound-related complications, whereas nine cats (5.4%) experienced drug-delivery complications. The only factor associated with an increased risk of complications was the amount of a single dose of LA delivered through the catheter (P <0.001). An amount higher than 2.5 ml of LA delivered at each administration was associated with an increased risk of complications. All complications were minor and self-limiting. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: WICs were used for a large variety of surgical procedures with different protocols of LA administration as part of a multimodal analgesic plan in cats. The risk of complications was relatively low and self-limiting, suggesting its safe use in cats. Further prospective studies are required to evaluate efficacy of postoperative analgesia and to determine the suitable protocol for WIC handling and maintenance.

What's in a Meow? A Study on Human Classification and Interpretation of Domestic Cat Vocalizations.

Although the domestic cat (Felis catus) is probably the most widespread companion animal in the world and interacts in a complex and multifaceted way with humans, the human-cat relationship and reciprocal communication have received far less attention compared, for example, to the human-dog relationship. Only a limited number of studies have considered what people understand of cats' human-directed vocal signals during daily cat-owner interactions. The aim of the current study was to investigate to what extent adult humans recognize cat vocalizations, namely meows, emitted in three different contexts: waiting for food, isolation, and brushing. A second aim was to evaluate whether the level of human empathy toward animals and cats and the participant's gender would positively influence the recognition of cat vocalizations. Finally, some insights on which acoustic features are relevant for the main investigation are provided as a serendipitous result. Two hundred twenty-five adult participants were asked to complete an online questionnaire designed to assess their knowledge of cats and to evaluate their empathy toward animals (Animal Empathy Scale). In addition, participants had to listen to six cat meows recorded in three different contexts and specify the context in which they were emitted and their emotional valence. Less than half of the participants were able to associate cats' vocalizations with the correct context in which they were emitted; the best recognized meow was that emitted while waiting for food. Female participants and cat owners showed a higher ability to correctly classify the vocalizations emitted by cats during brushing and isolation. A high level of empathy toward cats was significantly associated with a better recognition of meows emitted during isolation. Regarding the emotional valence of meows, it emerged that cat vocalizations emitted during isolation are perceived by people as the most negative, whereas those emitted during brushing are perceived as most positive. Overall, it emerged that, although meowing is mainly a human-directed vocalization and in principle represents a useful tool for cats to communicate emotional states to their owners, humans are not particularly able to extract precise information from cats' vocalizations and show a limited capacity of discrimination based mainly on their experience with cats and influenced by empathy toward them.