Identifying an Education Gap in Wound Care Training in United States Dermatology.

IMPORTANCE: As restoration of the integument is paramount to wound healing, dermatologists should be central to managing wounds; yet this is often not the case. If a training gap exists during residency training, this may account for the observed discrepancy. OBJECTIVES: To identify United States (US) dermatology residents' impressions regarding their preparedness to care for wounds, and to assess the amount and type of training devoted to wound care during residency. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: An online survey among current US dermatology residents enrolled in a residency training program. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary goal was to determine whether dermatology residents believe more wound care education is needed, evaluate preparedness to care for wounds, and identify future plans to manage wounds. RESULTS: Responses were received from 175 of 517 (33.8%) US Dermatology residents contacted. The majority of residents did not feel prepared to manage acute (78.3%) and chronic (84.6%) wounds. Over three quarters (77.1%) felt that more education is needed. Fewer than half (49.1% and 35.4%) of residents planned to care for acute and chronic wounds, respectively, when in practice. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: There is a gap in wound care education in US dermatology residency training. This translates to a low percentage of dermatology residents planning to care for wounds in future practice. Dermatology residents need to receive focused wound care training in order to translate the underpinnings of wound healing biology and ultimately better serve patients.

Utilizing a quality of life tool to examine the presence of fatigue in subjects with diabetes mellitus.

Introduction: The prevalence of fatigue in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) can be as high as 50 %. Physical, mental, and psychosocial components of fatigue negatively impact quality of life (QOL), morbidity and mortality. Several tools have been developed to address fatigue, but none specifically for measuring fatigue in DM. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of diabetes and neuropathy on fatigue using the Norfolk QOL-Fatigue (QOL-F) survey. Methods: 605 adult participants from [Anonymous] were recruited (400 subjects with type 1 or type 2 DM and 205 subjects without diabetes (controls)). All subjects completed the Norfolk QOL-F. Demographics, weight, BMI, and duration of diabetes were obtained. The Norfolk QOL-F, a 35-item validated questionnaire, assesses five domains: subjective fatigue, physical and cognitive fatigue, reduced activities, impaired activities of daily living, and depression. Results: Subjects with DM reported significantly higher fatigue total scores (52.63vs33.89, p < 0.0001) and in all five domains when compared to controls. Patients with DM with neuropathy were significantly more fatigued than those without (59.72vs27.83, p < 0.0001). Fatigue scores in patients with DM without neuropathy were similar to controls (27.83vs33.89, p = NS). In multivariate analysis, age, gender, and presence of neuropathy significantly impacted fatigue scores. Conclusions: The Norfolk QOL-F questionnaire can potentially identify the impact of chronic diseases such as diabetes on fatigue. Assessing the different components of fatigue is important for clinicians in improving disease management and outcomes. Further investigations are needed to confirm these observations in specific cohorts with other comorbidities.

Psychosocial differences between smokers and non-smokers during pregnancy.

Despite the well-established adverse birth and childhood health outcomes associated with maternal smoking, smoking rates among pregnant women remain high. Psychosocial health attributes, including anxiety, depression, perceived stress, self-efficacy, and personality characteristics, have especially important roles in smoking behavior. Understanding who smokes during pregnancy and what factors influence this behavior choice may be key to improving the effectiveness of smoking cessation intervention programs. We use data from a prospective cohort study of pregnant women to understand the psychosocial health profiles of women who choose to smoke during pregnancy compared to the profiles of women who do not smoke or successfully quit smoking during pregnancy. Multinomial logistic regression analyses on 1518 non-Hispanic black and non-Hispanic white women assessed the association between smoking status and psychosocial health while controlling for demographic characteristics. Higher levels of perceived stress, depression, neuroticism, negative paternal support, and perceived racism among non-Hispanic blacks were associated with higher odds of being a smoker than a non-smoker (p<0.05). Higher levels of self-efficacy, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, interpersonal support, positive paternal support, and perceived social standing were associated with lower odds of being a smoker than a non-smoker (p<0.05). Our analysis indicates that women who smoked during pregnancy experienced a more negative constellation of psychosocial adversities than women who did not smoke. Given the psychosocial needs and personality profiles experienced by smokers, more attention to the psychosocial strengths and weaknesses of these women may allow for more tailored smoking cessation programs, enhancing both the short- and long-term effectiveness of such interventions.