HIV and HCV health beliefs in an inner-city community.

Chronic infection with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) is more prevalent than human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, but more public health resources are allocated to HIV than to HCV. Given shared risk factors and epidemiology, we compared accuracy of health beliefs about HIV and HCV in an at-risk community. Between 2002 and 2003, we surveyed a random patient sample at a primary care clinic in New York. The survey was organized as domains of Common Sense Model of Self-Regulation: causes ('sharing needles'), timeline/consequences ('remains in body for life', 'causes cancer') and controllability ('I can avoid this illness', 'medications may cure this illness'). We compared differences in accuracy of beliefs about HIV and HCV and used multivariable linear regression to identify factors associated with relative accuracy of beliefs. One hundred and twenty-two subjects completed the survey (response rate 42%). Mean overall health belief accuracy was 12/15 questions (80%) for HIV vs 9/15 (60%) for HCV (P < 0.001). Belief accuracy was significantly different across all domains. Within the causes domain, 60% accurately believed sharing needles a risk factor for HCV compared to 92% for HIV (P < 0.001). Within the timeline/consequences domain, 42% accurately believed HCV results in lifelong infection compared to 89% for HIV (P < 0.001). Within the controllability domain, 25% accurately believed that there is a potential cure for HCV. Multivariable linear regression revealed female gender as significantly associated with greater health belief accuracy for HIV. Thus, study participants had significantly less accurate health beliefs about HCV than about HIV. Targeting inaccuracies might improve public health interventions to foster healthier behaviours and better hepatitis C outcomes.

Evaluation of clinical parameters to predict Mycobacterium tuberculosis in inpatients.

BACKGROUND: Respiratory isolation has been recommended for all patients with suspected tuberculosis (TB) to avoid transmission to other patients and health care personnel. In implementing these guidelines, patients with and without TB are frequently isolated, significantly increasing hospital costs. The objective of this study was to derive a clinical rule to predict the need for respiratory isolation of patients with suspected TB. METHODS: To identify potential predictors of the need for isolation, 56 inpatients with sputum cultures positive for TB were retrospectively compared with 56 controls who were isolated on admission to the hospital based on clinically suspected TB but whose sputum cultures tested negative for TB. Variables analyzed included TB risk factors, clinical symptoms, and findings from physical examination and chest radiography. RESULTS: Multivariate analysis revealed that the following factors were significantly associated with a culture positive for TB: presence of TB risk factors or symptoms (odds ratio [OR], 7.9 [95% confidence interval (CI), 4.4-24.2]), a positive purified protein derivative tuberculin test result (OR, 13.2 [95% CI, 4.4-40.7]), high temperature (OR, 2.8 [95% CI, 1.1-8.3]), and upper-lobe disease on chest radiograph (OR, 14.6 [95% CI, 3.7-57.5]). Shortness of breath (OR, 0.2 [95% CI, 0.12-0.53]) and crackles noted during the physical examination (OR, 0.29 [95% CI, 0.15-0.57]) were negative predictors of TB. A scoring system was developed using these variables. A patient's total score of 1 or higher indicated the need for respiratory isolation, accurately predicting a culture positive for TB (98% sensitivity [95% CI, 95%-100%]; 46% specificity [95% CI, 33%-59%]). CONCLUSION: Among inpatients with suspected active pulmonary TB, a prediction rule based on clinical and chest radiographic findings accurately identified patients requiring respiratory isolation.

Effect of hemodialysis on the signal-averaged electrocardiogram.

The presence of late potentials (LPs) on signal-averaged electrocardiography (SAECG) is predictive of ventricular tachycardia. The effect of hemodialysis (HD) on SAECG has not been well studied. SAECG was evaluated in 28 patients with chronic renal failure immediately before and after HD. In each SAECG, QRS duration, low-amplitude signal duration (LASd), and root-mean-square voltage of the terminal 40 milliseconds of the QRS (RMS40) were measured. To evaluate the effect of fluid removal on SAECG, the last 12 patients were studied during two different HD sessions, one with and one without fluid removal. Two-dimensional echocardiography was performed before and after HD on these 12 patients. At baseline, four patients met the criteria for LPs on SAECG. Only one patient met the criteria for LPs on SAECG after HD. After HD, the mean LASd decreased (28.3 +/- 12.9 to 24.9 +/- 10.1 milliseconds; P = 0.041) and RMS40 increased (63.0 +/- 56.9 to 79.0 +/- 59.2 microV; P = 0. 006). Among the 12 patients who underwent HD with and without fluid removal, left ventricular end-diastolic dimension decreased with (5. 4 +/- 0.6 to 5.1 +/- 0.6 cm; P = 0.024) but not without fluid removal (5.2 +/- 0.3 to 5.1 +/- 0.4 cm; P = not significant [NS]). RMS40 improved with (43.8 +/- 23.1 to 53.2 +/- 22.6 microV; P = 0. 03) but not without fluid removal (51.0 +/- 26.5 to 51.5 +/- 24.2 microV; P = NS). A significant negative correlation was found between change in body weight and change in RMS40 parameter (r = 0. 456; P = 0.0381). SAECG parameters are abnormal in a significant proportion of patients with chronic renal failure and improve with HD despite electrolyte and other proarrhythmic changes. Decreased left ventricular dimension because of fluid removal during HD is one possible explanation for this improvement.

A prospective study of the effect of I.V. pentamidine therapy on ventricular arrhythmias and QTc prolongation in HIV-infected patients.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: I.V. pentamidine therapy in HIV-infected patients has been associated in case reports and one uncontrolled prospective series with frequent prolongation of the rate-corrected QT interval (QTc) and a high risk for potentially lethal ventricular arrhythmias, especially torsade de pointes. The aim of this study was to prospectively examine in a controlled manner the effect of I.V. pentamidine therapy on the QT interval and the incidence of ventricular arrhythmias. DESIGN: Open, nonrandomized, prospective evaluation of ventricular arrhythmia incidence in HIV-infected patients receiving pentamidine or trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) utilizing Holter monitoring prior to and during therapy with these agents. SETTING: Staten Island University Hospital, Staten Island, NY. PATIENTS: Twenty-seven HIV-infected patients, of whom 16 received I.V. pentamidine and 11 received I.V. TMP-SMX. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Study patients underwent Holter monitoring prior to therapy and during the first 3 days and last 2 days of therapy with pentamidine or TMP-SMX, 12-lead ECG prior to and every 24 to 48 h, serum electrolytes prior to and on days 3, 6, 9, and 12 of therapy, and baseline transthoracic two-dimensional and Doppler echocardiography. In the pentamidine group, the results for each monitoring period were as follows (means are presented +/- SEM): pretherapy, 1.66+/-1.03 (median=0) premature ventricular complexes (PVCs) per hour, zero nonsustained ventricular tachycardia (NSVT), zero sustained ventricular tachycardia (VT); early therapy, 1.55+/-0.91 (median=0.04) PVCs per hour, two NSVT (both < or = 5 complexes), zero sustained VT; late therapy, 1.69+/-1.17 (median=0.08) PVCs per hour, zero NSVT, zero sustained VT (p value not significant for early or late therapy as compared to pretherapy for PVCs per hour, NSVT, or sustained VT). In the TMP-SMX group, the Holter monitoring results were as follows: pretherapy, 1.36+/-1.27 (median=0) PVCs per hour, zero NSVT, zero sustained VT; early therapy, 0.71+/-0.53 (median=0.03) PVCs per hour, two NSVT, zero sustained VT; late therapy, 0.56+/-0.51 (median=0) PVCs per hour, zero NSVT, zero sustained VT (p value not significant for pretherapy, early therapy, or late therapy with TMP-SMX as compared to pentamidine for PVCs per hour, NSVT, or VT). The QTc also did not significantly differ during therapy with pentamidine as compared to TMP-SMX. The mean QTc in the pentamidine group decreased during therapy as compared to pretherapy with the difference approaching significance for days 2, 4, and 6 with pentamidine (p<0.06). CONCLUSIONS: QTc prolongation during therapy with pentamidine in HIV-infected patients is not as frequent an occurrence as has been reported previously. In the absence of QTc prolongation, pentamidine therapy was not associated with a significant increase in PVCs, NSVT, or sustained VT as compared to pretherapy recordings or as compared to therapy with TMP-SMX.

Health care trends, Part I. The promise and perils of evidence-based medicine ... panel discussion.

Numerous studies have demonstrated that there are wide variations in the way physicians manage similar patients. This suggests that an evidence-based approach could lead to better outcomes with less cost. But practicing evidence-based medicine requires new skills, such as using computerized databases and applying the rules of evidence to primary and integrative studies in the medical literature. The progress of evidence-based medicine will depend in large measure on how quickly these new skills can be developed and integrated into the practice environment. Here's how six experts see the promise and the perils of evidence-based medicine, now and in the new millennium. Part 2 of the panel discussion will explore the new provider team, which includes nurses and, more recently, pharmacists, who are collaborating with physicians to provide disease management and drugs therapy management services.

User centered clinical decision support tools: adoption across clinician training level.

BACKGROUND: Dissemination and adoption of clinical decision support (CDS) tools is a major initiative of the Affordable Care Act's Meaningful Use program. Adoption of CDS tools is multipronged with personal, organizational, and clinical settings factoring into the successful utilization rates. Specifically, the diffusion of innovation theory implies that 'early adopters' are more inclined to use CDS tools and younger physicians tend to be ranked in this category. OBJECTIVE: This study examined the differences in adoption of CDS tools across providers' training level. PARTICIPANTS: From November 2010 to 2011, 168 residents and attendings from an academic medical institution were enrolled into a randomized controlled trial. INTERVENTION: The intervention arm had access to the CDS tool through the electronic health record (EHR) system during strep and pneumonia patient visits. MAIN MEASURES: The EHR system recorded details on how intervention arm interacted with the CDS tool including acceptance of the initial CDS alert, completion of risk-score calculators and the signing of medication order sets. Using the EHR data, the study performed bivariate tests and general estimating equation (GEE) modeling to examine the differences in adoption of the CDS tool across residents and attendings. KEY RESULTS: The completion rates of the CDS calculator and medication order sets were higher amongst first year residents compared to all other training levels. Attendings were the less likely to accept the initial step of the CDS tool (29.3%) or complete the medication order sets (22.4%) that guided their prescription decisions, resulting in attendings ordering more antibiotics (37.1%) during an CDS encounter compared to residents. CONCLUSION: There is variation in adoption of CDS tools across training levels. Attendings tended to accept the tool less but ordered more medications. CDS tools should be tailored to clinicians' training levels.

Users' guides to the medical literature: XXII: how to use articles about clinical decision rules. Evidence-Based Medicine Working Group.

Clinical experience provides clinicians with an intuitive sense of which findings on history, physical examination, and investigation are critical in making an accurate diagnosis, or an accurate assessment of a patient's fate. A clinical decision rule (CDR) is a clinical tool that quantifies the individual contributions that various components of the history, physical examination, and basic laboratory results make toward the diagnosis, prognosis, or likely response to treatment in a patient. Clinical decision rules attempt to formally test, simplify, and increase the accuracy of clinicians' diagnostic and prognostic assessments. Existing CDRs guide clinicians, establish pretest probability, provide screening tests for common problems, and estimate risk. Three steps are involved in the development and testing of a CDR: creation of the rule, testing or validating the rule, and assessing the impact of the rule on clinical behavior. Clinicians evaluating CDRs for possible clinical use should assess the following components: the method of derivation; the validation of the CDR to ensure that its repeated use leads to the same results; and its predictive power. We consider CDRs that have been validated in a new clinical setting to be level 1 CDRs and most appropriate for implementation. Level 1 CDRs have the potential to inform clinical judgment, to change clinical behavior, and to reduce unnecessary costs, while maintaining quality of care and patient satisfaction. JAMA. 2000;284:79-84