Septic Polyarthritis by Staphylococcus aureus of "Unknown Origin".

ABSTRACT: More than 90% of septic arthritis cases are monoarticular. Joint infection can occur through several mechanisms such as hematogenous dissemination, by contiguity from adjacent infected soft tissue, surgical contamination, direct inoculation, or joint trauma.We report the case of a 69-year-old man admitted to our hospital with septic polyarthritis. The presented case is remarkable given its atypical presentation. The patient had no known risk factors for septic arthritis, comorbidities, or history of recurrent infections that could suggest some degree of immunosuppression. The atypical polyarticular involvement at presentation, the absence of sustained fever, and the good general condition of the patient delayed the diagnosis and treatment.

Physician-patient agreement at a rheumatology consultation - construction and validation of a consultation assessment instrument.

OBJECTIVES: After consultations, the physician's perceptions differ from the patient's perceptions concerning illness level, cause, and nature of the problem and content of the consultation. Agreement on problems requiring follow-up was associated with a better outcome. The primary aim of this study was to build and validate an instrument that could assess physician-patient agreement in the rheumatology consultation. The secondary objective was to assess agreement association with patient's clinical and sociodemographic data. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A ten-item questionnaire - "Consultation Assessment Instrument" (CAI) - was developed for this study to assess the physician-patient agreement. Ten physicians and 102 patients diagnosed with an inflammatory joint disease under biological therapy were included. The items were evaluated and the index of proportional agreement for the dichotomized answers "agree" (Ppos) and "disagree" (Pneg) was calculated. RESULTS: Consultation satisfaction was the item with the highest agreement. On the opposite end, the item about the explanation of treatment importance was the item with the lowest agreement between patient and physician. Except for one item, the high level of agreement between patient and physician was due to a higher Ppos. Index of proportional agreement was high for 9 of the 10 items (0.816≤ Iv ≤0.990). Patients with lower disease activity scores had a more positive experience. A good internal consistency was obtained for both patient's and physician's questionnaire (α = 0.88 and α = 0.80, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Both patient and physician showed a positive experience towards Rheumatology consultation. Physician-patient agreement was high in the majority of the consultation aspects (mean Iv = 0,93). A good internal consistency was obtained for both patient's and physician's questionnaire. CAI could be useful as a mental checklist in daily practice or as an educational tool for training consultation skills.

Septic arthritis: a 5-year review of admissions to the Orthopedic Department.

OBJECTIVES: Characterization of sociodemographic and clinical aspects of patients admitted to the Orthopedic Department (OD) after observation in the Emergency Room (ER) with the diagnosis of septic arthritis (SA). MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective, monocentric, cross-sectional study was conducted. Sociodemographic and clinical data on patients admitted to the OD with suspected SA between April 2014 and September 2019 were collected. RESULTS: One-hundred and ten patients were included. In the overall sample, most patients were male (n=61; 55.5%) with a median age of 70 (IQR=20) years old. Thirty-six patients (32.7%) had a previous history of hyperuricemia or gout, or had this diagnosis established at the time of their hospital admission. Monoarthritis was the most common form of presentation (n=106; 96.4%), with the knee being the most frequently involved joint (n=60; 54.5%). S. aureus was the most representative microorganism in synovial fluid (SF) cultures (n=33; 30.6%). SF cultures did not allow the identification of a causative microorganism in 53 cases submitted to arthrotomy (50.5%). Serum C-reactive protein (CRP) was a predictive factor for microorganism identification in SF cultures, with values ≥ 17.6 mg/dl presenting a sensibility and specificity of 60.8% and 77.4%, respectively [CI 95% (0.52 - 0.80)]. Patients with a diagnosis of hyperuricemia or gout presented a higher risk for a negative SF culture result (OR = 4.7 [CI 95% =1.9 - 11.5]). CONCLUSIONS: Elderly subjects with multiple comorbidities, namely cardiovascular risk factors, seem more prone to SA. Serum CRP appears to be a predictive factor for the identification of a causative microorganism. The higher risk of a negative SF culture in patients with hyperuricemia or gout should alert us for the possibility of misdiagnosis of SA in patients with an acute gout attack.

Positive affect as a predictor of adherence in patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis.

The study was conducted in order to investigate adherence in patients with Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), correlating it with other variables such as affect and self-esteem. Seventy-eight patients with RA between 20 and 81 years of age were evaluated. Patients were assessed for Medical Outcomes Study (MOS) Measures of Patient Adherence, Rosenberg self-esteem scale and Short Portuguese version of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to assess the correlation between the therapeutic compliance and age, disease activity, disability, GPA, self-esteem, affect and inflammatory parameters. An independent T-test was used to evaluate differences in adherence within gender. The one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine associations between adherence and marital status, education level and employment status. A linear regression model was adjusted with stepwise data entry to determine predictors of therapeutic compliance. Patients had a mean age of 57 years and disease duration of 12.8 years. We observed higher levels of adherence in patients with higher self-esteem (r= 0.343, p<0.05) and positive affect (r= 0.345, p<0.01). The adjusted linear regression model allowed the identification of positive affect as a RA patient's adherence predictor (R = 0.347, p<0.05). In our study, high levels of self-reported adherence in RA patients were found. Positive affect seems to be an important determinant of therapeutic adherence in RA patients. These results suggest a relevant role of psychosocial aspects in therapeutic compliance and outcome, which should alert physicians to the need of an holistic approach of the patient.

[Anxiety in clinical settings: constructing a scale for medical students]. / Ansiedade em Meio Clínico: Construção de uma Escala para Estudantes de Medicina.

INTRODUCTION: The Scale of Anxiety in Clinical Setting (SACS) was constructed to assess the level of anxiety of medical students when exposed to the clinical setting and also to identify what situations are more likely to trigger higher levels of anxiety in that context. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This instrument consists of 12 items and was constructed on the basis of the review of the literature on the topic of anxiety in clinical setting, and data from a focus group conducted with students between the 1st and the 5th year of the Medical course at University of Beira Interior (n = 10). The Scale of Anxiety in Clinical Setting psychometric properties were tested through a study with 557 medical students of four Portuguese universities, between the 1st and the 6th year. RESULTS: The Scale of Anxiety in Clinical Setting validation included the analysis of three key parameters: sensitivity, reliability and factorial validity, the last resulting in four factors: 'displeasure before invasive procedures', 'anxiety toward the sick', 'anxiety about performance' and 'anxiety toward the human dimension' with 70.6% of the variance explained. DISCUSSION: Total Scale of Anxiety in Clinical Setting shows a good internal consistency (Cronbach's Alpha = 0.84) and a good discriminatory ability, presenting as a consistent and reliable instrument for the assessment of anxiety in medical students when exposed to the clinical setting. CONCLUSION: The Scale of Anxiety in Clinical Setting evaluates the anxiety in medical students when exposed to the clinical setting and may be useful in the delineation of teaching strategies for the preparation of future doctors.

IntroduçÉo: A Escala de Ansiedade em Meio Clínico foi construída para avaliar o nível de ansiedade dos estudantes de Medicina quando expostos ao meio clínico e identificar quais as situações mais propensas a desencadear maior nível de ansiedade nesse contexto.Material e Métodos: Este instrumento é constituído por doze itens e foi construído tendo por base a revisÉo da literatura sobre a temática da ansiedade em meio clínico e os dados provenientes de um focus group realizado com estudantes entre o 1'º e o 5'º ano do curso de Medicina da Universidade da Beira Interior (n = 10). As suas propriedades psicométricas foram testadas mediante um estudo com 557 alunos do curso de Medicina de quatro universidades portuguesas, entre o 1'º e o 6'º ano.Resultados: A validaçÉo da Escala de Ansiedade em Meio Clínico contemplou a análise de três par'metros principais: sensibilidade, fiabilidade e análise da estrutura fatorial, sendo que a última resultou na obtençÉo de quatro factores: 'Incómodo perante procedimentos invasivos', 'Ansiedade face ao doente', 'Ansiedade face ao desempenho' e 'Ansiedade face à dimensÉo humana' com 70,6% da vari'ncia explicada.DiscussÉo: A Escala de Ansiedade em Meio Clínico total demonstra uma boa coerência interna (Alpha de Cronbach = 0,84) e boa capacidade de discriminaçÉo de sujeitos, apresentando-se, assim, como instrumento consistente e fiável para a avaliaçÉo de ansiedade nos estudantes de Medicina quando expostos ao meio clínico.ConclusÉo: A Escala de Ansiedade em Meio Clínico permite avaliar a ansiedade nos estudantes de Medicina quando expostos ao meio clínico e poderá vir a ser útil na delineaçÉo de estratégias de ensino para a preparaçÉo dos futuros médicos.