BACKGROUND: Inappropriate testing for Clostridiodes difficile infection (CDI) increases health care onset cases and contributes to overdiagnosis and overtreatment of patients in a community health care system.
METHODS: An electronic smart order set for the testing of CDI was created and implemented to improve the appropriateness of testing. A retrospective review of patients who were tested for CDI, pre and post, was conducted to determine if inappropriate stool testing for CDI decreased post-implementation of the order set.
RESULTS: 224 patients were tested for CDI during the study period with the post-implementation period having a higher proportion of patients who met appropriate testing criteria defined by presence of diarrhea (80.5% vs 61.3%; P = .002). The rate of inappropriate CDI stool testing decreased from 31.1% to 11.0% after implementation (P < .001). A higher proportion of CDI patients were readmitted within 30 days of discharge (54.2% vs 33.0%; P = 0.001) during the post-implementation period.
CONCLUSIONS: There was a significant reduction in inappropriate CDI testing following the implementation of the order set. There was an observed increase in the proportion of patients who underwent recent gastrointestinal surgery which may have contributed to the increase in 30-day readmission rates during the post-implementation period.

UNASSIGNED: Determine the reliability of three different methods of evaluating bone shortening in displaced midshaft clavicle fractures (DCMF).
UNASSIGNED: A cross-sectional analytical study evaluated bone shortening by metric tape (MT), radiography (X-ray), and computed tomography (CT). Twenty-six men had been evaluated and used clavícula not broken as control. The collection of data was of the blind type for three specialists. Differences and reliability were analyzed with the Friedman and Kappa tests and validated with the T-test (CI: 95%; significance index p<0.05; Software \"R\" version 3.2.2).
UNASSIGNED: The MT measurements (control) showed abnormal distribution and significant statistical difference concerning the imaging tests (p=0.000008). There was a similarity between X-ray and CT and Kappa agreement of 0.65. The fractured clavicles presented similar measurements between the three methods (p=0.059), and the T-tests proved that the similarity was caused by chance or possible measurement errors.
UNASSIGNED: Measurement by metric tape showed a tendency to overestimate bone shortening. The CT showed more reliable results for the diagnosis; however, the X-ray was sufficient for decision-making by surgeons, and therefore, it is not possible to rule out the importance of this resource for DCMF. Level of Evidence IV; Case-Control Study.
UNASSIGNED: Determinar a confiabilidade de três diferentes métodos de avaliação do encurtamento ósseo em fraturas deslocadas do eixo médio da clavícula (FDEMC).
UNASSIGNED: Estudo analítico transversal que avaliou o encurtamento ósseo por fita métrica (FM), radiografia (X-Ray) e tomografia computadorizada (TC). Foram avaliados 26 homens utilizando a clavícula não fraturada como controle. A coleta de dados foi do tipo cega por três especialistas. As diferenças e a confiabilidade foram analisadas com os testes de Friedman e Kappa e validados com o teste T (IC:95%; índice de significância p<0,05; Software \"R\" versão 3.2.2).
UNASSIGNED: As medidas de FM (controle), apresentaram distribuição anormal e diferença estatísfica significativa em relação aos exames de imagem (p=0,000008). Houve semelhança entre radiografia e TC, concordância Kappa 0,65. As clavículas fraturadas apresentaram medidas semelhantes entre os três métodos (p=0,059) e os testes-T comprovaram que a semelhança foi provocada casualmente ou possíveis erros de medição.
UNASSIGNED: A medição por fita métrica apresentou tendência em superestimação do encurtamento ósseo. A TC apresentou resultados mais confiáveis para o diagnóstico, contudo, a radiografia foi suficiente para tomada de decisão dos cirurgiões e por isso, não é possível descartar a importância deste recurso para FDEMC. Nível de Evidência IV; Estudo Caso Controle.

The evaluation and care of an injured scuba diver requires an understanding of the different types of underwater activities that may be deemed scuba diving. Such activities may range from the complex (eg, commercial or technical diving) all the way up to basic recreational scuba or snorkeling. A thorough physical examination should be completed as early as possible with a focus on specific areas at risk for injury and etiology, such as a detailed cardiopulmonary, skin, and neurologic examination. Serial reassessments and supportive care are as equally important as consultation with a dive medicine expert, especially one with hyperbaric capabilities.

Alzheimer\'s disease (AD) and AD-related dementias (AD/ADRD) are a group of progressive neurodegenerative diseases. The progression of AD can be conceptualized as a continuum in which patients progress from normal cognition to preclinical AD (i.e., no symptoms but biological changes in the brain) to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to AD (i.e., mild symptoms but not interfere with daily activities), followed by increasing severity of dementia due to AD. Early detection and prediction models for the transition of MCI to AD/ADRD are needed, and efforts have been made to build predictions of MCI conversion to AD/ADRD. However, most existing studies developing such prediction models did not consider the competing risks of death, which may result in biased risk estimates. In this study, we aim to develop a prediction model for AD/ADRD among patients with MCI considering the competing risks of death using a semi-competing risk approach.

BACKGROUND: Recent studies indicate that using combination of two or more clinical tests for detecting meniscal tear gets a higher sensitivity and specificity than any clinical test performed individually.
METHODS: The study involved 84 participants who were divided into two groups: the \"OP group\" consisting of participants diagnosed with a meniscal tear and who consequently underwent arthroscopic meniscectomy, and the \"CN group\" comprising of healthy participants with no history of knee injury. Two independent observers (orthopedic surgeons) recorded the results of six clinical tests: Thessaly Test, joint line tenderness, McMurray Test, Ege Test, Steinmann I Test, and atrophy of the thigh muscles. The tests were grouped into two combinations of three tests each. The first combination included Thessaly Test, joint line tenderness and McMurray Test, while the second combination comprised of remaining three tests. Cochran\'s Q Test was used to calculate interobserver variability for both combinations of clinical tests and for each test performed individually.
RESULTS: First combination of three clinical tests when considering the combination positive if two tests are positive had high sensitivity of 95%, specificity of 90.9%, and an overall accuracy of 92.9%. Furthermore, when compared to clinical tests performed individually, the combination demonstrated superior results.
CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that using a combination of three clinical tests for detection of meniscal tear (Thessaly Test, joint line tenderness, McMurray Test), when considering the combination positive if two tests are positive, has greater accuracy than six clinical tests performed individually. There were no statistically significant differences between observers.

BACKGROUND: Increased workload, including workload related to electronic health record (EHR) documentation, is reported as a main contributor to nurse burnout and adversely affects patient safety and nurse satisfaction. Traditional methods for workload analysis are either administrative measures (such as the nurse-patient ratio) that do not represent actual nursing care or are subjective and limited to snapshots of care (eg, time-motion studies). Observing care and testing workflow changes in real time can be obstructive to clinical care. An examination of EHR interactions using EHR audit logs could provide a scalable, unobtrusive way to quantify the nursing workload, at least to the extent that nursing work is represented in EHR documentation. EHR audit logs are extremely complex; however, simple analytical methods cannot discover complex temporal patterns, requiring use of state-of-the-art temporal data-mining approaches. To effectively use these approaches, it is necessary to structure the raw audit logs into a consistent and scalable logical data model that can be consumed by machine learning (ML) algorithms.
OBJECTIVE: We aimed to conceptualize a logical data model for nurse-EHR interactions that would support the future development of temporal ML models based on EHR audit log data.
METHODS: We conducted a preliminary review of EHR audit logs to understand the types of nursing-specific data captured. Using concepts derived from the literature and our previous experience studying temporal patterns in biomedical data, we formulated a logical data model that can describe nurse-EHR interactions, the nurse-intrinsic and situational characteristics that may influence those interactions, and outcomes of relevance to the nursing workload in a scalable and extensible manner.
RESULTS: We describe the data structure and concepts from EHR audit log data associated with nursing workload as a logical data model named RNteract. We conceptually demonstrate how using this logical data model could support temporal unsupervised ML and state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (AI) methods for predictive modeling.
CONCLUSIONS: The RNteract logical data model appears capable of supporting a variety of AI-based systems and should be generalizable to any type of EHR system or health care setting. Quantitatively identifying and analyzing temporal patterns of nurse-EHR interactions is foundational for developing interventions that support the nursing documentation workload and address nurse burnout.

Nitrous oxide is used medically as an anesthetic agent; in the food industry as a propellant for condiments; and recreationally for its euphoric and dissociative effects. We report three cases of nitrous oxide misuse causing severe, symptomatic cobalamin (vitamin B12) deficiency in which signs of nitrous oxide use per se, as well as signs of toxicity, were observed, including characteristic palmar calluses over the metacarpal heads, and frostbite. These signs may assist clinicians in the recognition of nitrous oxide use and the timely diagnosis of nitrous oxide toxicity.

UNASSIGNED: Growing cyberattacks have made it more challenging to maintain healthcare information system (HIS) security in medical institutes, especially for hospitals that provide patient portals to access patient information, such as electronic health record (EHR).
UNASSIGNED: This work aims to evaluate the patient portal security risk of Taiwan\'s EEC (EMR Exchange Center) member hospitals and analyze the association between patient portal security, hospital location, contract category and hospital type.
UNASSIGNED: We first collected the basic information of EEC member hospitals, including hospital location, contract category and hospital type. Then, the patient portal security of individual hospitals was evaluated by a well-known vulnerability scanner, UPGUARD, to assess website if vulnerable to high-level attacks such as denial of service attacks or ransomware attacks. Based on their UPSCAN scores, hospitals were classified into four security ratings: absolute low risk, low to medium risk, medium to high risk and high risk. Finally, the associations between security rating, contract category and hospital type were analyzed using chi-square tests.
UNASSIGNED: We surveyed a total of 373 EEC member hospitals. Among them, 20 hospital patient portals were rated as \"absolute low risk\", 104 hospital patient portals as \"low to medium risk\", 99 hospital patient portals as \"medium to high risk\" and 150 hospital patient portals as \"high risk\". Further investigation revealed that the patient portal security of EEC member hospitals was significantly associated with the contract category and hospital type (P<0.001).
UNASSIGNED: The analysis results showed that large-scale hospitals generally had higher security levels, implying that the security of low-tier and small-scale hospitals may warrant reinforcement or strengthening. We suggest that hospitals should pay attention to the security risk assessment of their patient portals to preserve patient information privacy.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the quality of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ)-induced retinopathy screening at a Canadian tertiary center, we concentrate on risk factor documentation within the electronic health record, in accordance with the 2016 AAO guidelines.
METHODS: We performed a retrospective quality assessment study based on chart review of patients who underwent screening for HCQ-induced retinopathy at the Centre Hospitalier de l\'Université de Montréal (CHUM) from 2016 to 2019. We evaluated four key risk factors for HCQ-induced retinopathy: daily dose, duration of use, renal disease, and tamoxifen use, using a three-tier grading system (ideal, adequate, inadequate) for documentation assessment. Pareto and root cause analyses were conducted to identify potential improvement solutions.
RESULTS: Documentation quality varied in our study: daily dosage was 33% ideal, 31% appropriate, and 36% inappropriate. Duration of use documentation was 75% ideal, 2% adequate, and 24% inadequate. Renal disease documentation was only 6% ideal, with 62% adequate and 32% of charts lacking any past medical history. Among women\'s charts, tamoxifen use wasn\'t documented at all, with 65% adequately documenting medication lists. Pareto analysis indicated that improving renal disease and tamoxifen documentation could reduce 64% of non-ideal records, and enhancing daily dose documentation could decrease this by up to 90%.
CONCLUSIONS: Accurate documentation of key risk factors is critical for HCQ-induced retinopathy screening, impacting both exam initiation and frequency. Our study identifies potential improvements in the screening process at the hospital, referring physician, and ophthalmologist levels. Implementing integrated pathways could enhance patient experience and screening effectiveness.

BACKGROUND: Children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) show deviations in motor development and motor skills in early childhood where the learning and execution of coordinated motor skills are below the level expected for their age. Early detection of DCD is critical to provide an opportunity for intervention and support, yet many cases remain undetected until school age. The study described aims to determine the warranty, feasibility and validity of a mobility screening in Tyrolean kindergartens and evaluate its potential benefit to enhance the motor development prospects of affected children.
METHODS: This research employs a two-stage cross-sectional approach with 6 months of follow-up assessments. The initial stage involves a playful mobility screening for all participating kindergarten children, followed by individual assessments for those displaying conspicuous motor skills. Motor skills will be evaluated using MobiScreen 4-6 and the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2. Prior to the screening, informed consent is obtained from kindergarten bodies and authorities, parents and the children themselves. Parents are provided with information sheets and questionnaires to assess their attitudes and their child\'s eligibility. The study described aims to form a representative sample of kindergarten children, aged 4-6, in Tyrol. To target approximately 20-40 children with DCD for follow-up, the goal is to include 650 children, assuming an incidence of 3%-6%. For the follow-up, matching control groups will be formed and information about how identified motor deficits were addressed, including therapies or sports, will be gathered. Quantitative data will mainly be analysed descriptively, while feedback from kindergarten teachers regarding the practical implementation will be analysed using qualitative content analyses, according to Mayring.
BACKGROUND: The study has been approved by the Research Committee for Scientific Ethical Questions (RCSEQ 3369/24). Findings will be disseminated through contributions, peer-reviewed journals, and conferences.