Accuracy of the Surprise Question on an Inpatient Oncology Service: A Multidisciplinary Perspective.

The surprise question (SQ), "Would you be surprised if your patient died within a year?", has been studied in the cancer population as a prognostic prompt. Studies have almost exclusively directed the SQ to physicians, whereas perspectives of nurses remain underevaluated. We asked the SQ for patients admitted to an inpatient medical oncology service to medical oncology, palliative care, and hospital medicine teams and bedside nurses.

Sexual Health: Exploring Patient Needs and Healthcare Provider Comfort and Knowledge.

Background: Sexual health is an important quality-of-life issue for many cancer survivors; however, this issue remains inadequately discussed by healthcare providers (HCPs) and patients.

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to explore whether clinical oncology HCPs have adequate knowledge and are comfortable addressing sexual health issues, and to explore and describe patients' attitudes, beliefs, and informational needs regarding sexual health.

Methods: A survey was completed by HCPs and three patient focus groups were conducted to learn more about sexual health.

Distinct increased outliers among 136 rectal cancer patients assessed by γH2AX.

Background: In recent years attention has focused on γH2AX as a very sensitive double strand break indicator. It has been suggested that γH2AX might be able to predict individual radiosensitivity. Our aim was to study the induction and repair of DNA double strand breaks labelled by γH2AX in a large cohort.

Development of an intravenous skills module for graduate nurses.

Graduate nurses (GNs) are a major part of hospital recruitment. Forty-two percent of new hires are likely to be GNs. Many GNs feel ill prepared in intravenous (i.

Intradermal lidocaine or bacteriostatic normal saline to decrease pain before intravenous catheter insertion: a meta-analysis.

Purpose: Anesthetics used to decrease pain during peripheral intravenous catheter insertion have been studied with equivocal results. This meta-analysis determined if lidocaine or bacteriostatic normal saline (BaNS) is more effective in reducing pain associated with peripheral intravenous catheter cannulation in adults.

Methods: PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, ProQuest Dissertation and Theses, and Web of Science databases were queried.

PML-nuclear bodies decrease with age and their stress response is impaired in aged individuals.

Background: Promyelocytic leukemia nuclear bodies (PML-NBs) have been depicted as structures which are involved in processing cell damages and DNA double-strand break repairs. The study was designed to evaluate differences in patients' PML-NBs response to stress factors like a cancerous disease and ionizing radiation exposure dependent on age.

Methods: In order to clarify the role of PML-NBs in the aging process, we examined peripheral blood monocytes of 134 cancer patients and 41 healthy individuals between 22 and 92 years of age, both before and after in vitro irradiation.

The impact of dry versus moist heat on peripheral IV catheter insertion in a hematology-oncology outpatient population.

Purpose/objectives: To determine whether dry versus moist heat application to the upper extremity improves IV insertion rates.

Design: Two-group, randomized, controlled clinical design.

Setting: An academic cancer infusion center in the western United States.

Slow release antibiotics for treatment of septic arthritis in large animals.

The search for an effective treatment for septic arthritis is ongoing. Current therapies are expensive since they require repeated joint lavage and long term antibiotic treatment. Local application of antimicrobial drugs is advantageous because high concentrations can be attained at the infection site, although repeated injections increase the risk of superinfection of the joint.