Psoas Muscle Area as a Predictor of Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation Outcomes.

Background: Frailty is a well-recognised predictor of outcomes after transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). Psoas muscle area (PMA) is a surrogate marker for sarcopaenia and is a validated assessment tool for frailty. The objective of this study was to examine frailty as a predictor of outcomes in TAVI patients and assess the prognostic usefulness of adding PMA to established frailty assessments.

Supporting surgeons in patient-centred complex decision-making: a qualitative analysis of the impact of a perioperative physician clinic.

Objective: Patients with comorbidities can be referred to a physician-led high-risk clinic for medical optimisation prior to elective surgery at the discretion of the surgical consultant, but the factors that influence this referral are not well understood. The aims of this study were to understand the factors that influence a surgeon's decision to refer a patient to the clinic, and how the clinic impacts on the management of complex patients.

Design: Qualitative study using theoretical thematic analysis to analyse transcribed semi-structured interviews.

Strategies for implementing shared decision making in elective surgery by health care practitioners: A systematic review.

Rationale, Aims And Objectives: To summarize relevant international scientific evidence on strategies aimed at facilitating or improving health care practitioners' adoption of shared decision making in elective surgery. The review evaluated the effectiveness of these strategies and described the characteristics of identified strategies.

Method: A systematic search of the literature was conducted up to March 2019.

Frailty in geriatric head and neck cancer: A contemporary review.

Objective: To provide a summary of the current frailty literature relating to head and neck cancer.

Data Sources: Ovid MEDLINE, PubMed, Google Scholar.

Methods: A comprehensive review of the literature was performed from 2000 to 2017 using key words frailty, elderly, geriatric, surgery, otolaryngology, head and neck cancer.

Effectiveness of preoperative medical consultations by internal medicine physicians: a systematic review.

Objective: Clinics have been established to provide preoperative medical consultations, and enable the anaesthetist and surgeon to deliver the best surgical outcome for patients. However, there is uncertainty regarding the effect of such clinics on surgical, in-hospital and long-term outcomes. A systematic review of the literature was conducted to determine the effectiveness of preoperative medical consultations by internal medicine physicians for patients listed for elective surgery.

Strategies for implementing shared decision making in elective surgery by healthcare practitioners: a systematic review protocol.

The objectives of the review are to:Specifically, the review questions are.

A comparison of propensity score-based approaches to health service evaluation: a case study of a preoperative physician-led clinic for high-risk surgical patients.

Rationale, Aims And Objectives: A physician-led clinic for the preoperative optimization and management of high-risk surgical patients was implemented in a South Australian public hospital in 2008. This study aimed to estimate the costs and effects of the clinic using a mixed retrospective and prospective observational study design.

Method: Alternative propensity score estimation methods were applied to retrospective routinely collected administrative and clinical data, using weighted and matched cohorts.

Managing high-risk surgical patients: modifiable co-morbidities matter.

Background: There are a subset of potentially modifiable co-morbidities that may be targeted in the preoperative phase with a view to optimizing control and improving post-operative outcomes. This study aims to estimate the effect of potentially modifiable co-morbidities on post-operative outcomes and to identify potential targets for preoperative management.

Methods: Retrospective data on hospital separations in South Australia were analyzed using multiple regression to estimate the association between nine potentially modifiable co-morbidities and length of stay, post-operative complications and in-hospital mortality.

Sustainability of a pharmacist-driven pathway for osteoporosis-related fractures on an orthopaedic unit after a 5-year period.

Objectives: Diagnosis and management of osteoporosis in hospitals are poor. Effective medications for reducing fracture risk are often underutilised in hospital settings. Studies have shown that improvements in secondary prevention of osteoporosis can occur with the implementation of clinical pathways and are effective in improving the prescription for osteoporosis medications.

Dementia and relationships: experiences of partners in minority ethnic communities.

Aim: This article is a report of a study aimed at examining the experiences of partners of people with dementia in two minority ethnic communities.

Background: Cultural background is important in how people perceive the effects of dementia and respond to them. To date there has been little research on the experiences of minority ethnic partners in the U.

Information in dementia care: sense making and a public health direction for the UK?

Providing information is a core focus of policy and practice in dementia care. Information is a vehicle through which people can be enabled or disabled, so it is essential that we ensure that information is available in a way that is accessible and relevant for people with dementia and that it enables personal aspiration and collective identity to be advanced in a way that is to the benefit of those living with dementia. People with dementia need information to support autonomy in making decisions and in acting on those decisions.

National survey of speech and language therapy provision for people with Parkinson's disease in the United Kingdom: therapists' practices.

Background: Communication and swallowing changes feature prominently in Parkinson's disease. People with Parkinson's disease appear under-represented in speech-language therapy clinics in the United Kingdom. The nature of the speech-language therapy services in the UK to people with Parkinson's disease has not been examined.

Survey of speech and language therapy provision for people with Parkinson's disease in the United Kingdom: patients' and carers' perspectives.

Background: Communication and swallowing changes are prominent in Parkinson's disease, but there remains a lack of information regarding the experiences and expectations of people with Parkinson's disease in respect of speech-language therapy (SLT) services.

Aims: To conduct a survey of people with Parkinson's disease and their carers in the United Kingdom to elicit their views concerning communication and swallowing changes in Parkinson's disease and the support they envisage in helping with these changes.

Methods & Procedures: A national survey utilizing a questionnaire developed for the project, accessible by people with Parkinson's disease in web-based, e-mail or paper forms.

Reframing risk management in dementia care through collaborative learning.

Risk management is a complex aspect of practice which can lead to an emphasis on maintaining physical safety, which impacts on the well-being of people with dementia. Education for practitioners in risk management is particularly challenging because of its conceptual nature and diverse perceptions of risk between and within professional groups. The practice development research reported here formed one part of a multisite study and contributed to developing a risk assessment and management framework for use by practitioners in partnership with people with dementia and their families.

Risk management dilemmas in dementia care: an organizational survey in three UK countries.

Aims and objectives.  The overall project aimed to understand the variability of the construction of risk in dementia care from the perspective of the person with dementia, family carers and practitioners with the intention of developing negotiated partnerships in risk management. This paper focuses on the objective of identifying the understandings of risk by practitioners.

An exploration of German and British physiotherapists' views on the effects of hippotherapy and their measurement.

Hippotherapy (Greek hippos = horse) is a specialised physiotherapy treatment that makes use of the horses' unique three-dimensional movement impulses at a walk to facilitate movement responses in patients sitting on the horse's back (Strauss, 2000). Despite a substantial body of anecdotal and clinical evidence for its benefits, research evidence for hippotherapy is sparse. This questionnaire survey was the first study in a series of investigations exploring the views of physiotherapists and people with cerebral palsy who use hippotherapy.