Timely administration of tocilizumab improves outcome of hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of early tocilizumab treatment for hospitalized patients with COVID-19 disease.

Methods: Open-label randomized phase II clinical trial investigating tocilizumab in patients with proven COVID-19 admitted to the general ward and in need of supplemental oxygen. The primary endpoint of the study was 30-day mortality with a prespecified 2-sided significance level of α = 0.

The role of the emotive, moral, and cognitive components for the prediction of medical students' empathic behavior in an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE).

Objectives: Investigate whether medical students' emotive abilities, attitudes, and cognitive empathic professional abilities predict empathic behavior in an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE).

Methods: Linear and multiple regressions were used to test concurrent validity between Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE-S), Situational Judgement Test (SJT-expert-based score (SJT-ES), SJT-theory-based score (SJT-TS)) and empathic behavior in an OSCE measured by Berlin Global Rating (BGR) and Verona Coding Definitions for Emotion Sequences (VR-CoDES).

Results: Highest amounts of explained variance of empathic behavior measured by VR-CoDES were found for the SJT-ES (R2 = 0.

Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment Short Form better predicts length of stay than Short Nutritional Assessment Questionnaire.

Objective: Malnutrition screening instruments used in hospitals mainly include criteria to identify characteristics of malnutrition. However, to tackle malnutrition in an early stage, identifying risk factors for malnutrition in addition to characteristics may be valuable. The aim of this study was to determine the predictive validity of the Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA SF), which addresses malnutrition characteristics and risk factors, and the Short Nutritional Assessment Questionnaire (SNAQ), which addresses mainly malnutrition characteristics, for length of stay (LOS) in a mixed hospital population.

Development and piloting of a Situational Judgement Test for emotion-handling skills using the Verona Coding Definitions of Emotional Sequences (VR-CoDES).

Objective: Emotion-handling skills are key components for interpersonal communication by medical professionals. The Verona Coding Definitions of Emotional Sequences (VR-CoDES) appears useful to develop a Situational Judgment Test (SJT) for assessing emotion-handling skills.

Methods: In phase 1 we used a multi-stage process with expert panels (n = 16; n = 8; n = 20) to develop 12 case vignettes.

Patterns of practice in palliative radiotherapy for bleeding tumours in the Netherlands; a survey study among radiation oncologists.

Background And Purpose: Palliative radiotherapy (RT) is one of the treatment options for bleeding tumours; a frequent symptom in patients with advanced cancer. The optimal RT schedule is however unclear. This study explores the current pattern of practice of palliative RT for bleeding tumours in the Netherlands.