Multisite Evaluation of Toothbrushes and Microbial Growth in the Hospital Setting.

Design: This observational, descriptive study was conducted to determine the prevalence of microbial growth on toothbrushes found in hospital patient rooms.

Methods: Toothbrush sampling was conducted in 136 acute care hospitals and medical centers from November 2018 through February 2022. Inclusion criteria for the units and patient rooms sampled were as follows: general adult medical-surgical units or critical care units; rooms occupied by adults 18 years or older who were capable of (1) mobilizing to the bathroom; (2) using a standard manual, bristled toothbrush; and (3) room did not have signage indicating isolation procedures.

Structural brain plasticity and inflammation are independently related to changes in depressive symptoms six months after an index ECT course.

Background: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is effective for treatment-resistant depression and leads to short-term structural brain changes and decreases in the inflammatory response. However, little is known about how brain structure and inflammation relate to the heterogeneity of treatment response in the months following an index ECT course.

Methods: A naturalistic six-month study following an index ECT course included 20 subjects with treatment-resistant depression.

Interleukin-8 and lower severity of depression in females, but not males, with treatment-resistant depression.

Introduction: In cross-sectional studies of depressed patients, relationships between depression and levels of IL-8 are inconsistent, and have not been examined in relation to sex. Given identified sex differences in longitudinal data, it is important to evaluate sex-specific cross-sectional relationships between IL-8 and depressive symptoms, which may explain some inconsistency in the extant literature. It is further unknown whether IL-8 levels may relate to specific symptom profiles among depressed patients, with or without regard to sex.

Depression treatment response to ketamine: sex-specific role of interleukin-8, but not other inflammatory markers.

Inflammation plays a role in depression pathophysiology and treatment response, with effects varying by sex and therapeutic modality. Lower levels of interleukin(IL)-8 predict depression response to antidepressant medication and to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), although ECT effects are specific to females. Whether IL-8 predicts depression response to ketamine and in a sex-specific manner is not known.

Non-Convulsive Status Epilepticus in the Presence of Catatonia: A Clinically Focused Review.

Introduction: Catatonia is classically associated with psychiatric conditions but may occur in medical and neurologic disorders. Status epilepticus (SE) is a seizure lasting more than five minutes or two or more seizures within a five-minute period without interictal recovery of consciousness. Non-convulsive status epilepticus (NCSE) is SE without prominent motor activity that may present with catatonic symptoms.

Neural Subtypes of Euthymic Bipolar I Disorder Characterized by Emotion Regulation Circuitry.

Background: Current diagnostic strategy for bipolar disorders relies on symptomological classification. Yet, responses to both pharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatments vary widely, suggesting that underlying neuropathological differences are not well defined by current nosology. Classifying patients with bipolar disorder based on emotion regulation network (ERN) activation may account for some of the heterogeneity within the disorder.

High-Risk Phenotypes of Early Psychiatric Readmission in Bipolar Disorder With Comorbid Medical Illness.

Background: Individuals with co-existing serious mental illness and non-psychiatric medical illness are at high risk of acute care utilization. Mining of electronic health record data can help identify and categorize predictors of psychiatric hospital readmission in this population.

Objective: This study aimed to identify modifiable predictors of psychiatric readmission among individuals with comorbid bipolar disorder and medical illness.

The Choosing Wisely Campaign for Nursing.

Ongoing efforts to identify and reduce the use of unnecessary tests and procedures.

Effects of Upper Extremity Immobilization and Use of a Spinner Knob on Vehicle Steering.

Background: A person's ability to safely drive while immobilized is not well defined. Steering ability with a spinner knob during immobilization is unknown. The goal of this study is to further clarify the effect of immobilization on steering reaction time and accuracy with and without a steering wheel spinner knob.

The Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program.

This column is designed to provide a nursing perspective on hospital quality measurements. Future articles will cover the various quality indicators hospitals face and the role of the nurse in meeting mandated benchmarks. Reader responses to this column are welcome and will help to make it more useful to nurses in meeting the challenges posed by health care reform and changing Medicare reimbursement programs.

The Design, Prototyping, and Formative Evaluation of an Assistive Robotic Table (ART) for Stroke Patients.

Objective: This article presents the results of an exploratory study in which 14 healthcare subject matter experts (H-SMEs) in addition to four research and design subject matter experts (RD-SMEs) at a regional rehabilitation hospital engaged in a series of complementary, participatory activities in order to design an assistive robotic table (ART).

Background: As designers, human factor experts, and healthcare professionals continue to work to integrate assistive human-robot technologies in healthcare, it is imperative to understand how the technology affects patient care from clinicians' perspectives.

Method: Fourteen clinical H-SMEs rated a subset of conceptual ART design ideas; participated in the iterative design process of ART; and evaluated a final cardboard prototype, the rehabilitation hospital's current over-the-bed table (OBT), an ART built with true materials, and two therapy surface prototypes.

Understanding Hospital Value-Based Purchasing.

This column is designed to provide a nursing perspective on new hospital quality measurements. Future articles will cover the various quality indicators hospitals face and the role of the nurse in meeting mandated benchmarks. Reader responses to this column are welcome and will help to make it more useful to nurses in meeting the challenges posed by health care reform and changing Medicare reimbursement programs.

An Exploration of the Nightstand and Over-the-Bed Table in an Inpatient Rehabilitation Hospital.

Objective: This study seeks to determine where patients in a rehabilitation hospital keep the greatest percentage of their belongings, that is, in/on the nightstand or on the over-the-bed table.

Background: This study provides an inventory of patient items located on the over-the-bed table and in/on the nightstand. Understanding the functions of furnishings within the patient room is key for future preparation for designing a next-generation over-the-bed table or for redesigning a more useful nightstand.

Confirming, Classifying, and Prioritizing Needed Over-the-Bed Table Improvements via Methodological Triangulation.

Objective: This article presents the results of a qualitative study that confirmed, classified, and prioritized user needs for the design of a more useful, usable, and actively assistive over-the-bed table.

Background: Manganelli et al. (2014) generated a list of 74 needs for use in developing an actively assistive over-the-bed table.

Prefrontal hypoactivation during working memory in bipolar II depression.

Background: Patterns of abnormal neural activation have been observed during working memory tasks in bipolar I depression, yet the neural changes associated with bipolar II depression have yet to be explored.

Method: An n-back working memory task was administered during a 3T functional magnetic resonance imaging scan in age- and gender-matched groups of 19 unmedicated, bipolar II depressed subjects and 19 healthy comparison subjects. Whole-brain and region-of-interest analyses were performed to determine regions of differential activation across memory-load conditions (0-, 1- and 2-back).

The new world of health care quality and measurement.

This column is designed to provide a nursing perspective on the new hospital quality measurements. Future articles will cover the various quality indicators hospitals face and the role of the nurse in meeting mandated benchmarks. Reader responses to this column are welcome and will help to make it more useful to nurses in meeting the challenges posed by health care reform and changing Medicare reimbursement programs.

Reducing hospital readmissions.

This column is designed to provide a nursing perspective on new hospital quality measurements. Future articles will cover the various quality indicators hospitals face and the role of the nurse in meeting mandated benchmarks. Reader responses to this column are welcome and will help to make it more useful to nurses in meeting the challenges posed by health care reform and changing Medicare reimbursement programs.

The reliability of a VISION COACH task as a measure of psychomotor skills.

The VISION COACH™ interactive light board is designed to test and enhance participants' psychomotor skills. The primary goal of this study was to examine the test-retest reliability of the Full Field 120 VISION COACH task. One hundred eleven male and 131 female adult participants completed six trials where they responded to 120 randomly distributed lights displayed on the VISION COACH interactive light board.