Touch and massage for medically fragile infants.

Research investigating the efficacy of infant massage has largely focused on premature and low birth weight infants. The majority of investigations have neglected highly acute patients in academic neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). The current study was developed with two aims: (Phase 1) to develop, implement and demonstrate the feasibility and safety of a parent-trained compassionate touch/massage program for infants with complex medical conditions and (Phase 2) to conduct a longitudinal randomized control trial (RCT) of hand containment/massage versus standard of care in a level III academic Center for Newborn and Infant Critical Care (CNICC).

Chronic osteomyelitis: results obtained by an integrated team approach to management.

Background: The pathology of chronic osteomyelitis suggests that thorough debridement of bone and soft tissue, with closure of dead space, supported by appropriate antibiotics would be the optimal therapeutic strategy.

Methods: In 1993, we formed a multidisciplinary Bone Infection Team (orthopaedic surgeon, infectious diseases specialist, plastic surgeon, and nurse practitioner) to apply those principles to the treatment of chronic osteomyelitis. We present the outcomes of such therapy in 82 patients treated by the Team in the first seven years.

Assisting older adults to communicate their postoperative pain.

An intervention assisting older adults to communicate their pain was tested in a posttest-only experiment. Thirty-eight preoperative older adults were randomly assigned to a communication group watching a videotape about communicating and managing postoperative pain or a comparison group watching a videotape about managing postoperative pain only. Pain was measured on Postoperative Days 1 and 2, and 1 and 7 days after hospital discharge by a data collector blind to the condition.