Utilizing High-fidelity Simulators in Improving Trainee Confidence and Competency in Code Management.

Unlabelled: Simulation training is central in preparing practitioners for code management that is free from patient harm. The purpose of this study was to determine if using a high-fidelity simulator in pediatric code education would improve trainee confidence and competency compared with the use of a traditional mannequin in the same setting.

Methods: Fifty-third-year medical students participated in Pediatric Advanced Life Support code training, including a mock code scenario.

Addition of CORES to the I-PASS Handoff: A Resident-led Quality Improvement Study.

Unlabelled: Quality patient handoff is vital in patient care and attainable with structured handoff systems, such as the I-PASS mnemonic. This paper describes a continuous quality improvement study occurring after the implementation of the I-PASS handoff bundle. Our objectives were to (1) determine compliance with the inclusion of I-PASS elements during handoff and (2) determine whether the addition of CORES, an electronic tool that generates a patient list designed for use with I-PASS, would improve compliance and sustainability.

A perioperative multidisciplinary care bundle reduces surgical site infections in patients undergoing synchronous colorectal and liver resection.

Background: Surgical site infections (SSIs) are a major cause of morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs, and patients undergoing simultaneous colorectal/liver resections are at an especially high SSI risk.

Methods: Data were collected on all patients undergoing synchronous colorectal/liver resection from 2011 to 2016 (n = 424). The intervention, implemented in 2013, included 13 multidisciplinary perioperative components.

Association of Preoperative and Postoperative Serum Carcinoembryonic Antigen and Colon Cancer Outcome.

Importance: Guidelines recommend measuring preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in patients with colon cancer. Although persistently elevated CEA after surgery has been associated with increased risk for metastatic disease, prognostic significance of elevated preoperative CEA that normalized after resection is unknown.

Objective: To investigate whether patients with elevated preoperative CEA that normalizes after colon cancer resection have a higher risk of recurrence than patients with normal preoperative CEA.

Biomechanical Factors Associated With Pain and Symptoms Following Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury and Reconstruction.

Background: Few studies have investigated the associations between patient-reported outcome and gait in patients with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury and reconstruction over time. Because there is an association between ACL rupture and the presence of osteoarthritis later in life, a better understanding of these relationships will help to elucidate how patients' gait pattern may affect pain and symptoms, potentially leading to better treatment for or preventing the development of knee OA.

Objective: To evaluate the associations between gait characteristics and self-reported pain and symptoms before, 6 months after, and 1 year after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.

Quantification of bone marrow water and lipid composition in anterior cruciate ligament-injured and osteoarthritic knees using three-dimensional magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging.

Purpose: To quantitatively evaluate longitudinal changes in water and lipid in knee bone marrow with and without bone marrow edema-like lesions (BMELs) in subjects with acutely ruptured anterior cruciate ligaments (ACLs) or osteoarthritis (OA) using three-dimensional magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (3D MRSI).

Material And Methods: Ten ACL and 10 OA subjects who presented with BMEL and seven BMEL-free controls were scanned at 3T. All ACL and OA subjects had one-year follow-up scans.

Correlating high-resolution magic angle spinning NMR spectroscopy and gene analysis in osteoarthritic cartilage.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common multifactorial and heterogeneous degenerative joint disease, and biochemical changes in cartilage matrix occur during the early stages of OA before morphological changes occur. Thus, it is desired to measure regional biochemical changes in the joint. High-resolution magic angle spinning (HRMAS) NMR spectroscopy is a powerful method of observing cartilaginous biochemical changes ex vivo, including the concentrations of alanine and N-acetyl, which are markers of collagen and total proteoglycan content, respectively.

Abnormal tibial position is correlated to early degenerative changes one year following ACL reconstruction.

Altered knee kinematics following ACL reconstruction may predispose patients to the development of early onset post-traumatic osteoarthritis. The goal of our study was to examine the longitudinal interrelationship between altered tibial position relative to the femur and cartilage health measured by quantitative T1ρ MRI. Twenty-five patients with isolated unilateral ACL injury underwent kinematic and cartilage T1ρ MRI at baseline prior to ACL reconstruction and then at 1-year post-reconstruction.