A qualitative analysis of an advanced practice nurse-directed transitional care model intervention.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe barriers and facilitators to implementing a transitional care intervention for cognitively impaired older adults and their caregivers lead by advanced practice nurses (APNs).

Design And Methods: APNs implemented an evidence-based protocol to optimize transitions from hospital to home. An exploratory, qualitative directed content analysis examined 15 narrative case summaries written by APNs and fieldnotes from biweekly case conferences.

Radiotherapy for metastases to the mandible in children.

Purpose: We present a retrospective review of all children treated since 1979 at our institution with radiotherapy for symptomatic metastases that involve the mandible.

Patients And Methods: Nine children were treated with 1 or more courses of radiotherapy for symptomatic metastases that involve the mandible. Six children had a neuroblastoma, 1 had angiosarcoma of the liver, 1 had adenocarcinoma of the rectum, and 1 had peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumor (Ewing's sarcoma) of the spine.

Medical management of eosinophilic granuloma of the cervical spine.

We report a case of eosinophilic granuloma involving the vertebral bodies of the cervical spine in a 33-month-old girl. This lesion was diagnosed by needle biopsy and treated with prednisone and vinblastine therapy along with immobilization in a Minerva brace. The child has done well over a 9-month follow-up and has shown MRI evidence of resolution of the lesion, reestablishment of structural integrity within the cervical spine and potential reconstitution of the involved vertebral bodies.