Publications by authors named "R Lewis Fernandez"
Introduction: There are limited reports on the epidemiology of paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admissions, deaths and organ donation candidacy. We aimed to describe PICU admission characteristics and outcomes, determine risk factors for mortality, and perform an independent assessment of missed organ donation opportunities.
Method: We adopted a clinical audit design recruiting consecutive patients admitted to a single-centre multidisciplinary PICU from June 2020 to December 2023.
Aim: This paper aims to explore the significance of umbrella reviews as a methodological advancement in evidence synthesis, emphasizing their role in aggregating data from multiple systematic reviews and their impact on evidence-based practice and policy-making.
Methods And Results: The paper examines the evolution of systematic reviews and meta-analyses, highlighting the emergence of umbrella reviews as a comprehensive synthesis method. It details the key steps involved in conducting an umbrella review, including literature searches, study selection, quality appraisal, and data synthesis.
Background: The Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies guidelines recommend the use of high-titer COVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP) for patients with SARS-CoV-2 at high risk of disease progression, including those who are immunocompromised. We hypothesized that conventional plasma units have comparable neutralizing antibody levels to CCP.
Study Design And Methods: Conventional plasma and CCP units were obtained from blood suppliers.
Objective: Current QI reports within the literature frequently fail to provide enough information regarding interventions, and a significant number of publications do not mention the utilization of a guiding model or framework. The objective of this scoping review was to synthesize the characteristics of hospital-based QI interventions and assess their alignment with recommended quality goals.
Methods: This scoping review followed the JBI methodology for scoping reviews to synthesize existing literature on hospital-based QI interventions and reporting using the PRISMA Extension for scoping reviews.
Background: Despite the use of Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) as the gold standard for the diagnosis of rare diseases, its clinical implementation has been challenging, limiting the cost-effectiveness of NGS and the understanding, control and safety essential for decision-making in clinical applications. Here, we describe a personalized NGS-based strategy integrating precision medicine into a public healthcare system and its implementation in the routine diagnosis process during a five-year pilot program.
Methods: Our approach involved customized probe designs, the generation of virtual panels and the development of a personalized medicine module (PMM) for variant prioritization.