Publications by authors named "Ricard Casadevall"
Article Synopsis
- The study focused on establishing continuous reference intervals for cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers homovanillic acid (HVA) and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), which are important for diagnosing neurological diseases related to dopamine and serotonin.
- Utilizing data from a large cohort of pediatric patients, researchers created age-specific models to define these intervals more accurately, addressing the issue of not having healthy control groups.
- The results showed that the continuous reference intervals reduced the number of secondary deficiencies identified and found no significant links between HVA and 5-HIAA levels and the effects of antiepileptic or neuroleptic medications, indicating that these biomarkers may not always correlate with neurological disorders.
Bureaucratic and administrative tasks associated with health care provision have historically fallen on health care professionals, which is one among the factors contributing to low job satisfaction and lower productivity. Incorporating new professional roles that help to better respond to the needs of both patients and professionals can increase the quality and efficiency of service provision. This article aims to evaluate the impact of the clinical assistant's introduction in the Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona Children's Hospital's pediatric oncology department, in terms of (i) displacement of activity loads carried out by this new professional role and the consequent time freed up for physicians, (ii) physicians' satisfaction and (iii) efficiency of the new care model.
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