A mixed methods quality improvement study to implement nurse practitioner roles and improve care for residents in long-term care facilities.

Background: To better meet long-term care (LTC) residents' (patients in LTC) needs, nurse practitioners (NPs) were proposed as part of a quality improvement initiative. No research has been conducted in LTC in Québec Canada, where NP roles are new. We collected provider interviews, field notes and resident outcomes to identify how NPs in LTC influence care quality and inform the wider implementation of these roles in Québec.

Low-Intensity Exercise Training Increases Heart Rate Variability in Patients With Peripheral Artery Disease.

Patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD), consistent with others with atherosclerotic occlusive disorders, have autonomic dysfunction (as measured by low heart rate variability [HRV]) that predisposes them to sympathetically mediated cardiac arrhythmias and sudden death. Exercise therapy has been shown to increase HRV in patients with coronary artery disease by increasing parasympathetic modulation of heart rate. This study quantified the circulatory and autonomic effects of a progressive, 12-week home-based, low-intensity (pain-free walking) exercise program in PAD and intermittent claudication.

Implementing primary healthcare nurse practitioners in long-term care teams: A qualitative descriptive study.

Aim: To identify the conditions needed to implement nurse practitioners (NP) in long-term care (LTC) in Québec, Canada.

Design: A qualitative descriptive study was undertaken.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews (N = 91) and socio-demographic questionnaires were completed with providers and managers from May 2016-March 2017.

Establishing a multidisciplinary partnership integrating podiatric care into the Quebec public health-care system to improve diabetic foot outcomes: A retrospective cohort.

Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) are one of the main complications of diabetes affecting many Canadians that need to be effectively managed. There is limited data concerning outcomes of Canadian patients with DFUs treated with a team approach in the public health system. Podiatrists are known to be key members of a multidisciplinary team approach to DFUs management, but in Quebec, Canada, they are only available in private practice.

Influence of D,L-sotalol on baroreflex sensitivity response to posture following coronary artery bypass graft surgery in men and women.

Low baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) following coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery increases the risk of sympathetically mediated cardiac arrhythmias. To reduce this risk, D,L-sotalol, a nonselective β-adrenergic receptor antagonist (Class II) and an antiarrhythmic (Class III), is prescribed postoperatively. However, its effect on BRS has not been reported.