The temple vision in palliative care

Music-thanatology draws as much historical inspiration from the Asclepian ideal as it does from the practice of Cluniac monastic medicine. In both traditions, the patient initiates the social drama and is a most active agent in the healing process. In both traditions, the patient has the central voice and is listened to and responded to by the caregivers and clinicians, who facilitate and support in the spirit of service rather than direct/control. In both traditions, we may find death-bed healing without curing and be struck by the urgent, transcendental role of Beauty, as expressed in nature (human and elemental), the arts, architecture, and music. Clearly, our guest author envisions a profound end-of-life music-thanatology clinical practice in which the well-known, empirical Hippocratic and the lesser known, sacred Asclepian are integrated into the ideals of monastic medicine. In so doing, not only are pain and suffering uniquely met, but a blessed, peace-filled or conscious transitus may occur, and each death-bed setting has the potential to become nothing less than a sanctuary for completion.     

Ultrasound Gel as a Source of Hospital Outbreaks: Indian Experience and Literature Review

Purpose: Hospital outbreaks are observed increasingly worldwide with various organisms from different sources such as contaminated ultrasound gel, intravenous (IV) fluids and IV medications. Among these, ultrasound gel is one of the most commonly reported sources for Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc) outbreaks. In this study, we describe our experience on investigation and the management of Bcc bacteraemia outbreak due to contaminated ultrasound gel from a tertiary care centre, South India. Materials and Methods: Over a 10-day period in October 2016, seven children in our Paediatric intensive care unit (ICU) were found to have bacteraemia with Bcc isolated from their blood culture. Repeated isolation of the same organism with similar antimicrobial susceptibility pattern over a short incubation period from the same location, confirmed the outbreak. An active outbreak investigation, including environmental surveillance, was carried out to find the source and control the outbreak. Isolates were subjected to multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) and global eBURST (goeBURST) analysis. Results: Environmental surveillance revealed contaminated ultrasound gel as the source of infection. MLST and goeBURST analysis confirmed that the outbreak was caused by a novel sequence type 1362 with the same clonal complex CC517. The outbreak was controlled by stringent infection control measures, withdrawal of contaminated ultrasound gel from regular usage and implementing the practice of using ultrasonogram (USG) probe cover for USG screening and guided procedures. Conclusion: This report highlights the importance of early identification of an outbreak, prompt response of the ICU and infection control teams, sound environmental and epidemiological surveillance methods to identify the source and stringent infection control measures to control the outbreak. Contaminated ultrasound gel can be a potential source for healthcare-associated infection, which cannot be overlooked.     

Chryseomonas luteola identified as the source of serious infections in a Moroccan University Hospital

Chryseomonas luteola has only rarely been reported as a human bacterial pathogen. It has been shown that this organism in particular affects patients with health or indwelling disorders. Most reported cases showed septicemia, meningitis, endocarditis, or peritonitis. Two C. luteola infections observed in Morocco are described in the present study.     

Cervical precancerous lesions at the Tchibanga Regional Hospital and the University Hospital in Gabon in 2018: smartphone as a screening tool for diagnosis

BackgroundCervical precancerous lesions are disorders that can induce discolouration changes. Their detection is difficult in remote areas in the absence of adequate equipment. The objectives were to evaluate Smartphone performance in diagnosing cervical precancerous lesions in Tchibanga, Gabon.MethodsIt was an interventional cross-sectional study to evaluate the validity and reliability of the smartphone as a tool for diagnosing atypical changes in the cervix. Study period was between July 1, 2017 to February 28, 2018 at the Tchibanga Regional Hospital (CHRT) and the University Hospital (CHU). The variability between examiners was determined according to Cohen''s Kappa formula. The Gold standard test was the cytology.ResultsCompared to the examiner -1, the examiner - 2 found a high percentage of inflammations as atypical transformations : 15.3% versus 9%. With regard to smartphonic impressions, the examiner-1 found the normal impressions almost equal to that of the examiner-2, 72.9% versus 72.2%. The concordance between positive smartphonic impressions was 93.8% and 95.5% between negative smartphonic impressions, with k = 0.86.ConclusionIn view of the above, the concordance between positive and negative smart phonic impressions was 93.8 and 95.5% with k = 0.86. The performance parameters being good, there is a need to use the smartphone as a tool for the diagnosis of precancerous lesions.     

Hospital antibiogram: a necessity

The hospital antibiogram is a periodic summary of antimicrobial susceptibilities of local bacterial isolates submitted to the hospital's clinical microbiology laboratory. Antibiograms are often used by clinicians to assess local susceptibility rates, as an aid in selecting empiric antibiotic therapy, and in monitoring resistance trends over time within an institution. Antibiograms can also used to compare susceptibility rates across institutions and track resistance trends. Some hospitals have adequate support from the computer department to be able to extract data from their reporting module. The WHONET software can be freely downloaded and used for analysis. Consensus guidelines have been developed by the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) to standardise methods used in constructing antibiograms. These guidelines can be incorporated into the WHONET software for analysis. Only the first isolate from the patient is to be included in the analysis. The analysis should be done on the basis of patient location and specimen type. The percentage susceptibility of the most frequently isolated bacteria should be presented in the antibiogram, preferably in a tabular form. The antibiogram must be printed or put up in the intranet for easy access to all clinicians. Antibiotic policy is one of the mandatory requirements for accreditation, and making an antibiogram is the first step before framing the antibiotic policy. The future of antibiograms would be the incorporation of patient related data to make information more reliable and for predicting outbreaks.     

Occult hepatocellular carcinoma metastasising to the left temple diagnosed by fine-needle aspiration biopsy

Although hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is relatively rare in Western countries, it is one of the most prevalent cancers worldwide. Metastatic spread outside the liver is common and typically occurs in the setting of advanced disease. Metastatic disease is the initial presentation of HCC in less than 5% of cases and even fewer are diagnosed by cytology. We present the cytological findings in an 85-yr-old man of a soft tissue mass in the left temple, which suggested the diagnosis of an occult HCC. Fine-needle aspiration biopsy showed moderately cellular smears with large malignant epithelial cells present in fragments, with apposition of endothelial cells to the tumour cells. Deposits of non-refractile green pigment consistent with bile were present. Investigations revealed abnormal liver function tests, and a large mass replacing much of the liver. In view of the cytology and clinico-radiological correlation, a diagnosis of metastatic HCC was made.     

Development of the Korean Standardized Antimicrobial Administration Ratio as a Tool for Benchmarking Antimicrobial Use in Each Hospital

BackgroundThe Korea National Antimicrobial Use Analysis System (KONAS), a benchmarking system for antimicrobial use in hospitals, provides Korean Standardized Antimicrobial Administration Ratio (K-SAAR) for benchmarking. This article describes K-SAAR predictive models to enhance the understanding of K-SAAR, an important benchmarking strategy for antimicrobial usage in KONAS.MethodsWe obtained medical insurance claims data for all hospitalized patients aged ≥ 28 days in all secondary and tertiary care hospitals in South Korea (n = 347) from January 2019 to December 2019 from the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service. Modeling was performed to derive a prediction value for antimicrobial use in each institution, which corresponded to the denominator value for calculating K-SAAR. The prediction values of antimicrobial use were modeled separately for each category, for all inpatients and adult patients (aged ≥ 15 years), using stepwise negative binomial regression.ResultsThe final models for each antimicrobial category were adjusted for different significant risk factors. In the K-SAAR models of all aged patients as well as adult patients, most antimicrobial categories included the number of hospital beds and the number of operations as significant factors, while some antimicrobial categories included mean age for inpatients, hospital type, and the number of patients transferred from other hospitals as significant factors.ConclusionWe developed a model to predict antimicrobial use rates in Korean hospitals, and the model was used as the denominator of the K-SAAR.     

The psychological screening inventory as a predictor of predisposition to suicide among patients at the Oregon State Hospital

Examined all closed patient files for the inclusion of scores from the Psychological Screening Inventory (PSI) at the Oregon State Hospital between 1977-1979. Subsequently, the patient files (N = 123) were assessed for suicidal inclination employing five categories, which ranged from “no suicidal ideation” to “serious attempt.” t-tests were completed between Ss placed in category 1 (no suicidal ideation) and remaining categories. Results yielded a significant value for “discomfort,” with lower discomfort scores related to higher suicide risks. Subsequent extreme group analysis yielded significant but opposite results for males and females, which suggests the importance of evaluating the results of the PSI separately for sex.