Biomedical subjects

Sarah Thompson

Publications and source records attributed to Sarah Thompson.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Non-normal path analysis in the presence of measurement error and missing data: a Bayesian analysis of nursing homes' structure and outcomes.

Path analytic models are useful tools in quantitative nursing research. They allow researchers to hypothesize causal inferential paths and test the significance of these paths both directly and indirectly through a mediating variable. A standard statistical method in the path analysis literature is to treat the variables as having a normal distribution and to estimate paths using several least squares regression equations. The parameters corresponding to the direct paths have point and interval estimates based on normal distribution theory. Indirect paths are a product of the direct path from the independent variable to the mediating variable and the direct path of the mediating variable to the dependent variable. However, in the case of non-normal distributions, the point and interval estimates of the indirect path become much more difficult to estimate. We address the issue of calculating indirect point and interval estimates in the case of non-normally distributed data. Our substantive application is a nursing home research problem in which the variables in the path analysis of interest involve variables with normal, Bernoulli, or Poisson distributions. Additionally, one of the Poisson variables is observed with error. This paper addresses estimating point and interval estimation of indirect paths for variables with non-normal distributions in the presence of missing data and measurement error. We handle these difficulties from a fully Bayesian point of view. We present our substantive path analysis motivated from a nursing home structure, process, and outcomes model. Our results focus on the impact job turnover in the nursing homes has on nursing home outcomes.

Data Interpretation, Statistical↗

PubMed2006

Inter-rater reliability of nursing home surveys: a Bayesian latent class approach.

In the U.S., federal and state governments perform routine inspections of nursing homes. Results of the inspections allow government to generate fines for findings of non-compliance as well as allow consumers to rank facilities. The purpose of this study is to investigate the inter-rater reliability of the nursing home survey process. In general, the survey data involves 191 binary deficiency variables interpreted as 'deficient' or 'non-deficient'. To reduce the dimensionality of the problem, our proposed method involves two steps. First, we reduce the deficiency categories to sub-categories using previous nursing home studies. Second, looking at the State of Kansas specifically, we take the deficiency data from 1 year, and use Bayesian latent class analysis (LCA) to collapse the sub-categories to a binary variable. We evaluate inter-rater agreement using deficiency data from two separate survey teams on one facility, a matched-pair design. We evaluate the agreement of the two raters on binary data using the weights from the LCA. This allows a two-by-two contingency analysis using a Bayesian beta-binomial model. We elicit informative prior distributions from the nursing home providers. Together, with the experimental data, this provides a posterior distribution of the kappa agreement of the raters for nursing home deficiency citation data.

Bayes Theorem↗

PubMed2006

Postzygotic mutation and germline mosaicism in the otopalatodigital syndrome spectrum disorders.

The otopalatodigital syndrome (OPD) spectrum disorders are a heterogeneous group of skeletal dysplasias caused by mutations in the X-linked gene, FLNA. All OPD spectrum disorders (otopalatodigital syndromes types 1 and 2, frontometaphyseal dysplasia and Melnick-Needles syndrome) exhibit significant interfamilial variability in their expressivity, especially in female subjects. Factors contributing to this may include allelic heterogeneity, variation in the degree of skewing of X inactivation or, conceivably, mosaicism for the underlying causative mutation. We report here monozygotic twin sisters who are discordant for the severe phenotype, Melnick-Needles syndrome, associated with the heterozygous mutation, 3596C>T. We also describe two brothers with otopalatodigital syndrome type 1 due to the FLNA mutation 620G>A. The mutation is not detectable in the blood leucocytes of their clinically unaffected mother, indicating that she is a germline mosaic for the condition. The description of somatic mutations and germline mosaicism in FLNA has implications for clinical and molecular diagnosis, phenotypic expression and genetic counseling of families with these disorders.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Reliability of the nursing home survey process: a simultaneous survey approach.

PURPOSE: We designed this study to examine the reliability of the nursing home survey process in the state of Kansas using regular and simultaneous survey teams. In particular, the study examined how two survey teams exposed to the same information at the same time differed in their interpretations. DESIGN AND METHODS: The protocol for simultaneous surveys consists of having one in-region and one out-of-region team survey a facility together. RESULTS: The regular and simultaneous survey teams generally agreed about the number of deficiencies. The intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.87 for total deficiencies and 0.76 for deficiencies with scores of G or higher. But in a substantial number of instances the teams did not agree about the scope and severity of the deficiency or about what regulation the nursing home had breached. IMPLICATIONS: The survey process is reliable when assessing aggregate results, but it is only moderately reliable when examining individual citations. Stakeholders (i.e., consumers, policy makers, nursing home administrators) should be aware of the limitations of the survey process. It needs to be modified to reduce variability.

Data Collection↗

PubMed2005

A controlled trial of smart infusion pumps to improve medication safety in critically ill patients.

OBJECTIVE: Intravenous medications are vital during inpatient management. Errors associated with the administration of medications through intravenous infusion pumps to critically ill patients can result in adverse drug events. We sought to assess the impact of smart pumps with integrated decision support software on the incidence and nature of medication errors and adverse drug events. DESIGN: We performed a prospective, randomized time-series trial and compared the serious medication error rate between intervention (decision support on) and control (decision support off) periods. Serious medication errors included both near-misses and preventable adverse drug events. Pump software produced log reports to help identify potential events. Events were presented to physicians for rating of event type, preventability, and severity. SETTING: Cardiac surgical intensive care and step-down units between February and December 2002. PATIENTS: Pump data were available for 744 cardiac surgery admissions. INTERVENTIONS: Decision support during medication administration provided feedback including alerts, reminders, and unit-specific drug rate limits. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: We found a total of 180 serious medication errors, including 14 and 11 preventable adverse drug events and 73 and 82 nonintercepted potential adverse drug events in the control and intervention periods, respectively. The serious medication error rates in the control and intervention periods were 2.03 and 2.41 per 100 patient-pump-days, respectively (p = .124). We also found numerous opportunities for safety improvement. Violations of infusion practice during the intervention periods included 571 (25%) bypasses of the drug library. Medications were also frequently administered without documentation of physician orders in both periods (n = 823; 7.7%). CONCLUSION: Intravenous medication errors and adverse drug events were frequent and could be detected using smart pumps. We found no measurable impact on the serious medication error rate, likely in part due to poor compliance. Although smart pumps have great promise, technological and nursing behavioral factors must be addressed if these pumps are to achieve their potential for improving medication safety.

Aged↗

PubMed2004

Clinical risk management in obstetrics: eclampsia drills.

PROBLEM: Infrequent presentation of patients with eclampsia, leading to staff inexperienced in the condition and untested emergency systems. DESIGN: "Fire drill" programme using on-site simulation of patients with eclampsia. SETTING: Tertiary referral obstetric unit. KEY MEASURES FOR IMPROVEMENT: Successful implementation of measures to optimise management of eclampsia. STRATEGIES FOR CHANGE: Rapid activation of emergency team after one call, development and dissemination of evidence based protocol for eclampsia, strategically placed "eclampsia boxes," individual staff feedback and education. EFFECTS OF CHANGE: Efficient and appropriate management of subsequent simulated patients. LESSONS LEARNT: On-site simulation can identify and correct potential deficiencies in the care of patients with eclampsia.

Eclampsia↗

PubMed2004

The benefits and risks associated with cholinesterase inhibitor therapy in Alzheimer's disease.

The 'second-generation' cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs), donepezil, galantamine and rivastigmine, are a class of medications that are currently approved for the treatment of mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD). These medications have proven efficacy in improving cognition, behaviour, activities of daily living, and global functioning in mild-to-moderate AD. They have also been shown to reduce caregiver stress and to delay time to nursing home placement. Two separate meta-analyses have indicated that ChEIs confer a modest but significant therapeutic benefit in the treatment of AD, despite higher rates of treatment discontinuation and side effects than placebo. There is growing evidence to support their efficacy in treating moderate-to-severe AD. ChEIs are generally well-tolerated, with side effects that tend to be dose-related and are most problematic during dose titration. The most common adverse effects, related to cholinergic stimulation in the brain and peripheral tissues, include gastrointestinal, cardiorespiratory, extrapyramidal, genitourinary, and musculoskeletal symptoms, as well as sleep disturbances. Few clinically significant drug-drug interactions with ChEIs have been identified. Three head-to-head trials of ChEIs in the treatment of AD have been published to date, but are limited due to their open-label design, rates of titration, and the drug dosage levels utilised. Further study is needed to examine other indications for ChEIs, as well as their combination with newer treatments, such as memantine.

Aged↗

PubMed2003

Other worlds.

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Canada↗

PubMed2003

Intelligent intravenous infusion pumps to improve medication administration safety.

Intravenous (IV) medications are vital in the management of hospitalized patients. Inpatients frequently receive several IV medications concurrently, and these are commonly delivered with infusion pump systems. In particular, critically ill patients receive potent "high-alert" IV drugs, many with narrow safety margins requiring careful nursing titration. However, while intravenous medications have important benefits, errors associated with IV medication administration can result in severe or life-threatening adverse drug events (ADEs). Although errors in prescribing are often intercepted, administration errors do not get caught with most current systems While several safety improvements in IV infusion pump design have reduced mechanical complications, errors with IV drug administration such as incorrect programming persist. Intelligent IV infusion pumps have integrated software to provide point of care decision support (DS). This software includes drug library profiles configured for specific patient care units and includes programming of safety limits for drug/dose calculations.

Decision Making, Computer-Assisted↗

PubMedDate not supplied

A & E nursing in Iraq.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Emergency Nursing↗