Evaluation of a mandatory immunization program to increase and sustain high immunization coverage for healthcare personnel (HCP).

Descriptive study with before-and-after analysis.

Tertiary-care academic medical center.

Medical center HCP.

A comprehensive mandatory immunization initiative was implemented in 2 phases, starting in July 2014. Key facets of the initiative included a formalized exemption review process, incorporation into institutional quality goals, data feedback, and accountability to support compliance.

Both immunization and overall compliance rates with targeted immunizations increased significantly in the years after the implementation period. The influenza immunization rate increased from 80% the year prior to the initiative to >97% for the 3 subsequent influenza seasons (P < .0001). Mumps, measles and varicella vaccination compliance increased from 94% in January 2014 to >99% by January 2017, rubella vaccination compliance increased from 93% to 99.5%, and hepatitis B vaccination compliance from 95% to 99% (P < .0001 for all comparisons). An associated positive effect on TB testing compliance, which was not included in the mandatory program, was also noted; it increased from 76% to 92% over the same period (P < .0001).

Thoughtful, step-wise implementation of a mandatory immunization program linked to professional accountability can be successful in increasing immunization rates as well as overall compliance with policy requirements to cover all recommended HCP immunizations.

To test the feasibility of targeted gown and glove use by healthcare personnel caring for high-risk nursing-home residents to prevent Staphylococcus aureus acquisition in short-stay residents.

Uncontrolled clinical trial.

This study was conducted in 2 community-based nursing homes in Maryland.

The study included 322 residents on mixed short- and long-stay units.

During a 2-month baseline period, all residents had nose and inguinal fold swabs taken to estimate S. aureus acquisition. The intervention was iteratively developed using a participatory human factors engineering approach. During a 2-month intervention period, healthcare personnel wore gowns and gloves for high-risk care activities while caring for residents with wounds or medical devices, and S. aureus acquisition was measured again. Whole-genome sequencing was used to assess whether the acquisition represented resident-to-resident transmission.

Among short-stay residents, the methicillin-resistant S. aureus acquisition rate decreased from 11.9% during the baseline period to 3.6% during the intervention period (odds ratio [OR], 0.28; 95% CI, 0.08–0.92; P = .026). The methicillin-susceptible S. aureus acquisition rate went from 9.1% during the baseline period to 4.0% during the intervention period (OR, 0.41; 95% CI, 0.12–1.42; P = .15). The S. aureus resident-to-resident transmission rate decreased from 5.9% during the baseline period to 0.8% during the intervention period.

Targeted gown and glove use by healthcare personnel for high-risk care activities while caring for residents with wounds or medical devices, regardless of their S. aureus colonization status, is feasible and potentially decreases S. aureus acquisition and transmission in short-stay community-based nursing-home residents.

To evaluate the effect of the burden of Staphylococcus aureus colonization of nursing home residents on the risk of S. aureus transmission to healthcare worker (HCW) gowns and gloves.

Multicenter prospective cohort study.

Residents and HCWs from 13 community-based nursing homes in Maryland and Michigan.

Residents were cultured for S. aureus at the anterior nares and perianal skin. The S. aureus burden was estimated by quantitative polymerase chain reaction detecting the nuc gene. HCWs wore gowns and gloves during usual care activities; gowns and gloves were swabbed and then cultured for the presence of S. aureus.

In total, 403 residents were enrolled; 169 were colonized with methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) or methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) and comprised the study population; 232 were not colonized and thus were excluded from this analysis; and 2 were withdrawn prior to being swabbed. After multivariable analysis, perianal colonization with S. aureus conferred the greatest odds for transmission to HCW gowns and gloves, and the odds increased with increasing burden of colonization: adjusted odds ratio (aOR), 2.1 (95% CI, 1.3–3.5) for low-level colonization and aOR 5.2 (95% CI, 3.1–8.7) for high level colonization.

Among nursing home patients colonized with S. aureus, the risk of transmission to HCW gowns and gloves was greater from those colonized with greater quantities of S. aureus on the perianal skin. Our findings inform future infection control practices for both MRSA and MSSA in nursing homes.

Southeastern Appalachian Ohio has more than double the national average of diabetes and a critical shortage of healthcare providers. Paradoxically, there is limited research focused on primary care providers’ experiences treating people with diabetes in this region. This study explored providers’ perceived barriers to and facilitators for treating patients with diabetes in southeastern Appalachian Ohio.

We conducted in-depth interviews with healthcare providers who treat people with diabetes in rural southeastern Ohio. Interviews were transcribed, coded, and analyzed via content and thematic analyses using NVivo 12 software (QSR International, Chadstone, VIC, Australia).

Qualitative analysis revealed four themes: (1) patients’ diabetes fatalism and helplessness: providers recounted story after story of patients believing that their diabetes was inevitable and that they were helpless to prevent or delay diabetes complications. (2) Comorbid psychosocial issues: providers described high rates of depression, anxiety, incest, abuse, and post-traumatic stress disorder among people with diabetes in this region. (3) Inter-connected social determinants interfering with diabetes care: providers identified major barriers including lack of access to providers, lack of access to transportation, food insecurity, housing insecurity, and financial insecurity. (4) Providers’ cultural understanding and recommendations: providers emphasized the importance of understanding of the values central to Appalachian culture and gave culturally attuned clinical suggestions for how to use these values when working with this population.

Evidence-based interventions tailored to Appalachian culture and training designed to increase the cultural competency and cultural humility of primary care providers may be effective approaches to reduce barriers to diabetes care in Appalachian Ohio.

The 2017 solar eclipse was associated with mass gatherings in many of the 14 states along the path of totality. The Kentucky Department for Public Health implemented an enhanced syndromic surveillance system to detect increases in emergency department (ED) visits and other health care needs near Hopkinsville, Kentucky, where the point of greatest eclipse occurred.

EDs flagged visits of patients who participated in eclipse events from August 17–22. Data from 14 area emergency medical services and 26 first-aid stations were also monitored to detect health-related events occurring during the eclipse period.

Forty-four potential eclipse event-related visits were identified, primarily injuries, gastrointestinal illness, and heat-related illness. First-aid stations and emergency medical services commonly attended to patients with pain and heat-related illness.

Kentucky’s experience during the eclipse demonstrated the value of patient visit flagging to describe the disease burden during a mass gathering and to investigate epidemiological links between cases. A close collaboration between public health authorities within and across jurisdictions, health information exchanges, hospitals, and other first-response care providers will optimize health surveillance activities before, during, and after mass gatherings.

To examine the efficacy and tolerability of quetiapine SR in patients with schizophrenia switched from quetiapine IR.

Randomised, double-blind study (D1444C00146) using dual-matched placebo. Patients clinically stable on fixed doses of quetiapine IR received twice-daily quetiapine IR 400, 600 or 800 mg/day for 4 weeks. Stable patients were then randomised (1:2) to continue taking quetiapine IR or switch to the same total dose of quetiapine SR (active dose once-daily in the evening) for 6 weeks. Primary analysis: % of patients (modified ITT population) discontinuing due to lack of efficacy or with PANSS total increase ≥20% at any visit, using a 6% non-inferiority margin for the upper 95% CI of the treatment difference. Per-protocol (PP) analysis was also performed.

497 patients were randomised (quetiapine SR 331, IR 166); completion rates were 91.5% and 94.0%, respectively. Few patients discontinued due to lack of efficacy or had a PANSS increase ≥20% in both the MITT (n=496) and PP populations (n=393): 9.1% and 5.3% for quetiapine SR and 7.2% and 6.2% for quetiapine IR, respectively. Quetiapine SR was non-inferior to quetiapine IR in the PP population (treatment difference: -0.83% [95% CI -6.75, 3.71]; p=0017) but not in the MITT population (treatment difference: 1.86% [95% CI -3.78, 6.57]; p=0.0431). The incidence (quetiapine SR 38.7%; IR 35.5%) and profile of AEs were similar in both groups.

Clinically-stable patients receiving quetiapine IR can be switched, without titration, to an equivalent once-daily dose of quetiapine SR without any clinical deterioration or compromise in tolerability.

Improving the quality of care on psychiatric inpatient wards has been a major focus in recent mental health policy, a recurrent criticism being that contact between staff and patients is limited in time and therapeutic value. Change is unlikely to be achieved without recruitment and retention of a high quality and well-motivated work force.

The NHS commissioned national inpatient mental health staff morale study is intended to inform service planning and policy by delivering evidence on the morale of the inpatient mental health workforce and the clinical, organisational, architectural and human resources factors that influence it.

100 wards in 17 area ‘Trusts’ are participating in the study, in addition to 40 community teams. The study will take place over two years, and has 6 modules:

1. 1. A quantitative questionnaire for all staff in participating wards and

2. 2. A comparison group in 20 community mental health teams and 20 crisis teams.

3. 3. Case studies of 10 wards scoring in the top and bottom quartile for indicators of morale.

4. 4. Repeated questionnaires for 20 wards in the second year to investigate how morale changes over time.

5. 5. Staff who leave the wards in the course of the first year will be asked their reasons for leaving.

6. 6. Links between rates of staff sickness and morale will be investigated.

Questionnaires have been distributed to 3,500 staff with a response rate of 65%, results from which will be presented in 2009.

In a European, phase 3 study (SPD489-325), lisdexamfetamine dimesylate (LDX) and osmotic-release oral system methylphenidate (OROS-MPH) were more effective than placebo in improving core symptoms in children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

To compare post hoc the efficacy of LDX and OROS-MPH in study SPD489-325.

This 7-week, randomized, double-blind, parallel-group, dose-optimized, placebo-controlled trial enrolled patients aged 6-17 years with ADHD of at least moderate severity. Patients were randomized (1:1:1) to receive a once-daily dose of LDX (30, 50, 70 mg/day), OROS-MPH (18, 36, 54 mg/day) or placebo. Efficacy was assessed using the ADHD Rating Scale version IV (ADHD-RS-IV) and the Clinical Global Impression-Improvement (CGI-I) scale. Endpoint was defined as the last ontherapy treatment visit with a valid assessment.

The full analysis set comprised 317 patients (LDX, n=104; placebo, n=106; OROS-MPH, n=107). The difference between LDX and OROS-MPH in least squares mean change (95% confidence interval [CI]) in ADHD-RS-IV total score from baseline to endpoint was statistically significant in favour of LDX (-5.6 [-8.4, -2.7]; p < 0.001; effect size, 0.541). The difference (LDX minus OROS-MPH) in the percentage of patients (95% CI) with an improved CGI-I score at endpoint was also statistically significant in favour of LDX (17.4 [5.0, 29.8]; p < 0.05).

This post hoc analysis indicated that LDX is significantly more effective than OROS-MPH in improving core symptoms and global functioning in children and adolescents with ADHD.

Supported by: Funding from Shire Development LLC.

In a European, phase 3 study (SPD489-325), lisdexamfetamine dimesylate (LDX) was more effective than placebo in improving symptoms and global functioning in children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

To evaluate the impact of age, sex and baseline disease severity on efficacy outcomes in SPD489- 325.

This 7-week, double-blind, parallel-group, dose-optimized study enrolled patients aged 6-17 years with ADHD. Patients were randomized (1:1:1) to once-daily LDX (30, 50 or 70mg/day), osmotic-release oral system methylphenidate (OROS-MPH; 18, 36 or 54mg/day) or placebo. Efficacy outcomes were analysed in patients dichotomized by age (6-12 years [n=229] or 13-17 years [n=88]), sex (male [n=255] or female [n=62]) and baseline ADHD Rating Scale version IV (ADHD-RSIV) total score (28-41 [n=161] or 42-54 [n=152]). Endpoint was the last on-treatment visit with a valid assessment.

At endpoint, differences (active-placebo) in least-squares mean changes from baseline in ADHD-RS-IV total scores were statistically significant in all age, sex and ADHD-RS-IV total score subgroups for LDX (p< 0.001; effect sizes, 1.68-2.26) and OROS-MPH (p< 0.01; effect sizes, 0.88-1.46). Proportions of patients with a Clinical Global Impressions-Improvement rating of 1 (very much improved) or 2 (much improved) were statistically significantly greater than placebo at endpoint in all subgroups receiving LDX (p< 0.01) and in all subgroups except females receiving OROS-MPH (p< 0.05).

LDX showed greater efficacy than placebo in children and adolescents with ADHD, regardless of their age, sex or baseline disease severity.

Supported by: Funding from Shire Development LLC.