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Congregational care strengthens relationships and supports spiritual growth. This article establishes groundwork for developing congregational care at First Baptist in Edmonton (FBC) by introducing a spiritual needs approach to engage people in conversation and by using a Spiritual Styles Assessment that has 36 questions to foster communication among congregational members. The article has four parts. The first introduces the congregation and a list of spiritual needs. The second part includes information about the Spiritual Styles Assessment and spirituality research. Parts three and four describe attitudes, skills and practices that enhance communicative action by helping people talk together and practice radical welcome as a foundation for congregational care. The purpose for establishing a foundation for congregational care is to suggest a way forward for a congregation that faces significant differences in values, beliefs, expectations, personal experience, and faith assumptions, even among people who have known each other for years. FBC is trying to find ways to reach understanding and offer care to all who enter the Sanctuary. The purpose of the article is to reflect philosophically on what congregants need from each other as signs of respect, inclusion and caring. The article outlines attitudes, skills, and practices that create communicative communities that are capable of nurturing congregational care by developing human understanding based on faith experience and communicative action.
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AJOL : The Internet has drastically improved access to health information for personal health care management causing a shift from traditional health information sources to online sources. Moreso the COVID-19 pandemic made many people adopt the use of online sources for health information and management. This study investigated the awareness and use of online health information sites (OHIS) by postgraduate students in the Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary, Ogbomoso, Nigeria. A survey research design was adopted. Total enumeration was used because of the small population of respondents. Findings revealed that the students had several health information needs, but there was a low level of awareness of OHIS, as well as the use of OHIS amongst them. A high percentage did not use OHIS due to some reasons. Health information needs, awareness of OHIS, perceived usefulness of information from OHIS, perceived ease of using OHIS, and trust in OHIS are factors that influenced the use of OHIS by the students. A high percentage intended to continue using OHIS, while the non-user had the intention of using the sites in the future. The study concluded that there was a low level of awareness and use of OHIS by postgraduate students in the Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary, Ogbomoso. In addition, health information needs, awareness of OHIS, perceived usefulness of information from OHIS, perceived ease of using OHIS, and trust in OHIS are factors that influenced the use of OHIS by the students. These factors should be leveraged to promote the use and continuous use of OHIS
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The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic changed the world in dramatic and unexpected ways. Closures, cancelations, and quarantines altered our lives and the ways in which we viewed the world. The effects of this season had the greatest impact on our young people, who experienced increased levels of anxiety and isolation. In Church life, Youth Ministry programing and activities across the country were halted or significantly altered because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Without the ability to host traditional programming, and the inability to provide a sense of belonging and connection through virtual activities during the COVID-19 pandemic, the students in Youth Ministry programs became disengaged and disconnected from congregations life. When Churches were able to open their doors and resume regular ministry programming, the problems surrounding Youth Ministry and virtual platforms did not disappear. The Church was open, but young people were no longer showing up. As the world continues to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, Youth Ministry and the Church are in need of programming and experiences that re-engage and welcome back students who no longer feel like they belong.This thesis explores the shifting cultural landscape of postmodernity and seeks to reimagine how to create community and connection among young people in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. This project sought to create ministry practices that increased the perceived sense of belonging among students through the structured experience of visual art and storytelling. Five participants between the ages of fourteen and eighteen volunteered to participate by sharing their stories as an act of worship through visual art with the congregation at Forest Hill Baptist Church in Raleigh, NC during the Fall semester of 2022. This research project included six sessions that were designed for students to share their stories and create individual pieces of visual art. Once the six sessions where completed, the students shared their artwork with the congregation as an act of worship. Following the completion of the project each participant completed an individual questionnaire and participated in a group interview. The questions and interview were designed to determine if structured experiences could create ministry practices that increased student perceive sense of belonging within a congregation. The themes that emerged from the questionnaire and survey indicated that students who experienced safety, celebration, and intergenerational community. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
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Weaver examines the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on worship in Baptist churches and the new liturgical realities that have profoundly altered worship in irreversible ways. She engages how technological changes alter understandings about church authority in light of the priesthood of all believers. She also envisions active engagement of lay persons, integrating worship with social realities and concerns, and the need for mutual respect among clergy over the next fifty years of liturgical change.
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Rationale: The FDA granted an emergency use authorization for tixagevimab/ cilgavimab in December 2021 for COVID-19 pre-exposure prophylaxis for individuals that are moderate to severely immunocompromised and has since recommended repeat dosing every 6 months. Given its novelty and resultant hesitation for use among some physicians and patients, our study aimed to observe safety and efficacy of tixagevimab/ cilgavimab, including against one of the newest variants, Omicron BA.5, among our patient population with immunodeficiencies 6 months post-administration via a telephone survey. We hypothesized that adverse outcomes would be minimal and COVID-19 incidence and severity would lessen following tixagevimab/cilgavimab administration. Methods: The Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology department recruited 15 patients with immunodeficiencies receiving immunoglobulin replacement and tixagevimab/ cilgavimab in March 2022 for a prospective cohort study. A telephone survey was conducted 6 months later regarding tixagevimab/ cilgavimab adverse effects and incidence/severity of COVID infection before and after administration. Results: Two patients experienced minor adverse effects (fatigue, bruising) following tixagevimab/ cilgavimab administration. No severe reactions were reported. Two patients required hospitalization for severe COVID-19 infection prior to tixagevimab/cilgavimab administration, whereas 0 patients required hospitalization for COVID-19 in the 6 months following administration. Four of 5 patients that had COVID-19 following administration had not yet received the bivalent Omicron booster vaccine and 2 had received no COVID-19 vaccines. Conclusions: Tixagevimab/ cilgavimab is associated with minor adverse effects and reduction of COVID-19 severity, albeit perhaps not associated with diminished incidence of newest COVID-19 strains, in a prospective, population-based cohort.
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Background. Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is the leading cause of nosocomial diarrhea and a costly burden on the healthcare system. The COVID-19 pandemic brought enhanced infection control measures that could hypothetically decrease CDI transmission. Nonetheless, diarrhea secondary to COVID-19 and increased usage of broad-spectrum antibiotics could potentially increase testing for or frequency of CDI. We aimed to assess variations in CDI testing and frequency during the first surge of the COVID-19 pandemic in a tertiary community medical center in the Southern United States. Methods. Records from adult patients were retrospectively reviewed at Princeton Baptist Medical Center, Birmingham, AL. Three groups spanning equal time periods were created based on the CDC COVID-19 rate curves for Alabama: PPG (pre-pandemic, 03/01/2020 to 05/31/2020), PG (pandemic, 06/01/2020 to 08/ 31/2020), and SCG (seasonal control, 06/01/2019 to 08/31/2019). We included patients >= 18 years old and excluded readmissions and follow-up visits. We determined the frequency, testing rates, and positivity rates for CDI in each group to assess their differences. Also, we measured the rate of coinfection between C. difficile and SARS-CoV-2. CDI cases were defined as positive toxin enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (EIA) and glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH), or positivity of either in addition to positive nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT). Differences in frequencies and rates across groups were compared with Fisher exact test. Results. Overall, 7,252 hospitalized patients and 29,671 outpatients were included (Figure 1). No outpatient CDI cases were detected. Outpatient testing rates were: PPG 3 (0.05%), PG 4 (0.05%), and SCG 9 (0.06%). Among inpatients, 3,912 (53.9%) were female with a mean +/- SD age of 61.2 +/- 17.5 years. Overall, CDI frequency, testing rates, and positivity rates did not vary significantly among all groups (Table 1). Among those tested, the only case of C.difficile/SARS-CoV-2 coinfection corresponded to PPG. Conclusion. There were no statistically significant differences in CDI frequency, or positivity rate between the pre-pandemic, pandemic, and seasonal control groups for inpatients. No CDI cases were detected in outpatients. This is likely due to a low testing rate in our population.
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SESSION TITLE: Sepsis: Beyond 30cc/kg and Antibiotics SESSION TYPE: Rapid Fire Original Inv PRESENTED ON: 10/19/2022 11:15 am - 12:15 pm PURPOSE: The Sepsis Prediction Model (SPM) is a proprietary decision support tool created by Epic Systems. The basis of the SPM is a Predicting Sepsis Score (PSS) calculated from demographic, comorbidity, vitals, labs, medication, and procedural data. We assessed the diagnostic accuracy and timeliness of the PSS for sepsis as defined by Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Adult Sepsis Event (ASE) criteria. The performance of the PSS was compared to, Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS), quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA), and SOFA scores. METHODS: Retrospective review of 62,460 adults admitted to 4 Wake Forest Baptist Health System hospitals from June 1, 2019 through December 31, 2020 with PSS scores calculated every 15 minutes. A sepsis event was defined as receipt of 4 or more days of antimicrobials, blood cultures collected within 48 hours of initial antimicrobial administration, and at least one organ dysfunction. This definition of sepsis was modified to also include Covid-19 infection with organ dysfunction. Time zero was defined as time of first contact for the healthcare encounter. 30-day readmissions, facility transfers, and deaths in the Emergency Department were excluded. RESULTS: The prevalence of sepsis in the sample was 4.5%. The optimal PSS threshold based on Youden’s J statistic was a score of 8 (sensitivity 0.72, specificity 0.74, Youden’s J 0.46). SIRS (sensitivity 0.90, specificity 0.42), qSOFA (sensitivity 0.64, specificity 0.69), and SOFA (sensitivity 0.89, specificity 0.43) had a Youden’s J statistic for sepsis of 0.32, 0.33, and 0.32, respectively. At a PSS score of ≥ 8, median time to score positivity among those who reached that score (28.4% of sample) was 217 minutes (IQR 74-1477 minutes). For SIRS, qSOFA and SOFA, median time to score positivity was 54 minutes (IQR 24-456), 360 minutes (IQR 53-1593) and 107 minutes (IQR 39-474), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Discrimination of the PSS for detection of sepsis was highest at a threshold score of 8. Overall, the PSS discriminated better than SIRS, qSOFA and SOFA. Positive SIRS and SOFA scores occurred at an earlier time-point than PSS score. The time to positivity appears to limit the tool’s best expected performance to improve time to initial antimicrobial and compliance with the 3-hour sepsis bundle. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Clinical application of the Epic SPM to improve adherence with sepsis treatment goals is constrained by time to positive screen as compared to other screening tools. DISCLOSURES: No relevant relationships by Alain Bertoni No relevant relationships by Kristin Lenoir No relevant relationships by Beverly Levine No relevant relationships by Morgana Mongraw-Chaffin No relevant relationships by Adam Schertz Stock Ownership Interest relationship with Johnson & Johnson Please note: years Added 04/15/2022 by Karl Thomas, value=Ownership interest stock ownership relationship with Gilead Sciences Please note: years Added 04/15/2022 by Karl Thomas, value=Ownership Stock ownership interest relationship with Bristol-Myers Squibb Please note: years Added 04/15/2022 by Karl Thomas, value=Ownership interest Stock Ownership Interest relationship with Pfizer Please note: years Added 04/15/2022 by Karl Thomas, value=Ownership interest Stock Ownership Interest relationship with Doximity Please note: 1 year Added 04/15/2022 by Karl Thomas, value=Ownership interest No relevant relationships by Brian Wells No relevant relationships by Jack White
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Occurrence of acute limb ischaemia (ALI) in patients with SARS-CoV-2 is an uncommon complication. COVID-19 has been associated with thrombotic disease secondary to a hypercoagulable state. COVID-19 appears to cause a hypercoagulable state through mechanisms unique to SARS-CoV-2 and centres on the cross-talk between thrombosis and inflammation. The proposed hypothesis includes a severely heightened inflammatory response that leads to thrombotic inflammation, through a mechanism such as cytokine storm, complement activation, and endothelitis. The innate and adaptive immune responses result in immunemediated thrombosis, leading to thrombotic complications, such as myocardial infarction, pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis, and stroke. The activation of coagulation (D-dimer) and thrombocytopenia are important prognostic markers in SARSCoV- 19 infections. At our institution, we found six patients to have ALI and reviewed their characteristics and outcomes. Our findings showed that in severe COVID-19 disease, the association of ALI had high mortality. Materials and methods: It is a retrospective observational study performed at Bangalore Baptist hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic (August 2020 to August 2021). We report a case series of 6 ALI patients aged between 30 and 55 years. All the patients were tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 disease. All our patients received standard treatment care as per institution protocol for SARS-CoV-2 disease. They were all commenced on therapeutic anticoagulation at admission to ICU. Baseline coagulation profile and inflammatory markers and their trends were followed in all patients. The diagnosis of ALI in all ventilated patients was done clinically by the presence of pallor, pulselessness, acrocyanosis, blisters, and dry care unit with SARS-CoV-2 disease, 6 patients had developed limb ischemia (1.4%). Male and female preponderance was equal. Among 6 patients, 1 was newly detected diabetes mellitus, 2 were diabetic and hypertensive of which one had right upper limb post-polio paralytic sequelae, and the rest had no co-morbidities. The mean duration of ICU stay and mechanical ventilation days was 22 days and 17.8 days, respectively. All the patients had lower limb ischemia of which 3 were unilateral. Discoloration extended up to the ankle joint in almost all cases. As these patients were on the ventilator secondary to severe hypoxemia or vasopressor support, they were managed conservatively. Two patients presented with stroke, pyelonephritis with acute kidney injury, and septic shock requiring high vasopressor support. 5 of 6 patients died during the course of treatment (mortality 83%). All patients showed high inflammatory markers especially D-dimer during the initial development phase of limb ischemia. 1 survived patient required bilateral foot amputation due to dry gangrene. Conclusion: Limb ischemia with tissue necrosis is a dreadful complication and is associated with high mortality. High incidence of thrombosis despite therapeutic anticoagulation raises a question about pathophysiology unique to COVID-19. Evidence of inflammatory-mediated thrombosis and endothelial injury are possible explanations which would support the use of immunotherapy in addition to anticoagulation for the treatment of thrombotic events. Further insight into the cause and management of thrombosis is needed.
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BACKGROUND: On December 31, 2019, several cases of pneumonia-like illness were attributed to a seafood wholesale market in the Wuhan province of China. On January 7, 2020, public health officials in China confirmed that these cases were caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, SARS-CoV-2, also referred to as covid-19. As of December 19, 2021, there have been approximately 827,246 deaths and 51,723,483 cases in the United States. Covid-9 has disproportionately affected the underserved communities. On December 14, 2020, the first coronavirus vaccine was given in United States to Sandra Lindsey, an ICU nurse, in New York City. As of December 19, 2021, approximately 241,205,528 or 72.7% of the population has received at least one dose and overall 203,727,446 or 61.4% of the population has been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. Mississippi has among the lowest rates of covid-19 vaccination with approximately 1,435,238 or 47% of population being fully vaccinated on December 17, 2021. METHODS: Medical records of all patients admitted at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Desoto, Mississippi. with a diagnosis of covid-19 infection between May 2021 and October 2021 were reviewed. EPIC electronic health records system was used to obtain the patient information. Covid-19 rapid antigen and PCR test results were used for analyzing the information. Patient charts were analyzed to retrieve specific vaccination information: no vaccination, one vaccine, two vaccines, time of last vaccination. Only adults aged 18 years and older were included in this study. RESULTS: 180 of 187 inpatients admitted for Covid-19 infection denied any history of Covid-19 vaccination. 5 of 7 vaccinated patients admitted for Covid19 infection were immunocompromised (cancer chemotherapy, immunosuppressive therapy, etc). Only 2 of vaccinated patients admitted for Covid-19 infection were not immunocompromised. CONCLUSIONS: The best way to prevent coronavirus infection is to get vaccinated. Vaccination prevents mortality and severe illness from Covid-19 infection requiring inpatient hospitalizations. Our study at the largest tertiary care hospital in Desoto, Mississippi, finds that nearly all patients admitted with Covid-19 infection during our study period were either unvaccinated or immunocompromised. Our study reaffirms the that if enough people get vaccinated, the viral transmission rate will slow sand there will be less morbidity and mortality. People who are fully vaccinated are at a much lower risk of getting the virus. “Fully vaccinated” means you have had all doses of the vaccine and it has been at least 2 weeks since the last dose.
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Background: American Indians have significant barriers to cancer prevention and control due to a number of social structural factors. North Carolina has the largest American Indian population east of the Mississippi River with eight tribes and four urban Indian centers, yet there have been few coordinated strategies to address cancer disparities in this population. Engagement with tribal communities is vital in successful implementation of research and outreach activities. Methods: The Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center (WFBCCC) received a supplement to their P30 Cancer Center Support Grant to inform Community Outreach and Engagement initiatives through The Healing Walk project which was designed to determine the most pressing cancer concerns for American Indian communities in North Carolina and identify needs for research training for American Indian students. Feedback was obtained from tribal leaders, educators, and college students through one large and three mini-round table discussions and solicited by email throughout late 2018 and 2019. The final round table occurred two days before the 2020 COVID 19 mitigation mandates. Results: Community interviews produced a wealth of information on the self-reported issues within American Indian populations in North Carolina. Tribal community leaders identified systemic and demographic issues that contribute to health disparities among their people. These issues include: lack of trust in the medical community, structural barriers to care leading to late-stage diagnosis, perceptions related to cancer, high rates of cancer risk factors, including obesity and tobacco use, and historical trauma. Students identified factors which contribute to barriers in pursuing careers in cancer research, including a lack of American Indian mentors, financial barriers, mental health challenges that arise in attending majority institutions, and a lack of culturally competent research training. Conclusions: By relying on the viewpoints of tribal leaders, the WFBCCC can accurately address the needs of the communities and develop cancer prevention and control initiatives that are culturally responsible, such as Tribal Health Ambassadors. In accordance with the majority of the requests both students and educators made, the WFBCCC is creating an undergraduate research program for engaging AI students. Focusing on community identified areas of need, students will develop a research question relative to the health concerns of their tribe. The goal of this research program is two fold. First, to enable tribal communities to accurately assess cancer risk, incidence, and mortality, and with that knowledge reduce the current health disparities in AI populations. Second, to provide American Indian students with the opportunity to not only serve their community, but to give them the tools and experience to help understand and eliminate cancer disparities in their tribal communities.
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This study examines the relationship between personal characteristics, church characteristics and burnout among African American Baptist pastors in North Carolina. Senior pastors affiliated with the General Baptist State Convention of North Carolina received an electronic survey consisting of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey and a researcher-designed demographic questionnaire. The findings indicate that there is a relationship between a pastor's personal characteristics, church characteristics and burnout. Age, conflict, church size and tenure were significant predictors of emotional exhaustion, cynicism, or professional efficacy. The study was limited by the sample size and the low participation of women and younger clergy. The effects of the current COVID-19 pandemic on clergy mental wellbeing are unknown. The discussion includes recommendations to address the study limitations. Exploring additional research questions and experimenting with alternative research designs could contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of clergy wellbeing. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)