Original Research: Exploring Frontline Nurses' Self-Perceived Levels of QI Engagement and QI Competence.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Nurse engagement in quality improvement (QI) is critical in the delivery of safe high-quality care, yet few studies have evaluated frontline nurses in this area. The purpose of this study was to identify and compare levels of self-reported QI engagement and QI competence among frontline nurses and nurse leaders. METHODS: This study used a cross-sectional descriptive design. A convenience sample of frontline nurses (bedside RNs and advanced practice nurses) and nurse leaders from acute and ambulatory care sites completed the Nursing Quality Improvement in Practice (NQuIP) tool, which measures engagement and competence (knowledge, skills, and attitudes) in QI. RESULTS: Data from 6,351 surveys completed by frontline nurses and nurse leaders representing 66 sites nationwide were analyzed. Only 52.5% of all respondents reported participating in QI. Knowledge scores were relatively high, while skills scores-especially those related to using QI tools-were low. Overall attitudes toward QI were positive. Nurse leaders scored significantly higher in engagement and competence than the frontline nurses they supervise. CONCLUSIONS: The study findings indicate that nurse engagement in QI is limited. Although nurses' knowledge levels appear to be high, their limited competency in QI-related skills may contribute to low QI engagement. Leaders must make efforts to increase nurse engagement in order to attain high-quality outcomes. Using the NQuIP tool will allow leaders to evaluate nurses' self-perceived QI competence and engagement, which will aid in identifying target areas and developing effective strategies for improvement.

Molecular profiling and utility of cell-free DNA in nonsmall carcinoma of the lung: Study in a tertiary care hospital.

BACKGROUND: Lung carcinoma accounts to the most common cause of cancer globally. Optimal management of nonsmall cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) requires prognostic biomarkers that help in targeted therapy and identification of tumor subsets with a distinctive molecular profile that can foretell response to therapy. Quantitative analysis of circulating cell-free DNA is considered as a possible aid for lung cancer screening. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The main aim of our study was detection of the clinicopathological spectrum of NSCLC, immunohistochemical (IHC) study of lung adenocarcinoma with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK), and molecular expression of EGFR mutation using Formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissue (FFPE) and cell-free DNA (cfDNA) from blood samples. MATERIALS AND METHODS: It was a prospective and observational study conducted in the Department of Pathology in association with the Department of Chest Medicine in a tertiary care hospital for 18 months, done on 50 patients. Histological subtyping of lung carcinomas was done, followed by IHC analysis using P40, thyroid transcription factor (TTF1), EGFR, and ALK. Molecular analysis for EGFR mutation was done using FFPE and cfDNA from the patient's blood samples. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS: On histological subtyping, majority (66%) of the cases were found to be adenocarcinoma. All adenocarcinoma (66%) cases show TTF1 positivity and all squamous cell carcinoma (32%) cases show P40 positivity. All the ALK-positive (6%) cases were never smokers and histologically diagnosed as adenocarcinoma. About 58% of the NSCLC cases were found to be EGFR IHC positive. Formalin-fixed paraffin tissue (FFPE) showed EGFR mutation in 32% cases, of which majority were deletion (19, 28%) and rest (4%) of the cases involving mutation in exon 21. From cfDNA, mutations were noticed in 16% of the cases where majority involved deletion 19 (12%), whereas the rest of the cases were positive for missense mutation in exon 21 of the EGFR gene (2%) and compound heterozygous mutation involving deletion 19 and missense mutation for exon 21 (2%). On correlation of EGFR mutation studies from FFPE with that of cfDNA analysis, the study was statistically significant (P = 0.000). CONCLUSION: This study reports clinicopathological, immunochemical, and molecular analysis of EGFR among NSCLC cases. EGFR mutation detection from cfDNA has its advantage of being a noninvasive technique to avoid rebiopsy in cases of the progressive disease to detect resistance to a drug and emergence of a newer mutation. Mutation detection from FFPE samples still remains the gold standard for targeted therapy using EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors. ALK rearrangement detection using IHC serves as an adjunct to EGFR diagnosis.

Common Presentation with Uncommon Diagnosis: Multifocal Epithelioid Hemangioendothelioma.

A young female patient presenting with recurrent hemoptysis, neck swelling, and mediastinal mass mimicking lymphadenopathy was admitted to the Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research and SSKM hospital, Kolkata, India. Clinical features, radiological studies, fibre optic bronchoscopy, and fine needle aspiration cytology from the neck swelling created a diagnostic dilemma until surgical resection and immunohistochemistry reports confirmed the diagnosis of multifocal epithelioid hemangioendothelioma, a rare vascular tumor with intermediate malignancy potential. Because it is a slow-progressing disease and due to the non-availability of standard chemotherapy, the patient, and her legal guardian, opted for palliative care only. She was asymptomatic for four years but again presented with hemoptysis, reappearance of the neck swelling on the same side, and a mediastinal mass compressing the superior vena cava and right pulmonary artery. This report describes the diagnostic problems and therapeutic challenges in the management of this rare tumor over a four-year follow-up period. The clinical course emphasizes the highly unpredictable nature of this tumor.