The efficiency of the EmERGE pathway of care for people living with HIV in England.

This study estimated the efficiency of implementing the EmERGE Pathway of Care for people living with medically stable HIV in Brighton, UK; an App enables individuals to communicate with caregivers via their smart-phone. Individual data on the use of HIV outpatient services were collected one-year pre- and post-implementation of EmERGE. Unit costs of HIV outpatient services were calculated and linked with mean use of services per patient year. Primary outcomes were CD4 count and viral load; patient activation and quality-of-life measures were secondary outcomes. 565 participants were followed up April 2017 - October 2018: 93% men, mean age at recruitment 47.0 years (95%CI:46.2-47.8). Outpatient visits decreased by 9% from 5.6 (95%CI:5.4-5.8) to 5.1 (95%CI:4.9-5.3). Face-to-face visits decreased and virtual visits increased. Annual costs decreased by 9% from £751 (95%CI: £722-£780) to £678 (95%CI: £653-£705). Including anti-retroviral drugs, total annual cost decreased from £7,343 (95%CI: £7,314-7,372) to £7,270 (95%CI: £7,245-7,297): ARVs costs comprised 90%. EmERGE was a cost-saving intervention, patients remained engaged and clinically stable. Annual costs were reduced, but ARVs continue to dominate costs. Extension of EmERGE to other people with chronic conditions, could produce greater efficiencies but these needs to be evaluated and monitored over time.

Reducing Implant Infection in Orthopaedics (RIIiO): Results of a pilot study comparing the influence of forced air and resistive fabric warming technologies on postoperative infections following orthopaedic implant surgery.

BACKGROUND: Active warming during surgery prevents perioperative hypothermia but the effectiveness and postoperative infection rates may differ between warming technologies. AIM: To establish the recruitment and data management strategies needed for a full trial comparing postoperative infection rates associated with forced air warming (FAW) versus resistive fabric warming (RFW) in patients aged >65 years undergoing hemiarthroplasty following fractured neck of femur. METHODS: Participants were randomized 1:1 in permuted blocks to FAW or RFW. Hypothermia was defined as a temperature of <36°C at the end of surgery. Primary outcomes were the number of participants recruited and the number with definitive deep surgical site infections. FINDINGS: A total of 515 participants were randomized at six sites over a period of 18 months. Follow-up was completed for 70.1%. Thirty-seven participants were hypothermic (7.5% in the FAW group; 9.7% in the RFW group). The mean temperatures before anaesthesia and at the end of surgery were similar. For the primary clinical outcome, there were four deep surgical site infections in the FAW group and three in the RFW group. All participants who developed a postoperative infection had antibiotic prophylaxis, a cemented prosthesis, and were operated under laminar airflow; none was hypothermic. There were no serious adverse events related to warming. CONCLUSION: Surgical site infections were identified in both groups. Progression from the pilot to the full trial is possible but will need to take account of the high attrition rate.

Comprehensive geriatric assessment in 326 older women with early breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: One-third of new early breast cancer diagnoses occur in women over 70 years old. However, older women are less likely to receive radical curative treatments. This study prospectively evaluated a cohort of older women using a Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) to determine whether fitness explained the apparent under-treatment in this patient group. METHODS: In this multi-centre prospective study, patients aged ⩾70 years with Stages I-III breast cancer underwent a pretreatment baseline CGA consisting of eight assessment tools. Patients were defined as 'fit' if they had normal score in seven out of eight of the assessment tools. 'High risk' patients were defined as those with grade 3, ER negative, HER2 positive, or node positive breast cancer. RESULTS: Data on 326 patients were available for full analysis. The median age was 77 years. In all, 182 (56%) of the total population were defined as high risk, with 49%, 61% and 53% of those in the 70-74, 75-84 and ⩾85 years age groups respectively having high risk tumours. A total of 301 patients had sufficient CGA records of whom 131 (44%) were reported as fit, with 34%, 54% and 12% of them in the 70-74, 75-84 and ⩾85 years age groups respectively. More fit than unfit patients underwent primary breast surgery (100% vs 91%, P=0.0002), axillary surgery (92% vs 84%, P=0.0340), and adjuvant chemotherapy for high-risk disease (51% vs 20%, P=0.0001). Rates of adjuvant radiotherapy after wide local excision were not significantly different (88% vs 90% respectively, P=0.8195). CONCLUSIONS: In this study, all women ⩾70 years deemed fit by CGA underwent primary surgery. Nearly 50% of fit women with high-risk disease did not receive adjuvant chemotherapy suggesting under treatment in this group.