The Autonomy Toolbox: A Multicenter Collaborative to Promote Resident Autonomy.

OBJECTIVES: Autonomy is necessary for resident professional development and well-being. A recent focus on patient safety has increased supervision and decreased trainee autonomy. Few validated interventions exist to improve resident autonomy. We aimed to use quality improvement methods to increase our autonomy metric, the Resident Autonomy Score (RAS), by 25% within 1 year and sustain for 6 months. METHODS: We developed a bundled-intervention approach to improve senior resident (SR) perception of autonomy on Pediatric Hospital Medicine (PHM) services at 5 academic children's hospitals. We surveyed SR and PHM faculty perceptions of autonomy and targeted interventions toward areas with the highest discordance. Interventions included SR and faculty development, expectation-setting huddles, and SR independent rounding. We developed a Resident Autonomy Score (RAS) index to track SR perceptions over time. RESULTS: Forty-six percent of SRs and 59% of PHM faculty completed the needs assessment survey querying how often SRs were afforded opportunities to provide autonomous medical care. Faculty and SR ratings were discordant in these domains: SR input in medical decisions, SR autonomous decision-making in straightforward cases, follow-through on SR plans, faculty feedback, SR as team leader, and level of attending oversight. The RAS increased by 19% (3.67 to 4.36) 1 month after SR and faculty professional development and before expectation-setting and independent rounding. This increase was sustained throughout the 18-month study period. CONCLUSIONS: SRs and faculty perceive discordant levels of SR autonomy. We created an adaptable autonomy toolbox that led to sustained improvement in perception of SR autonomy.

The scope of treatment of pediatric IgA vasculitis nephritis and its outcome: a Pediatric Nephrology Research Consortium study.

BACKGROUND: IgA vasculitis (IgAV) is the most common type of vasculitis in children. There is a lack of consensus for management of significant IgAV nephritis (IgAVN). This study was designed to identify the most used treatment options and describe their efficacy. METHODS: This is a multicenter retrospective study of children age 1-21 years with IgAVN who were managed for at least 6 months by a nephrologist. Subjects with at least microscopic hematuria and proteinuria and/or decreased kidney function were enrolled. Kidney outcome was assessed by eGFR and urine protein/creatinine (UPC) ratios at 2-4 weeks, 3, 6, and 12 months post-diagnosis. RESULTS: A total of 128 subjects with median age of 7 years (range 2-18) were included. Of these, 69 subjects had kidney biopsy with crescents detected in 53%. AKI (P = 0.039), nephrosis (P = 0.038), and crescents on biopsy (P = 0.013) were more likely in older patients. Patients with UPC > 1 mg/mg were more likely to get a kidney biopsy (P < 0.001) and to be treated with steroids ± immunosuppressive (IS) agents (P = 0.001). Sixty-six percent of patients were treated with steroids and/or IS agents for variable durations. Anti-metabolite agents were the most common IS agents used with variability in dosing and duration. At 12 months, most subjects had a normal eGFR (79%) (median 123, range 68-207 mL/min/1.73 m2) and no proteinuria (median UPC 0.15, range 0.01-4.02 mg/mg). CONCLUSIONS: IS agents are frequently used in managing IgAVN associated with heavy proteinuria, nephrosis, and/or AKI. Prospective studies are needed to determine indications and needed duration of IS therapy. A higher resolution version of the Graphical abstract is available as Supplementary information.

The outcomes of severe COVID-19 pneumonia managed with supportive care in Palestine: an experience from a developing country.

INTRODUCTION: About 14% of COVID-19 patients experience severe symptoms and require hospitalization. Managing these patients could be challenging for limited-resource countries, such as Palestine. This study aimed to evaluate hospitalized severe COVID-19 patients' treatment outcomes managed with supportive care and steroids. METHODOLOGY: This was a single-center observational retrospective cohort study that enrolled COVID-19 patients admitted to the "Martyrs medical military complex- COVID Hospital" in Palestine. The managing physicians manually collected data through chart reviews, including patients' characteristics, complications, outcomes, and different management modalities. Continuous and categorical variables between those who were discharged alive and who died were compared using t-test and Chi-squares test, respectively. RESULTS: Overall, 334 patients were included in this study. Median (IQR) age was 62(11) years, 49.1% were males, and 29.6% were ICU status patients. The median (IQR) PaO2/FiO2 ratio was 76 (67), and 67.6% of these patients had moderate to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome, and 4.8% of the patients received invasive mechanical ventilation. Most of the patients (78.7%) had at least one comorbidity, and 18.3% developed at least one complication. The overall mortality was 12.3% (95% CI 8.9-16.2%), and the median (IQR) length of hospital stay was 11 (8) days. Age (aOR 1.05, p = 0.08), smoking (aOR 4.12, p = 0.019), IMV (aOR 27.4, p < 0.001) and PaO2/FiO2 ratio (aOR 1.03, p < 0.001) were found to predict higher mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Supportive care for patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia in a Palestinian hospital with limited resources was associated with in-hospital mortality of 12.3%.

Influence of Different Post Luting Cements on the Fracture Strength of Endodontically Treated Teeth: An In Vitro Study.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the fracture resistance of endodontically treated mandibular premolars restored with glass fiber posts using different luting agents. METHODS: Twenty-four extracted single-rooted mandibular premolars were endodontically treated, and post spaces were prepared to receive fiber posts. They were assigned to three test groups (n=8) according to the type of cement used for the cementation of glass fiber posts: RC group: adhesive resin cement group (etch and rinse), SC group: self-adhesive resin cement group, and GC group: glass ionomer cement group. Teeth in all groups were adhesively restored with a composite resin core material and crowned with Ni-Cr crowns. All specimens were subjected to tangential loading using a universal testing machine until fracture at 30°. Failure loads were recorded, and data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey's HSD test (α=0.05). RESULTS: Specimens in the RC group were more resistant (258.3±12.7 N) to fracture than those in the SC (218.7±11.1 N) and GC (165.4±8.9 N) groups (P≤0.001). One-way ANOVA indicated that the type of cement had a significant effect on the fracture resistance of endodontically treated lower premolars (P≤0.001). CONCLUSION: The type of cement that was used to fix glass fiber posts was a determining factor of the fracture resistance of endodontically treated lower premolars.