Dying in the Intensive Care Unit.

OBJECTIVE: To document (using available data) the profile of the patients seen by the hospital's palliative service (PS) and who died in the medicine intensive care unit (ICU) of the Veterans Affairs Caribbean Healthcare System. METHODS: A record review of subjects who died in the ICU from January 1, 2012, to December 31, 2014. Demographic data, underlying comorbidities, the cause of death, the length of stay, evaluation made by the PS, and the withdrawal of life support (when such occurred) were recorded for each patient. RESULTS: A total of 200 patients met the criteria, mostly males. All the women and 50% of the men were over 79 years old. Seventy three percent of the patients were on mechanical ventilation when admitted, most having come from the emergency department. Fewer than 15% had advance directives. Forty-nine percent had been admitted to a hospital facility at least once during the year prior to their current admission. Most of the patients (60.5%) died within the first week, while 13% died within the first 24 hours. PS was requested for 56% of those who survived more than 24 hours, of which only 10% underwent the withdrawal-of-care protocol. CONCLUSION: A small percentage of the patients who died in the ICU had advance directives at the time of admission, this though all were of advanced age, had recently been discharged after a prior hospital stay, suffered from 1 or more chronic illnesses, or had a history of mental or physical disease. Our findings underscore the need for the early referral of patients of the type previously mentioned to a PS.

Resuscitation Strategies in Early Septic Shock: A Survey of Puerto Rico Intensive Care Physicians.

OBJECTIVE: Severe sepsis and Septic Shock may progress in the first hours after presentation and has been associated with an increased mortality. Prompt recognition and treatment of early septic shock (ESS) may improve survival. The purpose of our study was to describe the monitoring and management strategies of ESS, within Intensive Care Units (ICU) in Puerto Rico (PR). METHODS: In order to achieve our objective, a self-administered survey, previously validated by the Canadian Critical Care Trials Group, was administered to 25 physicians during a Critical Care Medicine (CCM) Meeting. Questions about usual monitoring and resuscitation end-points were administered. RESULTS: Most of the participants were affiliated to community hospitals (84%) and 92% were pulmonary or CCM specialists, with more than 15 years of working experience (80%). Monitoring devices and parameters mostly used by at least 85% of the respondents were: Oxygen Saturation, Foley catheters, Telemetry, Heart Rate, Blood Pressure, and Urinary Output. Intra-arterial lines and Central Venous Pressure were less used. Most use normal saline (96%), as the initial fluid of resuscitation. Only 24% would use inotropes to improve perfusion. CONCLUSION: Significant variability exists in the management of ESS among physicians in the ICU in PR. Compared to other studies, fewer physicians in PR use invasive monitoring techniques. These results highlight the need for quality education and training in CCM as well as continuing education in the field.

Flexible Bronchoscopic Removal of 3 Foreign Objects.

Consider flexible bronchoscopy as an option to retrieve aspirated foreign bodies in the airway.

Human papillomavirus infection in women in Puerto Rico: agreement between physician-collected and self-collected anogenital specimens.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to describe the prevalence and concordance between cervical and anal human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and compare cervicovaginal and anal self-collection methods for HPV testing between physician and self-collected specimens in women in Puerto Rico. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Specimens for HPV-DNA testing were obtained from 100 women aged 18 to 34 years attending a general gynecology clinic for a routine Pap smear. Human papillomavirus testing was performed using polymerase chain reaction MY09/MY11 primers. Positive samples were typed for 39 genotypes. Agreement between sampling methods was determined by percent agreement and the κ statistic. RESULTS: For the 39 genotypes evaluated, 38.4% (38/99) of cervicovaginal and 33.7% (30/89) of anal physician-collected samples were HPV+, whereas 35.1% (34/97) of cervicovaginal and 32.0% (31/97) of anal self-collected samples were positive. Human papillomavirus type 16 was the most common type identified in the cervix (8.3%, 8/97) and the anus (5.6%, 5/89) of physician-collected samples, with similar prevalence in self-collected samples. Concordance between cervical and anal HPV infection was high (>90%) for all types evaluated. There was a strong percent agreement between physician- and self-collected cervicovaginal and anal samples (>95% for all HPV types) and good to excellent agreement (κ > 0.60) for most HPV types. CONCLUSIONS: The clinic-based prevalence of anal and cervicovaginal HPV infection was high, with a strong concordance between cervical and anal infection and good to excellent agreement between physician- and self-collected samples. This study supports the feasibility of using cervical and anal self-sampling methods in future population-based studies of HPV infection in Puerto Rico and as an HPV screening method in women.

Racial and ethnic disparities in lifetime risk of corpus uterine cancer: a comparative study of Puerto Rico and the United States SEER population.

BACKGROUND: Corpus uterine cancer is the most common gynecologic malignancy in Puerto Rico and the United States. METHODS: We assessed the lifetime risk of developing and dying of corpus uterine cancer in women living in Puerto Rico (PR) and among Hispanics, non-Hispanic whites (NHW), and non-Hispanic blacks (NHB) in the United States. Data from the PR Central Cancer Registry and the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program were analyzed from 1993-2004. RESULTS: In PR, the probability of developing corpus uterine cancer increased from 1.21% in 1993-1995 to 1.69% in 2002-2004. The probability of developing this malignancy from 2002-2004 was 1.59% for NHB, 1.80% for Hispanics and 2.54% for NHW. The ratio of estimated probabilities only showed significant lower risk in PR as compared to NHW (.67, 95% CI = .59-.74). The probability of dying from corpus uterine cancer during 2002-2004 was .47% for Hispanics, .49% for NHW, .53% for PR and .76% for NHB. The ratio of estimated probabilities only showed significant lower risk of death in PR as compared to NHB (.70, 95% CI = .54-.85). CONCLUSIONS: The lifetime risk of developing corpus uterine cancer has increased in PR, suggesting higher exposure to risk factors in this population. Despite the lower lifetime risk of this malignancy in PR as compared to NHW, the similar lifetime risk of death in these groups suggests a disparity that may be influenced by differences in disease etiology and/or access or response to treatment. Assessment of risk factors, in addition to access to health services, is required to further understand these patterns.

Acceptability of cervical and anal HPV self-sampling in a sample of Hispanic women in Puerto Rico.

Self-sampling techniques have been shown to be reliable in determining human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, although the acceptability of this method of sampling has not been studied in Puerto Rico (PR). The objective of this study was to determine the acceptability of cervicovaginal and anal self-sampling for HPV DNA testing among women in PR. One hundred women aged 18-34 years old and undergoing routine Pap smears in an OBGYN clinic in PR were recruited. Interviewer-administered and computer-based questionnaires were used to collect information on relevant risk factors. To assess acceptability, four-item acceptability Likert scales were used that measured comfort, pain, privacy, and embarrassment. Overall acceptability indexes were calculated as the sum of the Likert scores. Clinician-collected and self-collected cervicovaginal and anal samples for HPV-DNA testing were obtained from the participating women. Although the acceptability of both sampling methods was high, it was higher for self- rather than clinician-sampling of the cervix (difference in mean score = -0.71, p<0.05); contrarily, it was higher for clinician-sampling of the anus (difference in mean score = 0.64). When analyzing individual items within the scale, less embarrassment was observed with respect to the self-collection of cervical and anal samples. Nevertheless, most women reported that they preferred having a clinician collect cervical and anal samples (67% and 61%, respectively); and most of these women (86% for cervical samples and 92% for anal samples) felt more confident that this sample would be properly taken. Despite this, in this population, the high level of acceptability with regard to self-collected samples and the previously documented concordance between self- and clinician-collected samples support the use of cervical and anal HPV DNA self-sampling techniques in future HPV-related population-based studies and screening programs in PR.