Association of Weekly Protected Nonclinical Time With Resident Physician Burnout and Well-being.

Importance: Burnout among physicians is high, with resulting concern about quality of care. With burnout beginning early in physician training, much-needed data are lacking on interventions to decrease burnout and improve well-being among resident physicians. Objectives: To design a departmental-level burnout intervention, evaluate its association with otolaryngology residents' burnout and well-being, and describe how residents used and perceived the study intervention. Design, Setting, and Participants: A prospective, nonrandomized crossover study was conducted from September 25, 2017, to June 24, 2018, among all 19 current residents in the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Minnesota. Statistical analysis was performed from June 28 to August 7, 2018. Interventions: All participants were assigned 2 hours per week of protected nonclinical time alternating with a control period of no intervention at 6-week intervals. Main Outcomes and Measures: Burnout was measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory and Mini-Z Survey. Well-being was measured by the Resident and Fellow Well-Being Index and a quality-of-life single-item self-assessment. In addition to a baseline demographic survey, participants completed the aforementioned surveys at approximately 6-week intervals during the study period. Results: Among the 19 residents in the study (10 men [53%]), the overall protected time intervention (week 0 to week 32) was associated with a mean decrease of 0.63 points (95% CI, -1.03 to -0.22 points) in the Maslach Burnout Inventory emotional exhaustion score, indicating a clinically meaningful decrease in burnout, and a mean decrease of 1.26 points (95% CI, -2.18 to -0.34 points) in the Resident and Fellow Well-Being Index score, indicating a clinically meaningful improvement in well-being. The baseline to week 32 mean changes in the Maslach Burnout Inventory depersonalization score, Maslach Burnout Inventory personal accomplishment score, and quality-of-life single-item self-assessment were not clinically meaningful. There were clinically meaningful improvements in 4 of 6 tested Mini-Z Questionnaire items from baseline to week 32: job stress (weighted κ statistic, 0.21; 95% CI, -0.11 to 0.53), burnout (weighted κ statistic, 0.25; 95% CI, -0.02 to 0.53), control over workload (weighted κ statistic, 0.26; 95% CI, -0.01 to 0.53), and sufficient time for documentation (weighted κ statistic, 0.31; 95% CI, 0.08 to 0.54). Conclusions and Relevance: This study found that 2 hours per week of protected nonclinical time was associated with decreased burnout and increased well-being in a small sample of otolaryngology residents. Future randomized clinical studies in larger cohorts are warranted to infer causality of decreased burnout and increased well-being as a result of protected nonclinical time.

Airway Hypersensitivity, Reflux, and Phonation Contribute to Chronic Cough.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Although chronic cough is common, its etiology is often elusive, making patient management a challenge. Gastroesophageal reflux and airway hypersensitivity can cause chronic cough. We explored the relationship between reflux, phonation, and cough in patients with idiopathic chronic cough. METHODS: We performed a blinded, cross-sectional study of nonsmoking patients with chronic cough (duration, >8 weeks) refractory to reflux treatment referred to the Digestive Disease Center at Vanderbilt University. All underwent 24-hour acoustic recording concurrently and temporally synchronized with ambulatory pH-impedance monitoring. Cough, phonation, and pH-impedance events were recorded. We evaluated the temporal relationship between cough and phonation or reflux events using Poisson and logistic regression. RESULTS: Seventeen patients met the inclusion criteria (88% female; 100% white; median age, 63 years [interquartile age range, 52-66 years]; mean body mass index, 30.6 [interquartile range, 27.9-34.0]); there were 2048 analyzable coughing events. The probability of subsequent coughing increased with higher burdens of preceding cough, reflux, or phonation. Within the first 15 minutes after a cough event, the cough event itself was the main trigger of subsequent cough events. After this period, de novo coughing occurred with increases of 1.46-fold in association with reflux alone (95% confidence interval, 1.17-1.82; P < .001) and 1.71-fold in association with the combination of phonation and reflux events. CONCLUSIONS: Antecedent phonation and reflux increased the rate of cough events in patients with idiopathic chronic cough. Reflux events were more strongly associated with increased rate of coughing. Our findings support the concept that airway hypersensitivity is a cause of chronic cough, and that the vocal folds may be an effector in chronic cough ClinicalTrials.gov number: NCT01263626.

Combining voice therapy and physical therapy: A novel approach to treating muscle tension dysphonia.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the role of a specialized physical therapy program for muscle tension dysphonia patients as an adjunct to standard of care voice therapy. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective Cohort Study Methods Adult MTD patients seen between 2007 and 2012 were identified from the clinical database. They were prescribed voice therapy and, if concomitant neck pain, adjunctive physical therapy. In a pragmatic observational cohort design, patients underwent one of four potential treatment approaches: voice therapy alone (VT), voice therapy and physical therapy (VT+PT), physical therapy alone (PT), or incomplete/no treatment. Voice handicap outcomes were compared between treatment approaches. RESULTS: Of 153 patients meeting criteria (Median age 48 years, 68% female, and 30% had fibromyalgia, chronic pain, chronic fatigue, depression, and/or anxiety), there was a similar distribution of patients with moderate or severe pre-treatment VHI scores across treatment groups (VT 45.5%, VT+PT 43.8%, PT 50%, no treatment 59.1%; p=0.45). Patients treated with VT alone had significantly greater median improvement in VHI than those not treated: 10-point vs. 2-point (p=0.02). Interestingly, median VHI improvement in patients with baseline moderate-severe VHI scores was no different between VT (10), VT+PT (8) and PT alone (10; p=0.99). CONCLUSIONS: Findings show voice therapy to be an effective approach to treating MTD. Importantly, other treatment modalities incorporating physical therapy had a similar, albeit not significant, improvement in VHI. This preliminary study suggests that physical therapy techniques may have a role in the treatment of a subset of MTD patients. Larger, comparative studies are needed to better characterize the role of physical therapy in this population. LEARNING OUTCOMES: The reader will describe symptoms associated with muscle tension dysphonia and current treatment. The reader will describe the systematic adjunctive physical therapy approach and understand the rationale to consider incorporation of physical therapy into the current treatment regimen.

Middle ear meningiomas: a case series reviewing the clinical presentation, radiologic features, and contemporary management of a rare temporal bone pathology.

Meningiomas are the most common extra-axial intracranial neoplasm and frequently develop in the parasagittal region. Rarely, meningiomas may involve the middle ear and mastoid, resulting from contiguous spread of adjacent intracranial tumor, or less commonly as an isolated primary tumor of the middle ear. Patients with primary middle ear meningiomas (MEMs) often present with non-specific otologic complaints including hearing loss, otorrhea and otalgia thereby mimicking common chronic otitis media, while secondary lesions more frequently manifest sensorineural hearing loss, cranial neuropathy and other neurologic symptoms from the associated intracranial component. The radiological appearance of MEMs often overlaps with other tumors of the temporal bone. Therefore, a correct diagnosis cannot always be made prior to surgical biopsy. While gross total resection with preservation of existing neurological function is possible with smaller lesions, complete tumor removal may be extremely morbid with more extensive or adherent MEMs. In such cases, aggressive subtotal resection with close radiologic follow-up should be considered. Given the rarity of the studied condition, the literature addressing MEMs is sparse. The current study reviews ten additional cases of MEMs, highlighting the clinicopathologic and radiological features that distinguish meningiomas from other middle ear and mastoid pathology.

Bayesian modeling of pretransplant variables accurately predicts kidney graft survival.

INTRODUCTION: Machine learning can enable the development of predictive models that incorporate multiple variables for a systems approach to organ allocation. We explored the principle of Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) to determine whether a predictive model of graft survival can be derived using pretransplant variables. Our hypothesis was that pretransplant donor and recipient variables, when considered together as a network, add incremental value to the classification of graft survival. METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of 5,144 randomly selected patients (age ≥18, deceased donor kidney only, first-time recipients) from the United States Renal Data System database between 2000 and 2001. Using this dataset, we developed a machine-learned BBN that functions as a pretransplant organ-matching tool. RESULTS: A network of 48 clinical variables was constructed and externally validated using an additional 2,204 patients of matching demographic characteristics. This model was able to predict graft failure within the first year or within 3 years (sensitivity 40%; specificity 80%; area under the curve, AUC, 0.63). Recipient BMI, gender, race, and donor age were amongst the pretransplant variables with strongest association to outcome. A 10-fold internal cross-validation showed similar results for 1-year (sensitivity 24%; specificity 80%; AUC 0.59) and 3-year (sensitivity 31%; specificity 80%; AUC 0.60) graft failure. CONCLUSION: We found recipient BMI, gender, race, and donor age to be influential predictors of outcome, while wait time and human leukocyte antigen matching were much less associated with outcome. BBN enabled us to examine variables from a large database to develop a robust predictive model.

The impact of recurrent laryngeal neuromonitoring on multi-dimensional voice outcomes following thyroid surgery.

BACKGROUND: Voice changes after thyroidectomy are common but not always related to recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) injury. We evaluated if RLN neuromonitoring correlated with non-RLN injury-related changes in voice after thyroidectomy. METHODS: Prospective multi-dimensional voice assessment was conducted on patients undergoing thyroidectomy before, 1-4 weeks, and 6 months postoperatively. Voice outcome (VO) was determined as normal (NormVO) or negative (NegVO) based upon combinations of patient-reported symptoms, videolaryngoscopy, a composite of acoustic measurements, and clinician-perceived voice quality. Groups with and without neuromonitoring were compared for early and durable differences in VO. RESULTS: Ninety-one patients underwent thyroidectomy; 39 with RLN neuromonitoring and 52 without. The two study groups were similar with regard to baseline characteristics including voice assessment. There was no difference in NegVO between neuromonitored and non-monitored patients at 1-4 weeks (n = 89; 32% vs. 27%; P = 0.81) and 6 months (n = 71, 14% vs. 7%; P = 0.42) after thyroidectomy. Neuromonitoring was associated with a 48-min increase in median operative time, but this finding was not statistically significant in a multivariate model. CONCLUSION: In this study, recurrent laryngeal neuromonitoring did not appear to influence non-RLN injury related VO as measured by a comprehensive multidimensional voice assessment.

Changes in mRNA levels for brain-derived neurotrophic factor after wheel running in rats selectively bred for high- and low-aerobic capacity.

We evaluated levels of exercise-induced brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) messenger RNA (mRNA) within the hippocampal formation in rats selectively bred for 1) high intrinsic (i.e., untrained) aerobic capacity (High Capacity Runners, HCR), 2) low intrinsic aerobic capacity (Low Capacity Runners, LCR), and 3) unselected Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats with or without free access to running wheels for 3 weeks. The specific aim of the study was to determine whether a dose-response relationship exists between cumulative running distance and levels of BDNF mRNA. No additional treatments or behavioral manipulations were used. HCR, LCR, and SD rats were grouped by strain and randomly assigned to sedentary or activity (voluntary access to activity wheel) conditions. Animals were killed after 21 days of exposure to the assigned conditions. Daily running distances (mean ± standard deviation meters/day) during week three were: HCR (4726 ± 3220), SD (2293 ± 3461), LCR (672 ± 323). Regardless of strain, levels of BDNF mRNA in CA1 were elevated in wheel runners compared to sedentary rats and this difference persisted after adjustment for age (p=0.040). BDNF mRNA was not affected by intrinsic aerobic capacity and was not related to total running distance. The results support that BDNF mRNA expression is increased by unlimited access to activity wheel running for 3 weeks but is not dependent upon accumulated running distance.

Late-stage nodular erythema elevatum diutinum.

Erythema elevatum diutinum (EED) is a rare chronic vasculitic process of unknown etiology that presents as bilateral, symmetrical, periarticular, red-brown papules and plaques, often over dorsa of joints. Early histologic changes are characterized by leukocytoclastic vasculitis. With chronicity, the lesions develop dense neutrophilic infiltrate and fibrosis. We describe an unusual case of late-stage nodular EED present for 35 years in a seronegative 75-year-old man. Asymptomatic papules and plaques measuring from 0.7 to 9.0 cm were seen over the interphalangeal joints, elbows, knees, and ankles. The histologic findings were characterized by predominant concentric fibrosis that formed well-circumscribed dermal and subcutaneous nodules. Awareness of this unusual presentation of EED helps to avoid misdiagnosis as cutaneous neoplasms.