Project SIGNAL: A Dashboard for Supporting Community Confidence in Making Data-Driven Decisions.

CONTEXT: Data dashboards have emerged as critical tools for surveillance and informing resource allocation. Despite their utility and popularity during COVID-19, there is a growing need to understand what tools and training are tailored to nonprofit community-based organizations that may partner with public health officials. PROGRAM: In June 2021, the Rhode Island Department of Health and Brown University partnered to create Project SIGNAL (Spatiotemporal Insights to Guide Nuanced Actions Locally), which utilizes spatiotemporal analytics to identify Rhode Island's largest disparities in COVID-19-related outcomes (eg, testing, diagnosis, vaccinations) at the neighborhood level. Results were hosted in an interactive online dashboard (signal-ri.org) designed using principles of the CDC Clear Communication Index. The target audience included a network of 15 geographic areas called Health Equity Zones, funded by the health department to provide critical grassroots public health programs to address social, health, and economic outcomes in their communities. IMPLEMENTATION: To disseminate the dashboard, a 6-hour virtual workshop series was created to train leaders to use the dashboard and increase their confidence in understanding common public health data terminology and concepts and better prepare attendees for rapid decision making during future public health emergencies. EVALUATION: The Project SIGNAL dashboard was launched in August 2022 and has been accessed over 7500 times. A total of 84 community leaders were trained to use this dashboard, increasing their confidence in applying common public health metrics to make decisions about their COVID-19-related activities. DISCUSSION: While several studies have outlined best practices for data dashboards, this is among the first to examine incorporating these practices into a spatiotemporal decision tool designed specifically for community organizations. Project SIGNAL demonstrates that by incorporating design best practices and pairing data dashboards with hands-on training, we can empower community leaders to utilize advanced spatiotemporal methods to identify health disparities and take localized action.

British Thoracic Society Training Standards for Thoracic Ultrasound (TUS).

INTRODUCTION: The British Thoracic Society (BTS) responded to a call from the pleural community to establish this new Training Standard to detail the capabilities in practice for thoracic ultrasound (TUS), which will build on the previous curricula and extend the remit to include training for the emergency provision of TUS. METHODS: BTS convened a working group to produce a set of Training Standards. RESULTS: This document provides a comprehensive Training Standard for TUS facilitating timely and improved management of patients with respiratory presentations, particularly (but not exclusively) pleural pathologies. DISCUSSION: The Training Standards document will be widely disseminated.

Training opportunities in thoracic ultrasound for respiratory trainees: are current guidelines practical?

Introduction: Respiratory trainees in the UK face challenges in meeting current Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) Level 1 training requirements for thoracic ultrasound (TUS) competence, specified as attending 'at least one session per week over a period of no less than 3 months, with approximately five scans per session performed by the trainee (under supervision of an experienced practitioner)'. We aimed to clarify where TUS training opportunities currently exist for respiratory registrars. Methods: Data were collected (over a 4-week period) to clarify the number of scans (and therefore volume of training opportunities) within radiology departments and respiratory services in hospitals in the South West, North West deaneries and Oxford. Results: 14 hospitals (including three tertiary pleural centres) provided data. Of 964 scans, 793 (82.3%) were conducted by respiratory teams who performed a mean of 17.7 scans per week, versus 3.1 TUS/week in radiology departments. There was no radiology session in any hospital with ≥5 TUS performed, whereas 8/14 (86%) of respiratory departments conducted such sessions. Almost half (6/14) of radiology departments conducted no TUS scans in the period surveyed. Conclusions: The currently recommended exposure of regularly attending a list or session to undertake five TUS is not achievable in radiology departments. The greatest volume of training opportunities exists within respiratory departments in a variety of scheduled and unscheduled settings. Revision of the competency framework in TUS, and where this is delivered, is required.

The Artificial Pancreas: What School Nurses Need to Know.

The hybrid closed-loop insulin delivery system, a form of "artificial pancreas," is composed of an insulin pump, a standardized algorithm, and a continuous glucose monitor. The system streamlines insulin delivery by connecting continuous glucose monitor data with an insulin pump and an algorithm to drive basal insulin delivery. The hybrid closed-loop insulin delivery system, approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2016 for children older than 7 years, is a major improvement in the management of type 1 diabetes. The purpose of this article is to educate school nurses about the components of the hybrid closed-loop insulin delivery system, the relevance to care, and the future direction of blood glucose management.

Providing safe and effective pleural medicine services in the UK: an aspirational statement from UK pleural physicians.

Physicians face considerable challenges in ensuring safe and effective care for patients admitted to hospital with pleural disease. While subspecialty development has driven up standards of care, this has been tempered by the resulting loss of procedural experience in general medical teams tasked with managing acute pleural disease. This review aims to define a framework though which a minimum standard of care might be implemented. This review has been written by pleural clinicians from across the UK representing all types of secondary care hospital. Its content has been formed on the basis of literature review, national guidelines, National Health Service England policy and consensus opinion following a round table discussion. Recommendations have been provided in the broad themes of procedural training, out-of-hours management and pleural service specification. Procedural competences have been defined into descriptive categories: emergency, basic, intermediate and advanced. Provision of emergency level operators at all times in all trusts is the cornerstone of out-of-hours recommendations, alongside readily available escalation pathways. A proposal for minimum standards to ensure the safe delivery of pleural medicine have been described with the aim of driving local conversations and providing a framework for service development, review and risk assessment.

Acute exercise is associated with reduced exhaled nitric oxide in physically inactive adults with asthma.

BACKGROUND: Although exercise has multiple health benefits, relatively little attention has been paid to its potential therapeutic effects in those with asthma. OBJECTIVE: To examine the effects of acute exercise on inflammation in physically inactive and active adults with asthma. METHODS: Fourteen adults with asthma (n = 6 physically inactive, n = 8 physically active) completed (1) 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise on a treadmill and (2) 30 minutes of rest in random order, with 4 weeks between sessions. Exhaled nitric oxide (eNO) was measured before and after the intervention (0, 0.5, 1, 2, 4, and 24 hours). Blood inflammatory mediators were measured before and after the intervention (0, 2, and 24 hours). RESULTS: Physically inactive participants had a significant decrease in eNO 4 hours after exercise (-4.8 ppb, -6.4 to -0.5 ppb, P = .028), which was not observed in physically active participants (P = .362). Interluekin-1 receptor antagonist increased in the physically inactive group 2 hours after exercise, with this increase strongly correlated with the decrease in eNO at 4 hours (R = -0.685, P = .007) and 24 hours (R = -0.659, P = .014) after exercise. Interleukin-6 was increased significantly 2 hours after exercise in physically inactive participants. Blood neutrophils and nuclear factor erythroid 2-like 2 gene expression were increased 2 hours after exercise in the overall cohort. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that acute moderate-intensity exercise is associated with decreased eNO in physically inactive adults with asthma and suggests that interluekin-1 receptor antagonist could have a role in mediating this effect. The attenuated response in physically active participants might be due to the sustained anti-inflammatory effects of exercise training. Future studies should investigate the impact of exercise intensity and exercise training on airway inflammation in those with asthma. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (http://www.anzctr.org.au), registration number ACTRN12613001014741.

Assessment of mood state in dementia by use of the visual analog mood scales (VAMS).

OBJECTIVE: The assessment of mood states in individuals with dementia is a challenging yet clinically useful task. The purpose of the present study was to examine the validity of the Visual Analog Mood Scales (VAMS) in individuals with dementia. METHODS: Thirty-one patients who met diagnostic criteria for dementia completed the VAMS and a modified Profile of Mood States. RESULTS: Authors found good convergent validity between all monotrait-heteromethod mood states. Excellent discriminant validity was found for VAMS Happy, Confused, Angry, and Energetic scales. CONCLUSION: These results provide evidence for the validity of the VAMS in patients with dementia.