Chinese family care partners of older adults in Canada have grit: A qualitative study.

AIM: To explain the process taken by Chinese family care partners of older adults in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada, to access health and social services in their communities. The research question was: What mechanisms and structures impact the agency of Chinese family care partners of older adults, in the process of assisting them to access health and social services? DESIGN: This qualitative study was informed by critical realism. METHODS: Chinese family care partners of older adults in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada, were interviewed from August 2020 to June 2021. Transcripts underwent thematic analysis. FINDINGS: Twenty-eight Chinese family care partners expressed a firm commitment to maintain caregiving conditions and to judiciously access health and social services. Their commitment was made up of three parts: (a) legislative and cultural norms of family, work, and society; (b) their perseverance to fill gaps with limited social and financial resources; (c) the quality of their relationship to, and illness trajectory of the older adults. The social structures created tension in how Chinese family care partners made decisions, negotiated resources, and ultimately monitored and coordinated timely access with older adults. CONCLUSION: Participants' commitment and perseverance were conceptualized as "grit," central to their agency to conform to legislative and cultural norms. Moreover, findings support grit's power to motivate and sustain family caregiving, in order for older adults to age in place as long as possible with finite resources. IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PROFESSION: This study highlights the importance of cultural awareness education for nurses, enabling continuity of care at a systems level and for a more resilient healthcare system. IMPACT: Family care partners' grit may be crucial for nurses to harness when together, they face limited access to culturally appropriate health and social services in a system grounded in values of equity and inclusion, as in Canada. REPORTING METHOD: When writing this manuscript, we adhered to relevant EQUATOR guidelines of the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ). PATIENT OR PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT AND ENGAGEMENT: No patient or public involvement.

Topiramate and asymptomatic ocular angle narrowing: a prospective pilot study.

PURPOSE: To investigate whether subclinical ciliochoroidal effusion and resulting asymptomatic angle narrowing occurs in patients taking topiramate, by ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM). METHODS: Chinese patients aged 18-75 years for whom topiramate was indicated were recruited. Examinations including UBM were performed before and 4 weeks after commencement of topiramate. RESULTS: In this pilot of 20 eyes of 20 patients, there were no statistically significant changes in the angle parameters noted on gonioscopy or UBM, including anterior chamber depth, angle-opening distance at 500 mum, trabecular ciliary process distance, trabecular-iris angle, and scleral thickness. CONCLUSION: Short-term use of topiramate does not induce asymptomatic angle narrowing.

Late leakage of filtering bleb in a patient with orbital pseudotumor.

PURPOSE: To report an unusual case of spontaneous late leakage of filtering bleb in a patient with orbital pseudotumor. METHODS: Single case report. RESULTS: A 53-year-old woman developed spontaneous leakage of bleb in her right eye 23 years after trabeculectomy with application of mitomycin-C (MMC). Two weeks later, her symptoms were blurring of vision, increasing redness, and dull ocular pain in the right eye. The inflammatory signs were suggestive of endophthalmitis, orbital cellulites, or pseudo-tumor. Absence of ophthalmoplegia, fever, and raised white cell count, together with the computed tomographic scan finding, confirmed the diagnosis of orbital pseudotumor. She responded well to oral steroids. CONCLUSIONS: Orbital pseudotumor may initially present with spontaneous late leakage in a bleb augmented by MMC. Orbital pseudotumor should be added to the list of differential diagnoses when facing a patient with an inflamed, chemotic, proptotic eye in the presence of a late bleb leak.