Community-Based Palliative Care: An APRN-Led Embedded Model for Advanced Lung Disease.

Community-based palliative care (CBPC) models address the growing needs of patients and caregivers with chronic and serious illnesses. From pediatrics to geriatrics, individuals prefer to receive care within their local community and at home. Delivering care at the community level and within the home improves health outcomes, reduces disparities, and supports local economic activity. Various models of CBPC have developed through partnerships with existing services, such as home health agencies, but ongoing challenges and barriers exist for further expansion of specialty palliative care. Advanced practice registered nurses increasingly manage chronic and serious illnesses and are essential for all health care teams, particularly for CBPC. As trusted providers within the community, advanced practice registered nurses create lasting relationships that allow for meaningful exchanges with patients and caregivers. This article reviewed the concept and features of CBPC offered within the United States and describes an advanced practice registered nurse-led embedded palliative care program for advanced lung disease.

Rapid Maxillary Expansion and Adenotonsillectomy in 9-Year-Old Twins With Pediatric Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome: An Interdisciplinary Effort.

Pediatric obstructive sleep apnea is known to cause neurocognitive problems, yet it often goes undetected or mistreated. The authors describe 9-year-old twins with snoring, enlarged tonsils, and excessive daytime sleepiness whose symptoms had been previously disregarded by health care professionals. At presentation, a dentist found the patients to be midface deficient and symptomatic. A home sleep test, prescribed by the dentist, revealed apnea-hypopnea index readings of 74/h and 16/h, respectively. The children were referred to an otolaryngologist, and a continuous positive airway pressure therapy trial resulted in improved cognition and temperament. Rapid maxillary expansion was then performed at the dentist office, followed by adenotonsillectomy by an ear, nose, and throat specialist and myofunctional rehabilitation with a speech pathologist for both patients. After treatment, results mimicked those reported during the continuous positive airway pressure trial, with substantially reduced apnea-hypopnea index of 0.9/h and 1.6/h. This case highlights the interdisciplinary nature of pediatric obstructive sleep apnea management and the need for all health care professionals to receive comprehensive sleep medicine training for proper diagnosis and treatment.

Efficacy and safety of nebulized formoterol as add-on therapy in COPD patients receiving maintenance tiotropium bromide: Results from a 6-week, randomized, placebo-controlled, clinical trial.

Current guidelines for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) recommend the use of long-acting bronchodilators in the maintenance management of COPD. Combining bronchodilators that work through different mechanisms is recommended in patients with continuous symptoms. We conducted this study to confirm and further investigate the efficacy and safety of nebulized formoterol as an add-on therapy to maintenance tiotropium in patients with COPD. This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group study (NCT00507234) was conducted at 24 US sites from March to October 2007 in 155 patients aged > or =40 years with post-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV(1)) > or =25% to <65% predicted normal. COPD patients receiving open-label tiotropium bromide 18 microg once daily during a 1- to 2-week run-in period were randomized to receive either formoterol fumarate inhalation solution 20 microg or placebo by nebulization twice daily for 6 weeks while continuing treatment with tiotropium. Outcomes included serial spirometry, inspiratory capacity (IC), baseline dyspnoea index/transition dyspnoea index (BDI/TDI), daily symptom scores, salbutamol (albuterol) use and health status measured by the St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ). The primary efficacy endpoint was standardized absolute FEV(1) area under the curve over 3 hours (AUC(0-3)) at week 6. Treatment groups (formoterol plus tiotropium, n = 78; placebo plus tiotropium, n = 77) were comparable at baseline. At 6 weeks, FEV(1) AUC(0-3) was significantly greater in the formoterol group compared with the placebo group (1.57 vs 1.38 L [p < 0.0001]). Similarly, formoterol plus tiotropium improved other lung function measures, including FEV(1), forced vital capacity and post-dose IC at day 1, and maintained efficacy through week 6. Formoterol plus tiotropium decreased rescue albuterol use throughout the study (p < 0.05). Mean TDI, SGRQ and most symptom scores did not differ between the two treatment groups. Overall, 37% of formoterol plus tiotropium recipients experienced adverse events versus 51% of those receiving placebo plus tiotropium. The addition of nebulized formoterol to tiotropium in maintenance treatment of COPD provided clinically meaningful, statistically significant and sustained improvements in pulmonary function without additional adverse effects.