Effects of web-based instruction and patient preferences on patient-reported outcomes and learning for women with advanced ovarian cancer: A randomized controlled trial.

A randomized controlled trial was conducted of a web-based intervention to improve advanced care planning in women with ovarian cancer. A secondary analysis of 35 randomized women focused on changes in distress and knowledge about ovarian cancer through distress monitoring and information tailored to patients' cognitive coping style (monitoring, blunting). Pre-/postresults indicated the Intervention group demonstrated lower distress (p = 0.06); blunting was associated with lower depression (p = 0.04); knowledge in both groups was unchanged. Women in the Intervention vs. Control group reported their family was less likely to be upset by cancer information (p = 0.0004). This intervention reduced distress while incorporating patient preferences.

Designing an Educational Website to Improve Quality of Supportive Oncology Care for Women with Ovarian Cancer: An Expert Usability Review and Analysis.

A broad-based research team developed a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)-compliant educational website for women with ovarian cancer to improve the quality of supportive oncology care. Prior to a randomized clinical trial of the website, initial usability testing was implemented to evaluate the website. The initial review found that 165/247 checklist items had sufficient information to allow for evaluation with the website achieving an overall score of 63%. By category, lowest scores were for the Home Page, Task Orientation, Page Layout & Visual Design, and Help, Feedback & Error Tolerance. Major issues thought to potentially impede actual usage were prioritized in redevelopment and the second usability review, conducted by the same expert, saw an improvement in scores. Incorporating usability concepts from the start of development, fulfilling the positive expectations of end-users and identifying technical and personal factors that optimize use may greatly enhance usage of health websites.

Development and pilot of an advance care planning website for women with ovarian cancer: a randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: Few available tools facilitate cancer patients and physicians' discussions of quality of life and end-of-life. Our objective was to develop a web-based tool to promote advance care planning for women with ovarian cancer. METHODS: Women with ovarian cancer, their families, clinicians and researchers met to identify ways to improve cancer care. A prototype website was created to address advance care planning, focusing on advance healthcare directives (AHD) and palliative care consultation. Patients were recruited from a gynecologic oncology clinic for a pilot randomized controlled trial. Primary outcomes included completion of an AHD and palliative care consultation. RESULTS: At study completion, 53 women with ovarian cancer were enrolled and 35 completed the study. The mean age at enrollment was 57.9 ± 9.5 years; most were newly diagnosed or at first recurrence. There were no statistical differences in completion of AHD (p=0.220) or palliative care consultation (p=0.440) between intervention and control groups. However, women in the intervention group showed evidence of moving toward decision making regarding AHD and palliative care and lower decisional conflict. Women assigned to the intervention, compared to control website, were highly satisfied with the amount (p=0.054) and quality (p=0.119) of information and when they accessed the website, used it longer (p=0.049). Overall website use was lower than expected, resulting from several patient-related and design barriers. CONCLUSIONS: A website providing information and decisional support for women with ovarian cancer is feasible. Increasing frequency of website use requires future research.

Deidentification of facial images using composites.

PURPOSE: Maxillofacial surgeons rely on photography for education and documentation. Photographs of the face, unlike those of other body regions, are readily identifiable. Traditional methods of facial image deidentification decrease educational quality or fail to adequately conceal identity. In the present study, a method that uses blended facial composites to deidentify original facial images was developed. This method allows significant components of the original face to be visualized while concealing its identity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The method was used to develop 20 different composite facial images that were viewed by student subjects. Ten of these images contained at least one third of a face that was familiar to the subjects. Subjects viewed the composite faces twice--first unaware that the faces were composites, and then primed to the presence of composites. Subjects later rated the efficacy of this method for image deidentification. RESULTS: When unaware that they were viewing composite images, no subjects recognized the familiar faces within the composites or rated them as familiar (0/120 total views, 0%). When later primed to the potential presence of familiar faces within composites, the identification rate increased significantly (74/120, 62%; P < .001). Results were similar no matter which portion of the familiar face (upper, 67%; mid, 54%; lower, 67%) was present. Subjects rated all composites as clinically realistic patient images. They also rated composites as more effective at deidentification than traditional methods. CONCLUSION: The use of composites appears to be a promising concept for facial image deidentification. Further larger-scale studies are needed to validate these findings.

Modafinil as a potential motion sickness countermeasure.

INTRODUCTION: Motion sickness adversely affects military air and sea operations. Medications help prevent motion sickness but are frequently associated with side effects. Better medications or combinations of medications are needed. Dextroamphetamine has documented anti-motion sickness effects but also has a potential for abuse. Modafinil is a relatively new central nervous system stimulant that has none of the drawbacks of dextroamphetamine, but has not been evaluated for the treatment of motion sickness. METHODS: This double-blind, placebo-controlled study evaluated the anti-motion sickness efficacy of modafinil, alone or in combination with oral scopolamine. Moderate nausea was induced via a Coriolis cross-coupling stimulus. There were 60 participants who were assigned randomly to 1 of 3 conditions: 1) 2 placebo pills (DP); 2) modafinil plus placebo (MP); or 3) modafinil plus oral scopolamine (MS). The primary measure of drug efficacy was the number of head tilts tolerated upon reaching moderate nausea for 1 min without abatement. RESULTS: The combination of modafinil and scopolamine (MS) allowed subjects to tolerate significantly more head tilts than placebo, but modafinil alone (MP) failed to differ significantly from placebo (DP). No significant cognitive performance decrements were observed among the three experimental conditions. CONCLUSION: Modafinil was not found to be more effective than placebo. Further testing is recommended to determine whether the potentially promising combination of modafinil and scopolamine provides better efficacy or fewer side effects than scopolamine administered alone.

Duplicate medical records: a survey of Twin Cities healthcare organizations.

Duplicate medical records occur when a single patient is associated with more than one medical record number. This causes a dangerous and expensive issue for hospitals and health information technology. A survey was constructed to gather qualitative information from Twin Cities healthcare organizations. The goal was to determine baseline information regarding the recognition of the problems surrounding duplicate medical record creation and organizational strategies for resolutions. The survey demonstrated that all organizations acknowledged the importance and patient safety issue regarding the creation of duplicates but the strategies and solutions are varied. As defined in the Minnesota Alliance for Patient Safety5, the ultimate goal of this survey was to favorably impact patient safety. The deidentified results were disseminated to all participating organizations along with recommendations for system improvements in order to raise awareness of the issue and promote patient safety.