The effects of gender, personal trauma history and memory continuity on the believability of child sexual abuse disclosure among psychologists.

Gender, a personal history of trauma and attitudes towards continuous vs recovered memories of abuse significantly impact the believability of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) disclosures in community samples. Yet, whether these variables influence the believability of CSA disclosure and subsequent clinical decisions made by practicing psychologists is underexplored. A vignette of trauma disclosure from a hypothetical adult client was presented via an online survey to 292 registered psychologists. Participants rated the believability of the disclosure, answered an open-ended item regarding treatment planning, and completed the Brief Betrayal Trauma Survey to measure personal trauma history. Results indicated that female psychologists believed disclosures significantly more than male psychologists and that disclosures comprised of continuous memories were believed more than recently recovered memories. A significant interaction between gender and personal trauma history was also revealed. Female psychologists believed disclosures regardless of their personal trauma history, while male psychologists with a personal history of trauma believed disclosures significantly more than male psychologists without personal trauma history. Reported believability of the disclosure, while unrelated to treatment planning, was associated with a reported intention to validate the client's experience. The results support that, similar to community samples, gender and a personal trauma history impact psychologist believability of CSA disclosure. The research further supports that psychologist level of belief then translates into clinical implications.

The Quality Conundrum: Recognizing and Reckoning With Musculoskeletal Healthcare Disparities.

Disparities in musculoskeletal health care exist across race, ethnicity, sex, and socioeconomic status. Because medical and socioeconomic comorbidities disproportionately affect certain patient populations, the transition to a value-based model of healthcare delivery and reimbursement based on current methodology has unintentionally intensified musculoskeletal healthcare disparities. To address healthcare disparities, surgeons must understand the history and effect of a value-based model of healthcare delivery and reimbursement and the current risk adjustment and reporting initiatives that inform future directions of healthcare systems. Attention to bias and the use of shared decision making at the patient-surgeon level may help promote more equitable care. At the health systems level, surgeons can collect demographic data via registries and use existing disparity-related reporting measures to promote more equitable care. The development of quality reporting measures and risk stratification models that encourage the delivery of equitable musculoskeletal health care for all patients is necessary.

Young infants with severe tetralogy of Fallot: Early primary surgery versus transcatheter palliation.

BACKGROUND: Infants with severe tetralogy of Fallot may undergo (1) early primary surgical repair (EARLY) or (2) early transcatheter palliation (CATH) before delayed surgical repair. We compared these strategies with (3) elective single-stage tetralogy of Fallot repair (IDEAL). METHODS: From 2000 to 2012, 453 children underwent tetralogy of Fallot repair (excluding systemic-pulmonary shunts), including 383 in the IDEAL (75%), 42 in the EARLY (9%), and 28 in the CATH (6%) groups. IDEAL repair at The Hospital for Sick Children occurs after 3 months. Risk-adjusted hazard analysis compared freedom from surgical or catheter reintervention. Somatic size, branch pulmonary artery size, and right ventricle systolic pressure were modeled using 2780 echocardiogram reports via mixed-model regression. RESULTS: CATH involved right ventricular outflow tract stent in 18 patients, right ventricular outflow tract balloon in 9 patients, and ductal-stent in 1 patient. Three patients died (1 per group). Risk-adjusted freedom from surgical reoperation was 89% ± 4%, 88% ± 5%, and 85% ± 6% for the IDEAL, EARLY, and CATH groups, respectively, at 10 years. Patients in the EARLY and CATH groups had similar reoperation rates, except for neonates (<1 month), for whom EARLY repair conferred an increased risk of reoperation. Risk-adjusted freedom from catheter reintervention was lower in the EARLY group (76%) and especially for the CATH group (53%) at 10 years versus the IDEAL group (83%). Somatic growth and progression of right ventricle systolic pressure were similar among groups at 8 years. Although those undergoing EARLY (P = .02) and CATH (P = .09) tend to have smaller branch pulmonary arteries initially, late pulmonary artery size was not significantly different among groups. CONCLUSIONS: Early primary repair for neonates may increase surgical reoperation, whereas transcatheter palliation comes at a cost of increased catheter reintervention. However, overall outcomes between groups, in terms of survival, growth, and hemodynamic parameters, were comparable, suggesting that both strategies are a reasonable option for children with severe tetralogy of Fallot.

Osteoarthritis: Models for appropriate care across the disease continuum.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a leading cause of pain and disability worldwide. Despite the existence of evidence-based treatments and guidelines, substantial gaps remain in the quality of OA management. There is underutilization of behavioral and rehabilitative strategies to prevent and treat OA as well as a lack of processes to tailor treatment selection according to patient characteristics and preferences. There are emerging efforts in multiple countries to implement models of OA care, particularly focused on improving nonsurgical management. Although these programs vary in content and setting, key lessons learned include the importance of support from all stakeholders, consistent program delivery and tools, a coherent team to run the program, and a defined plan for outcome assessment. Efforts are still needed to develop, deliver, and evaluate models of care across the spectrum of OA, from prevention through end-stage disease, in order to improve care for this highly prevalent global condition.

Patient-Centered Care and Population Health: Establishing Their Role in the Orthopaedic Practice.

As health care increasingly emphasizes high value, the terms "population health" and "patient-centered care" have become common, but their application is less clear. Patient-centered care encourages using data to optimize care for an individual. Population health offers a framework to consider how to efficiently and effectively manage a condition for a population, how prevention affects large groups, and the specific distribution of a given disorder. Integrating both concepts into practice can facilitate required outcome-measure reporting and potentially improve patient outcomes. Clinical practice guidelines and appropriate use criteria are examples of reconciliation of these topics. By embracing attempts to decrease variation in treating musculoskeletal disorders while personalizing delivery to individual patients, surgeons may benefit from the improvement of both efficiency and patient experience.

Differential Potency of 2,6-Dimethylcyclohexanol Isomers for Positive Modulation of GABAA Receptor Currents.

GABAA receptors meet all of the pharmacological requirements necessary to be considered important targets for the action of general anesthetic agents in the mammalian brain. In the following patch-clamp study, the relative modulatory effects of 2,6-dimethylcyclohexanol diastereomers were investigated on human GABAA (α1ß3γ2s) receptor currents stably expressed in human embryonic kidney cells. Cis,cis-, trans,trans-, and cis,trans-isomers were isolated from commercially available 2,6-dimethylcyclohexanol and were tested for positive modulation of submaximal GABA responses. For example, the addition of 30 µM cis,cis-isomer resulted in an approximately 2- to 3-fold enhancement of the EC20 GABA current. Coapplications of 30 µM 2,6-dimethylcyclohexanol isomers produced a range of positive enhancements of control GABA responses with a rank order for positive modulation: cis,cis > trans,trans ≥ mixture of isomers > > cis,trans-isomer. In molecular modeling studies, the three cyclohexanol isomers bound with the highest binding energies to a pocket within transmembrane helices M1 and M2 of the ß3 subunit through hydrogen-bonding interactions with a glutamine at the 224 position and a tyrosine at the 220 position. The energies for binding to and hydrogen-bond lengths within this pocket corresponded with the relative potencies of the agents for positive modulation of GABAA receptor currents (cis,cis > trans,trans > cis,trans-2,6-dimethylcyclohexanol). In conclusion, the stereochemical configuration within the dimethylcyclohexanols is an important molecular feature in conferring positive modulation of GABAA receptor activity and for binding to the receptor, a consideration that needs to be taken into account when designing novel anesthetics with enhanced therapeutic indices.

Current concept review: quality and process improvement in orthopedics.

Multiple health care stakeholders are increasingly scrutinizing musculoskeletal care to optimize quality and cost efficiency. This has led to greater emphasis on quality and process improvement. There is a robust set of business strategies that are increasingly being applied to health care delivery. These quality and process improvement tools (QPITs) have specific applications to segments of, or the entire episode of, patient care. In the rapidly changing health care world, it will behoove all orthopedic surgeons to have an understanding of the manner in which care delivery processes can be evaluated and improved. Many of the commonly used QPITs, including checklist initiatives, standardized clinical care pathways, lean methodology, six sigma strategies, and total quality management, embrace basic principles of quality improvement. These principles include focusing on outcomes, optimizing communication among health care team members, increasing process standardization, and decreasing process variation. This review summarizes the common QPITs, including how and when they might be employed to improve care delivery.

Safety in surgery: the role of shared decision-making.

The only surgery without risk of complications is the one not performed. Shared decision-making (SDM) offers a process which can help a physician and patient move beyond passive informed consent to a more collaborative, patient-centered experience. By offering a balanced review of conservative and invasive treatment options, including the option of observation only, SDM provides patients an opportunity to express their personal values and goals in the context of health decisions. Thus, when the patient decides to accept the inherent risks of surgery, there has truly been an opportunity to understand and discuss all treatment alternatives.

Factors driving physician-hospital alignment in orthopaedic surgery.

BACKGROUND: The relationships between physicians and hospitals are viewed as central to the proposition of delivering high-quality health care at a sustainable cost. Over the last two decades, major changes in the scope, breadth, and complexities of these relationships have emerged. Despite understanding the need for physician-hospital alignment, identification and understanding the incentives and drivers of alignment prove challenging. QUESTIONS/PURPOSES: Our review identifies the primary drivers of physician alignment with hospitals from both the physician and hospital perspectives. Further, we assess the drivers more specific to motivating orthopaedic surgeons to align with hospitals. METHODS: We performed a comprehensive literature review from 1992 to March 2012 to evaluate published studies and opinions on the issues surrounding physician-hospital alignment. Literature searches were performed in both MEDLINE(®) and Health Business™ Elite. RESULTS: Available literature identifies economic and regulatory shifts in health care and cultural factors as primary drivers of physician-hospital alignment. Specific to orthopaedics, factors driving alignment include the profitability of orthopaedic service lines, the expense of implants, and issues surrounding ambulatory surgery centers and other ancillary services. CONCLUSIONS: Evolving healthcare delivery and payment reforms promote increased collaboration between physicians and hospitals. While economic incentives and increasing regulatory demands provide the strongest drivers, cultural changes including physician leadership and changing expectations of work-life balance must be considered when pursuing successful alignment models. Physicians and hospitals view each other as critical to achieving lower-cost, higher-quality health care.