A novel non-opioid protocol for medically supervised opioid withdrawal and transition to antagonist treatment.

BACKGROUND: The clinical feasibility of a novel non-opioid and benzodiazepine-free protocol was assessed for the treatment of medically supervised opioid withdrawal and transition to subsequent relapse prevention strategies. METHODS: A retrospective chart review of DSM-IV diagnosed opioid-dependent patients admitted for inpatient medically supervised withdrawal examined 84 subjects (52 males, 32 females) treated with a 4-day protocol of scheduled tizanidine, hydroxyzine, and gabapentin. Subjects also received ancillary medications as needed, and routine counseling. Primary outcomes were completion of medically supervised withdrawal, and initiation of injectable extended release (ER) naltrexone treatment. Secondary outcomes included the length of hospital stay, Clinical Opiate Withdrawal Scale (COWS) scores, and facilitation to substance use disorder treatment intervention. Ancillary medication use and adverse effects were also assessed. RESULTS: A total of 79 (94%) of subjects completed medically supervised withdrawal. A total of 27 (32%) subjects chose to pursue transition to ER naltrexone, and 24 of the 27 (89%) successfully received the injection prior to hospital discharge. The protocol subjects had a mean length of hospital stay of 3.6 days, and the mean COWS scores was 3.3, 3.4, 2.8, and 2.4 on Day 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively. Furthermore, 71 (85%) engaged in an inpatient or outpatient substance use disorder (SUD) treatment program following protocol completion. CONCLUSION: This retrospective chart review suggests the feasibility of a novel protocol for medically supervised opioid withdrawal and transition to relapse prevention strategies, including injectable ER naltrexone. This withdrawal protocol does not utilize opioid agonists or other controlled substances.‬‬‬‬.

Coronary stents seeded with human trophoblastic endovascular progenitor cells show accelerated strut coverage without excessive neointimal proliferation in a porcine model.

AIMS: The success of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has been limited by restenosis and stent thrombosis. Delayed or incomplete endothelial regeneration is believed to be a key factor responsible for these events. Developing a stent with an accelerated healing profile may be of benefit. We aimed to evaluate the feasibility and safety of seeding a bare metal stent (BMS) with human trophoblastic endovascular progenitor cells (hTEC) derived from human embryonic stem cells. A porcine coronary artery model was used to compare the rate and extent of endothelial regeneration and the degree of neointimal proliferation. Characterisation of hTEC confirmed a mixed progenitor and endothelial cell phenotype. The biodistribution and fate of hTEC were studied using radiolabelled 111Indium oxine and fluorescent in situ hybridisation. Scanning electron microscopy showed earlier endothelial coverage in hTEC-seeded stents as compared to similar BMS. hTEC-seeded BMS achieved complete stent coverage in three days. Quantitative coronary angiography, intravascular ultrasound assessment and histomorphometry showed no difference in neointimal hyperplasia between hTEC-seeded and control BMS. hTEC seeding of coronary stents is a novel and safe approach to accelerate endothelial regeneration without increasing neointimal proliferation.

Improving acute psychiatric hospital services according to inpatient experiences. A user-led piece of research as a means to empowerment.

This paper has been undertaken by people with experience with mental health issues and mental health care systems. The aim of the research was to explore psychiatric inpatients' strategies for coping with mental ill health and in what ways acute inpatient psychiatric hospital services are facilitative to the individual attempting recovery. Ten focus groups were facilitated and data were analysed through systematic content analysis. Findings revealed that the main areas of concern for inpatients were: information, communication, relationships, activities, self-help, patient involvement in care treatment plans, and the physical environment. The authors also make a case to improve the status of user-led research as a means to understand the needs of mental health service users.

Creating a space for recovery-focused psychiatric nursing care.

Within contemporary mental health-care, power relationships are regularly played out between psychiatric nurses and service users. These power relationships are often imperceptible to the practicing nurse. For instance, in times of distress, service users often turn to or/and 'construct' discourses, beliefs and knowledge that are at odds with those which psychiatric nurses rely on to inform them of the mental status of the service user. The psychiatric nurse is in the position to impose knowledge onto service users, usually in concurrence with 'traditional or bio-psychiatry', without realizing or failing to acknowledge that the service user may have an alternative explanation of his/her mental health problems/experiences. In this paper, practice examples, based on the experiences of the four authors (from within and outside of services), are used to illustrate this 'hidden' power relationship. The authors use Foucault's ideas about: (i) government; (ii) the knowledge/power nexus and resistance; (iii) and his analytic tool of genealogy to help unravel this paradox within psychiatric nursing practice. The authors also use the emerging discourse of recovery as an alternative (and challenge) to 'traditional bio-psychiatry' and consider the implications for psychiatric nursing practice.

Aligning financial incentives with quality of care in the hospital setting.

This article describes the structure, implementation, and early results of a performance-based hospital incentive program designed by a large nonprofit health plan. The Hospital Quality Service and Recognition program, developed by the Hawaii Medical Service Association, was launched in 2001 to reward high-quality medical care at the hospital level. This pay-for-performance program used administrative claims data, survey data, and hospital-reported information to assess hospital performance in risk-adjusted complications and risk-adjusted length of stay (LOS), patient satisfaction, and hospital processes of care measures. Financial incentives were provided to participating hospitals based on their performance on these measures. Preliminary outcomes of the program evaluated over a 4-year period after implementation revealed improvements in aggregated rates of risk-adjusted surgical complications and efficiency of care as evidenced by a substantial decrease in risk-adjusted average LOS for several surgical procedures. Quality improvement was demonstrated in several other program components including emergency department satisfaction. This quality incentive program offers an innovative approach for encouraging delivery of high-quality and service-oriented care in a statewide network of participating hospitals.