Cochrane Db Syst Rev
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2017
Review Meta AnalysisIntensive case management for severe mental illness.
Intensive Case Management (ICM) is a community-based package of care aiming to provide long-term care for severely mentally ill people who do not require immediate admission. Intensive Case Management evolved from two original community models of care, Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) and Case Management (CM), where ICM emphasises the importance of small caseload (fewer than 20) and high-intensity input. ⋯ Based on very low- to moderate-quality evidence, ICM is effective in ameliorating many outcomes relevant to people with severe mental illness. Compared to standard care, ICM may reduce hospitalisation and increase retention in care. It also globally improved social functioning, although ICM's effect on mental state and quality of life remains unclear. Intensive Case Management is at least valuable to people with severe mental illnesses in the subgroup of those with a high level of hospitalisation (about four days per month in past two years). Intensive Case Management models with high fidelity to the original team organisation of ACT model were more effective at reducing time in hospital.However, it is unclear what overall gain ICM provides on top of a less formal non-ICM approach.We do not think that more trials comparing current ICM with standard care or non-ICM are justified, however we currently know of no review comparing non-ICM with standard care, and this should be undertaken.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2017
ReviewTraining interventions for improving telephone consultation skills in clinicians.
Since 1879, the year of the first documented medical telephone consultation, the ability to consult by telephone has become an integral part of modern patient-centred healthcare systems. Nowadays, upwards of a quarter of all care consultations are conducted by telephone. Studies have quantified the impact of medical telephone consultation on clinicians' workload and detected the need for quality improvement. While doctors routinely receive training in communication and consultation skills, this does not necessarily include the specificities of telephone communication and consultation. Several studies assessed the short-term effect of interventions aimed at improving clinicians' telephone consultation skills, but there is no systematic review reporting patient-oriented outcomes or outcomes of interest to clinicians. ⋯ Telephone consultation skills are part of a wider set of remote consulting skills whose importance is growing as more and more medical care is delivered from a distance with the support of information technology. Nevertheless, no evidence specifically coming from telephone consultation studies is available, and the training of clinicians at the moment has to be guided by studies and models based on face-to-face communication, which do not consider the differences between these two communicative dimensions. There is an urgent need for more research assessing the effect of different training interventions on clinicians' telephone consultation skills and their effect on patient outcomes.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2017
Review Meta AnalysisNitric oxide for respiratory failure in infants born at or near term.
Nitric oxide (NO) is a major endogenous regulator of vascular tone. Inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) gas has been investigated as treatment for persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn. ⋯ Inhaled nitric oxide is effective at an initial concentration of 20 ppm for term and near-term infants with hypoxic respiratory failure who do not have a diaphragmatic hernia.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2017
Review Meta AnalysisAxillary treatment for operable primary breast cancer.
Axillary surgery is an established part of the management of primary breast cancer. It provides staging information to guide adjuvant therapy and potentially local control of axillary disease. Several alternative approaches to axillary surgery are available, most of which aim to spare a proportion of women the morbidity of complete axillary dissection. ⋯ This review confirms the benefit of SLNB and axillary sampling as alternatives to ALND for axillary staging, supporting the view that ALND of the clinically and radiologically uninvolved axilla is no longer acceptable practice in people with breast cancer.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2017
Review Meta AnalysisEarly administration of inhaled corticosteroids for preventing chronic lung disease in very low birth weight preterm neonates.
Chronic lung disease (CLD) remains a common complication among preterm infants. There is increasing evidence that inflammation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of CLD. Due to their strong anti-inflammatory properties, corticosteroids are an attractive intervention strategy. However, there are growing concerns regarding short- and long-term effects of systemic corticosteroids. Theoretically, administration of inhaled corticosteroids may allow for beneficial effects on the pulmonary system with a lower risk of undesirable systemic side effects. ⋯ Based on this updated review, there is increasing evidence from the trials reviewed that early administration of inhaled steroids to VLBW neonates is effective in reducing the incidence of death or CLD at 36 weeks' PMA among either all randomised infants or among survivors. Even though there is statistical significance, the clinical relevance is of question as the upper CI limit for the outcome of death or CLD at 36 weeks' PMA is infinity. The long-term follow-up results of the Bassler 2015 study may affect the conclusions of this review. Further studies are needed to identify the risk/benefit ratio of different delivery techniques and dosing schedules for the administration of these medications. Studies need to address both the short- and long-term benefits and adverse effects of inhaled steroids with particular attention to neurodevelopmental outcome.