Recent Publications by CFE Educators

PURPOSE

To characterize recent evidence-based medicine (EBM) educational interventions for medical students and suggest future directions for EBM education.

METHOD

The authors searched the MEDLINE, Scopus, Educational Resource Information Center, and Evidence-Based Medicine Reviews databases for English-language articles published between 2006 and 2011 that featured medical students and interventions addressing multiple EBM skills. They extracted data on learner and instructor characteristics, educational settings, teaching methods, and EBM skills covered.

RESULTS

The 20 included articles described interventions delivered in 12 countries in classroom (75%), clinic (25%), and/or online (20%) environments. The majority (60%) focused on clinical students, whereas 30% targeted preclinical students and 10% included both. EBM skills addressed included recognizing a knowledge gap (20%), asking a clinical question (90%), searching for information (90%), appraising information (85%), applying information (65%), and evaluating practice change (5%). Physicians were most often identified as instructors (60%); co-teachers included librarians (20%), allied health professionals (10%), and faculty from other disciplines (10%). Many studies (60%) included interventions at multiple points during one year, but none were longitudinal across students' tenures. Teaching methods varied. Intervention efficacy could not be determined.

CONCLUSIONS

Settings, learner levels and instructors, teaching methods, and covered skills differed across interventions. Authors writing about EBM interventions should include detailed descriptions and employ more rigorous research methods to allow others to draw conclusions about efficacy. When designing EBM interventions, educators should consider trends in medical education (e.g., online learning, interprofessional education) and in health care (e.g., patient-centered care, electronic health records).

PURPOSE

The research sought to ascertain the types and quantity of research evidence accessed by health personnel through PubMed and UpToDate in a university medical center over the course of a year in order to better estimate the impact that increasing levels of open access to biomedical research can be expected to have on clinical practice in the years ahead.

METHODS

Web log data were gathered from the 5,042 health personnel working in the Stanford University Hospitals (SUH) during 2011. Data were analyzed for access to the primary literature (abstracts and full-text) through PubMed and UpToDate and to the secondary literature, represented by UpToDate (research summaries), to establish the frequency and nature of literature consulted.

RESULTS

In 2011, SUH health personnel accessed 81,851 primary literature articles and visited UpToDate 110,336 times. Almost a third of the articles (24,529) accessed were reviews. Twenty percent (16,187) of the articles viewed were published in 2011.

CONCLUSION

When it is available, health personnel in a clinical care setting frequently access the primary literature. While further studies are needed, this preliminary finding speaks to the value of the National Institutes of Health public access policy and the need for medical librarians and educators to prepare health personnel for increasing public access to medical research.

PURPOSE

We assessed patient perceptions of regular intermittent self-dilation in men with urethral stricture.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We constructed and distributed a visual analog questionnaire to evaluate intermittent self-dilation via catheterization by men referred for urethral stricture management at a total of 4 institutions. Items assessed included patient duration, frequency, difficulty and pain associated with intermittent self-dilation as well as interference of intermittent self-dilation with daily activity. The primary outcome was patient perceived quality of life. Multivariate analysis was performed to assess factors that affected this outcome.

RESULTS

Included in the study were 85 patients with a median age of 68 years, a median of 3.0 years on intermittent self-dilation and a median frequency of 1 dilation per day. On a 1 to 10 scale the median intermittent self-dilation difficulty was 5.0 ± 2.7, the median pain score was 3.0 ± 2.7 and median interference with daily life was 2.0 ± 1.3. Overall quality of life in patients with stricture was poor (median score 7.0 ± 2.6 with poor quality of life defined as 7 or greater). On univariate analysis younger age (p 0.01), interference (p = 0.03), pain (p 0.01) and difficulty performing intermittent self-dilation (p = 0.03) correlated with poor quality of life in a statistically significant manner. On multivariate analysis only difficulty catheterizing (p 0.01) and younger age (p = 0.05) were statistically significant predictors. Patients with stricture involving the posterior urethra had a statistically significant increase in difficulty and decrease in quality of life (each p = 0.04).

CONCLUSIONS

Most patients with urethral stricture who are on intermittent self-dilation rate difficulty and pain as moderate, and inconvenience as low but report poor quality of life.

OBJECTIVE

Ankle-brachial index (ABI) screening is recommended for the detection of asymptomatic peripheral arterial disease (PAD) in at-risk populations, including diabetics. A low ABI identifies obstructive lower extremity vascular disease and predicts CVD events and increased mortality. A high ABI represents non-compressible arterial disease (NCAD), and is also associated with increased mortality and vascular events. Our objective is to investigate whether low and high ABI have distinct patterns of association with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and subclinical atherosclerosis in individuals with type-II diabetes mellitus.

METHODS

The Penn Diabetes Heart Study (PDHS) is a prospective observational cohort of diabetic individuals without clinically evident CVD. Multivariate logistic and Tobit linear regression were used to compare CVD risk factors and coronary artery (CAC) among 1863 subjects with PAD (ABI ≤ 0.9), NCAD (ABI ≥ 1.4 or non-compressible) or normal ABI (0.91-1.39).

RESULTS

Compared to those with normal ABI, PAD was associated with smoking, obesity, and lower HDL-c; while diabetes duration and reduced renal function were associated with NCAD. Both PAD and NCAD were independently associated with increased CAC compared to those with normal ABI, and these relationships were not attenuated in multiply adjusted models.

CONCLUSION

NCAD bears a distinct relationship to traditional CVD risk factors among diabetics, though like PAD is independently associated with increased CAC. These findings support the recognition of NCAD as a high-risk phenotype and provide additional relevance to ABI screening in diabetics.

OBJECTIVES

To estimate and compare the risk of emergent bradycardia associated with starting immediate-release (IR) and slow-release (SR) formulations of metoprolol.

DESIGN

Retrospective analysis of administrative claims data.

DATA SOURCE

State of California Medicaid program (Medi-Cal) claims database.

PATIENTS

A total of 31,574 adults beginning metoprolol between May 1, 2004, and November 1, 2009, without a pharmacy claim for a β blocker within the previous 6 months of metoprolol initiation; patients with a primary or secondary diagnosis of symptomatic bradycardia, pacemaker, or implantable cardioverter-defibrillator placement before metoprolol initiation were excluded.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

The study outcome was the time to first occurrence of emergent bradycardia, measured at an emergency department visit or hospitalization due to diagnosis of symptomatic bradycardia, after metoprolol initiation. We calculated the incidence and compared the risk of emergent bradycardia by using a proportional hazards model that included the metoprolol formulation with adjustment for total daily metoprolol dose and the use of other drugs as time-varying covariates, as well as demographics and comorbidities. Among 31,574 patients starting metoprolol, 18,516 (58.6%) used the IR formulation. The incidence of emergent bradycardia was 19.1/1000 person-years overall but was nearly twice as common in patients using the IR versus the SR formulation (24.1/1000 person-yrs in the IR group versus 12.9/1000 person-yrs in the SR group, unadjusted hazard ratio [HR] 1.81, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.28-2.56). Adjustment for other drugs also associated with symptomatic bradycardia (cytochrome P450 2D6 inhibitors, class I or III antiarrhythmics, and atrioventricular node-blocking agents), metoprolol dose, and other participant characteristics somewhat attenuated the association (adjusted HR 1.48, 95% CI 1.03-2.13).

CONCLUSION

The risk of emergent bradycardia associated with metoprolol initiation was higher with the IR formulation than the SR formulation, although the absolute risk was low.

Advanced endoscopic resection techniques allow curative treatment of difficult colonic lesions and avoid the need for surgery in certain cases. If endoscopic resection is indicated, the choice of the most appropriate resection technique depends on lesion characteristics and endoscopist expertise.

PURPOSE

This study was designed to determine (1) rates of clinically meaningful tumor reduction in breast tumor size following neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC), (2) which receptor subtypes and MRI phenotypes are associated with clinically meaningful tumor reduction, and (3) whether MRI phenotype impacts concordance between pathologic and MRI size.

METHODS

We analyzed data from the I-SPY TRIAL, a multicenter, prospective NAC trial. Reduction in tumor size from >4 to ≤4 cm was considered clinically meaningful, as crossing this threshold was considered a reasonable cutoff for potential breast conservation therapy (BCT). MRI phenotypes were scored between one (well-defined) and five (diffuse) on pre-NAC MRIs.

RESULTS

Of 174 patients with tumors >4 cm, 141 (81%) had clinically meaningful tumor reduction. Response to therapy varied by MRI phenotype (p = 0.003), with well-defined phenotypes more likely than diffuse phenotypes to have clinically meaningful tumor shrinkage (91 vs. 72%, p = 0.037). Her2+ and triple-negative (Tneg) tumors had the highest rate of clinically meaningful tumor reduction (p = 0.005). The concordance between tumor diameter on MRI and surgical pathology was highest for Her2+ and Tneg tumors, especially among tumors with solid imaging phenotypes (p = 0.004).

DISCUSSION

NAC allows most patients with large breast tumors to have clinically meaningful tumor reduction, meaning response that would impact ability to undergo BCT. However, response varies by imaging and tumor subtypes. Concordance between tumor size on MRI and surgical pathology was higher in well-defined tumors, especially those with a Tneg subtype, and lower in HR+ diffuse tumors.