Clinical laboratory science : journal of the American Society for Medical Technology最新文献

A 52 year old, healthy male presented to his optometrist complaining of redness and irritation in the right eye. A foreign body was removed from the eye. The patient was started on ophthalmic solutions of vigamox and systane. At 48 hours, the patient reported increased redness, limited vision, and yellow discharge from the eye. The patient was referred to an ophthalmologist for further evaluation. Physical assessment revealed a superlative central infiltrate (extreme, centrally located injury that had permeated the cornea), diffuse corneal haze, and edema with a 3- to 4+ conjunctival injection and a 1 millimeter hypopyon (an effusion of pus into the anterior chamber of the eye). Corneal scrapings were collected for aerobic and anaerobic bacterial and fungal cultures. The patient was then prescribed. vancomycin, tobramycin, and natamycin ophthalmic eyedrops. On day three, fungal culture results indicated possible fungal forms seen. On day 12, results from the fungal culture of the corneal scraping revealed the causative agent to be Aspergillus terreus. Voriconazole eyedrops were added to the treatment regimen and continued for 10 weeks. The physician order for a fungal culture as well as laboratory data providing the final identification of Aspergillus terreus and laboratory comments indicating an elevated minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) (> 2 microg/mL) to amphotericin B is associated with treatment failure positively impacted the patient outcome. After completion of the treatment regimen, a photo-therapeutic keratectomy (PTK) was performed in an attempt to remove the dense corneal scarring caused by the fungal infection.

This study investigated medical laboratory science clinical instructors' beliefs about teaching and how they viewed themselves as teachers. The first phase of the study included an integrative literature review, which suggested that the development of teacher identity in school-based educators, and to a lesser extent higher education faculty, is dependent on four dimensions: personal factors, training factors, contextual factors, and reflective practice. The second phase of this study began qualitative inquiry into the ways that these participants described their teaching and professional identity. Interviews were conducted with medical laboratory science clinical instructors in order to gain an understanding of their perceptions of themselves as teachers. The data collected in this study indicate that this group of clinical instructors saw themselves as teachers who were responsible for providing students with technical skills needed to become competent practitioners and the theoretical foundation necessary to pass the national certification exam. The study participants also saw themselves as mentors who were responsible for passing along professional knowledge to the next generation of laboratory practitioners. During data analysis three themes emerged that represent aspects of teacher identity in clinical instructors: belief in one's teaching ability, desire to expand one's professional responsibilities, and reflection on one's teaching. The findings from this study may provide a foundation for future research designed to measure teacher identity in clinical instructors.

Objective: To evaluate and characterize staphylococcal carriage, possibly including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and conversion rates in nursing students across clinical semester rotations and to describe risk factors.

Design: A prospective longitudinal cohort design with six times of measurement. Data collected August 2010 to May 2012. Institutional Review Board approval (2010F5693).

Setting: Texas State University, San Marcos, TX.

Participants: Eighty-seven nursing students.

Interventions: A positive MRSA swab was considered an end point for participation. Intervention offered was bactroban (mupirocin) for nasal decolonization and an oral antibiotic, doxycycline; follow-up post treatment collection sample was done to verify decolonization prior to next clinical rotation.

Main outcome measures: Screening for Staphylococcus aureus and MRSA identification; confirmation and antibiotic susceptibility by Vitek 2; self-administered questionnaires delineating demographics and risk factors; panel logistic regression models by Stata version 13.

Results: MRSA colonization did not increase. S. aureus incidence was 17.7 - 26.4%. Staphylococcal species incidence other than S. aureus increased (9.2 - 82.3%). The following odds ratio (OR) associations were found to be statistically significant: boil or skin infections with S. aureus (OR = 2.94, p < .01), working or volunteering in a healthcare facility odds with species other than S. aureus (OR = 4.41, p < .01) and gym and sports facilities odds with S. other (OR 2.45, p < .01). The most frequently occurring species at Wave 5 was S. hominis (21 isolates) while the most frequently occurring species at Wave 6 was S. epidermidis (25 isolates).

Conclusions: MRSA colonization did not increase during longitudinal study. S. aureus colonization remained fairly stable throughout the study (17 - 26%). Species colonization with non S. aureus species (e.g. S. hominis, S. epidermis, S. haemolyticus) increased significantly (9.2 - 82.3%) during clinical rotations. Knowledge of infection control and compliance may have contributed to an absence of MRSA colonization; however, the colonization by other staphylococci has been shown to be a risk factor for MRSA acquisition.

A cost-effectiveness analysis was conducted comparing the polymerase chain reaction assay and traditional microbiological culture as screening tools for the identification of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in patients admitted to the pediatric and surgical intensive care units (PICU and SICU) at a 722 bed academic medical center. In addition, the cost benefits of identification of colonized MRSA patients were determined. The cost-effectiveness analysis employed actual hospital and laboratory costs, not patient costs. The actual cost of the PCR assay was higher than the microbiological culture identification of MRSA ($602.95 versus $364.30 per positive carrier identified). However, this did not include the decreased turn-around time of PCR assays compared to traditional culture techniques. Patient costs were determined indirectly in the cost-benefit analysis of clinical outcome. There was a reduction in MRSA hospital-acquired infection (3.5 MRSA HAI/month without screening versus 0.6/month with screening by PCR). A cost-benefit analysis based on differences in length of stay suggests an associated savings in hospitalization costs: MRSA HAI with 29.5 day median LOS at $63,810 versus MRSA identified on admission with 6 day median LOS at $14,561, a difference of $49,249 per hospitalization. Although this pilot study was small and it is not possible to directly relate the cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analysis due to confounding factors such as patient underlying morbidity and mortality, a reduction of 2.9 MRSA HAI/month associated with PCR screening suggests potential savings in hospitalization costs of $142,822 per month.

The focus on scholarly productivity as an outcome measure for performance evaluations of personnel and/or units and benchmarking purposes is increasing in both the academic and clinical settings. This article presents avenues for identifying achievable research projects in both the academic and clinical settings. Factors for consideration when selecting a project include its significance or impact on the profession, feasibility for implementing the project, and ethical issues related to human subjects protection. A review of the literature is essential for identifying gaps in knowledge and for constructing the hypothesis or research question. Decisions concerning IRB submission, budget allocation, and collection of data must also be considered before implementation of the research design.

This is a case study of a 23-year-old pregnant Polynesian woman with anti-Jk3 identified in her plasma during her third visit to a hospital. This patient, with a history of mild anemia due to beta-thalassemia minor and two known transfusion of packed red cells came to an emergency room complaining of severe abdominal cramps. Her hemoglobin during her second hospital visit was 7.5 g/dL and her antibody screen was negative. Two units of crossmatch compatible packed cells were transfused with no adverse reaction and she was discharged. Four days post transfusion, she returned to the hospital complaining of back pain and fatigue and she was running a fever (101 degrees F). Her antibody screen was positive, direct antiglobulin testing was also positive and the eluate showed pan-agglutination with a red cell panel. Anti-Jk3 was identified in her plasma by the Red Cross and a delayed transfusion reaction was suspected. As a result, Kidd null crossmatch compatible units were obtained from relatives. The patient was successfully transfused and was discharged with a hemoglobin of 10.1 g/dL. The fetus appeared to be unaffected by the antibody. This case reiterates the hard-to-identify characteristics of Kidd antibodies and highlights the need for medical laboratory personnel to be informed on the prevalence of the Kidd null phenotype among various populations. Educating ethnic populations with rare phenotypes and organizing targeted blood drives may increase inventories of these rare blood phenotypes.

A review of professional literature was conducted to examine the history of the education of medical laboratory practitioners. This comprehensive review included historical educational milestones from World War II to present day. During this time period the standard of two years of college required for matriculation into a medical technology program increased to four years. Critical thinking skills promoted in the educational model and applied in practice expanded from an analytic and psychomotor orientation to include those requiring extensive situational interpretation and negotiation. By the end of the twentieth century, the clinical laboratory had experienced significant scientific and technologic transformations necessitating greatly expanded roles for the medical laboratory practitioner. Though the educational requirements and education model have changed minimally since the 1970's, the knowledge and skills required for the next generation of medical laboratory practitioners continue to escalate. The second decade of the 21st century portends a transformation in medical laboratory practitioner education commensurate with the rapid advancement of science, technology, communications, and the precepts of evidence-based practice.

Rapid advancements in diagnostic technologies coupled with growth in testing options and choices mandate the development of evidence-based testing algorithms linked to the care paths of the major chronic diseases and health challenges encountered most frequently. As care paths are evaluated, patient/consumers become partners in healthcare delivery. Clinical laboratory scientists find themselves firmly embedded in both quality improvement and clinical research with an urgent need to translate clinical laboratory information into knowledge required by practitioners and patient/consumers alike. To implement this patient-centered care approach in clinical laboratory science, practitioners must understand their roles in (1) protecting patient/consumer autonomy in the healthcare informed consent process and (2) assuring patient/consumer privacy and confidentiality while blending quality improvement study findings with protected health information. A literature review, describing the current ethical environment, supports a consultative role for clinical laboratory scientists in the clinical decision-making process and suggests guidance for policy and practice regarding the principle of autonomy and its associated operational characteristics: informed consent and privacy.