Use of electronic nicotine delivery systems is flourishing among adolescents. The long-term effects have not been fully determined; however, literature suggests there is potential for significant harm. Providers must be aware of usage trends, device safety, and product knowledge. Adolescents should be evaluated through routine screening, and cessation counseling should be initiated.
Purpose
To evaluate if pharmacogenetic testing (PT) holds value for pain‐management practitioners by identifying the potential applications of pharmacogenetic research as well as applications in practice.
Data sources
A review of the literature was conducted utilizing the databases EBSCOhost, Biomedical Reference Collection, CINAHL, Health Business: Full Text, Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition, and MEDLINE with the keywords, personalized medicine, cytochrome P450, and phamacogenetics.
Conclusions
Chronic‐pain patients present some of the most challenging patients to manage medically. Often paired with persistent, life‐altering pain, they might also have oncologic and psychological comorbidities that can further complicate their management. One‐step in‐office PT is now widely available to optimize management of complicated patients and affectively remove the “trial‐and‐error” process of medication therapy.
Implications for practice
Practitioners must be familiar with the genetic determinants that affect a patient's response to medications in order to decrease preventable morbidity and mortality associated with drug–drug and patient–drug interactions, and to provide cost‐effective care through avoidance of inappropriate medications. Improved pain managements will impove patient outcomes and satisfaction.
Introduction: Radiation therapy (RT) offers a less invasive management option for bariatric cancer patients. As the proportion of Australians categorised overweight or obese approaches 70%, it is not well understood how this growth will impact RT departments. The aim of this study was to evaluate the current and potential future body mass index (BMI) of RT patients at one centre, with the purpose of identifying variables that may impact resource planning decisions. Methods: De-identified demographic data including gender, age, diagnosis code, activity code and BMI were obtained from MOSAIQâ oncology information system for 5548 courses of RT commenced between 2017 and 2020, and retrospectively analysed. Descriptive statistics were used to summarise the data. Simple and multiple linear regression was used to analyse for statistically significant relationships between variables. Results: Of all patient courses, 64% were overweight or obese. Average BMI increased over time by 0.3 kg/m 2 per year. Courses related to the young and elderly had a lower average BMI. Breast, brain/skull, and pelvis/prostate treatment sites had a significant association with a higher average BMI. Thorax treatment sites had a lower average BMI, but this average is increasing at the fastest rate of all treatment sites. Prone breast courses had an average BMI 5.58 kg/m 2 higher than IMRT/VMAT courses. Conclusion: Results demonstrate that patient BMI is increasing. Resources related to breast courses (breast board, prone board) and thorax courses (lung board) may experience increased strain in the future. Modifications to department workflow and scheduling are likely required. Further research into staffing implications is recommended.
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