Volume 111, Issue 1

Context: The American Osteopathic Association developed its Clinical Assessment Program (AOA-CAP) for Residencies to provide a mechanism for osteopathic residency programs to measure and improve their quality of patient care. Objective: To compare program performance in processes of care and intermediate outcomes for patients with diabetes mellitus in residency programs that contributed data to the AOA-CAP for the first time vs residency programs that contributed data repeatedly. Methods: Osteopathic family medicine residency programs that entered data into the AOA-CAP diabetes registry between July 1, 2005, and December 31, 2007, were included in the present study. Residency programs were separated into those that entered data into the registry for the first time during the 2005-2007 cycle (ie, first-time programs) and those that also entered data into the registry during the previous cycle (2003-2005) (ie, repeat programs). Measures of processes of care were annual foot examination, annual referral for ophthalmologic examination, annual microalbuminuria screening, use of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) if albuminuria is present, use of ACE inhibitors or ARBs if hypertension is present, glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA 1c ) test in the previous year, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) test in the previous year. Measures of intermediate outcomes were control of blood pressure, HbA 1c , and LDL-C. Processes of care and outcome composite scores were also computed. Results: Data from 52 osteopathic family medicine residency programs consisting of 2568 patient cases were analyzed. Twenty-three first-time programs with 992 cases and 29 repeat programs with 1576 cases entered data into the registry in the 2005-2007 cycle. Repeat programs had statistically significant better performance than first-time programs in the composite measure of processes of care ( P =.0023)—largely the result of increased use of ACE inhibitors and ARBs in patients with albuminuria ( P =.0087). The difference in the composite measure of intermediate outcomes was not statistically significant between the 2 groups. Conclusion: Repeated participation in the AOA-CAP registry was associated with improved residency program performance on the composite process of care measure but not on intermediate outcome measures for patients with diabetes mellitus. This finding suggests that osteopathic residency programs need to provide better training on adjusting patient care according to performance results.

Context: Although tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) is an effective treatment for stroke patients, it typically must be administered within 3 hours of symptom onset to substantially reduce morbidity and mortality. Because of this limited treatment window, it is essential for healthcare professionals to properly identify and quickly triage stroke patients. Objective: To determine if implementation of a stroke alert protocol coupled with a limited education program will reduce arrival time to computed tomography scan time and treatment time for stroke patients in the emergency department (ED). Methods: This prospective pilot study took place at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pennsylvania, and included a formal stroke protocol based partly on The Joint Commission's stroke center recommendations. The major feature was integration of various hospital departments to quickly and accurately identify and triage stroke patients; included was a limited education program for residents and attending staff. Patients who presented between November 1, 2007, to October 31, 2008, comprised the study group (ie, after protocol implementation). A retrospective analysis of patient records from November 1, 2006, to October 31, 2007, for stroke morbidity, mortality, and tPA administration was employed as a control group (ie, prior to protocol implementation). Inclusion criteria consisted of patients aged 18 years or older who arrived at the ED with stroke-like symptoms. Exclusion criteria consisted of previous hemorrhagic stroke, seizure at stroke onset, internal bleeding, intracranial hemorrhage, recent surgery, platelet count of less than 100 × 10 3 /μL, untreated blood pressure greater than 185/110 mm Hg, symptoms lasting for longer than 6 hours, and vascular malformation. Patients with a history of ischemic stroke were included in the study. Results: The study included a total of 233 stroke patients, 132 of whom presented to the ED prior to stroke protocol implementation and 101 of whom presented after stroke protocol implementation. For patients who arrived at the ED within 3 hours from symptom onset, median time to completion of a computed tomography (CT) scan was reduced from 65.5 minutes (interquartile range, 41.0-101.0) prior to the new protocol to 54.0 minutes (interquartile range, 25.0-54.0) after implementation ( P <.004). Regarding patients who arrived in the ED 3 to 6 hours after symptom onset, median time from ED arrival to CT time decreased from 94.5 minutes (interquartile range, 68.0-136.0) before the new protocol to 48.5 minutes (interquartile range, 33.0-89.0) following implementation ( P <.002). Of the 79 patients who arrived at the ED within 3 hours of symptom onset in the year after protocol implementation, 12 were treated with tPA, compared to 4 out of 86 treated in the year prior to protocol implementation. Mean time from ED arrival to tPA treatment was reduced from 85.5 minutes in the preprotocol group to 48.9 minutes in the postprotocol group. Conclusion: By coupling a formal stroke protocol with a limited education program, door-to-treatment time of stroke patients was reduced.

Hereditary angioedema (HAE) is characterized by sudden attacks of deep tissue swelling caused by C1 inhibitor deficiency. Swelling severity can vary from mild to severe, and some patients are at risk for disability and death from either asphyxiation or hypovolemic shock. Many HAE attacks are precipitated by trauma or stress. The extremities, genitalia, trunk, bowels, face, and larynx are commonly affected areas, but swelling can affect any single part of the body or multiple sites. Symptoms typically worsen over 24 to 36 hours and resolve within 48 hours. Because many symptoms of HAE overlap with those of other medical conditions, diagnosis may be delayed. A thorough family history can identify the signature symptoms of HAE, which include a family history of HAE, recurrent edema without urticaria, and symptomatic worsening during puberty. The author presents two hypothetical cases of HAE and reviews the clinical hallmarks of this condition, diagnostic tests, and available treatments.

Background: The National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners uses a standardized timing format for all osteopathic medical candidates across all stations in the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination-USA Level 2-Performance Evaluation (COMLEX-USA Level 2-PE). Examination standardization, and therefore validity, is weakened if time administered affects student performance. Objective: To investigate the relationship between the amount of time students spent with standardized patients (SPs) and their clinical skill component scores. Methods: Data were analyzed from 249 candidates in 21 test sessions from the 2007-2008 testing cycle. Trained SPs recorded the time each examinee entered and exited each encounter. Outcome measures of the examination included pass (1 if pass; 0 if fail) performance outcome, pass by domain (biomedical/biomechanical and humanistic), and pass by component scores (data gathering, osteopathic manipulative treatment, and patient note scores). Analysis of variance (ANOVA), followed by pairwise comparisons, was used to compare encounter times across cases. Results: A total of 2988 SP encounters were analyzed. Examinees spent an average 12.1 minutes in each patient encounter. Candidates spent less time with cases classified as health promotion and disease prevention than with cases that primarily involved a problem visit, but amount of time spent with cases representing various content areas was not significantly different ( P >.05). On average, candidates spent the least amount of time (11.95 minutes) with gastrointestinal cases and the most time (12.26 minutes) with patients who had complaints relating to the neuromusculoskeletal system. A trivial relationship was shown between the continuous variable encounter time as the average amount of time a student spends in the encounter and the dichotomous clinical skill outcome of the examination ( r =.03). The relationship between these 2 variables was consistent when examined separately for the humanistic domain ( r =-.10) and the biomedical/biomechanical domain ( r =.12). The strongest correlation was between encounter time and the data-gathering component score ( r =.28). Conclusion: Time spent in the encounter was not influential in overall candidate performance in the COMLEX-USA Level 2-PE. Candidates spent a similar amount of time with cases of different content areas. This finding suggests that 14 minutes is sufficient for this osteopathic high-stakes performance evaluation.

Premature newborns and infants are usually required to successfully transition from gavage to nipple feeding using breast or bottle before discharge from the hospital. This transition is frequently the last discharge skill attained. Delayed acquisition of this skill may substantially prolong hospital length of stay. The authors describe a case of hospitalized premature twins who had considerable delays in attaining nipple-feeding skills. Because of their inability to take all feedings by nipple, preparation for surgical placement of gastrostomy tubes was initiated. Before the surgeries were scheduled, the inpatient osteopathic manipulative medicine service was consulted, and the twins received a series of evaluations and osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) sessions. During the OMT course, the twins' nipple feeding skills progressed to full oral feeding, which allowed them to be discharged to home without placement of gastrostomy tubes. The authors also review the literature and discuss the development of nipple feeding in premature newborns and infants and the use of OMT in the management of nipple feeding dysfunction.

Unilateral suppurative cervical lymphadenitis is characterized by acute onset of 1 or more tender cervical lymph nodes and can lead to fever, cellulitis, abscess formation, and bacteremia. This form of lymphadenitis is usually caused by gram-positive bacteria. The present case details the treatment of a previously healthy 24-year-old man who presented with an acutely inflamed cervical lymph node. The patient did not respond to antibiotic monotherapy or combination antibiotics but recovered rapidly after methylprednisolone and osteopathic manipulative treatment were added to his care.