Thank you Rebecca for bringing home the gold medal and the shout-out to all hardworking RTs out there!
It has been a hard two years but we can do it!
#strongertogether
Farzad 'Raffi' Refahi
Let’s read an article a month – March 2022
Every month I read an open-access article. I share the title and associated link with my followers to encourage clinicians to read more articles, stay up to date, and continue to grow.
The objective of this month’s paper is to [conduct a comprehensive systematic review, critical appraisal and meta-analysis of all prognostic factories in patients with COVID-19] (p2).
Prognostic factors for adverse outcomes in patients with COVID-19: a field-wide systematic review and meta-analysis
By Vanesa Bellou, Ioanna Tzoulaki, Maarten van Smeden, Karel G.M. Moons, Evangelos Evangelou and Lazaros Belbasis
European Respiratory Journal 2022 59: 2002964; DOI: 10.1183/13993003.02964-2020 https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/59/2/2002964
Link to the article: https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/erj/59/2/2002964.full.pdf
The reasons I found this article interesting
- The authors emphasized the importance of “adequate and transparent reporting of methodology and findings in future studies to improve the applicability of the evidence” (p8). More on that under the ‘Recommendations and policy implications’ on page eight.
- This study address many prognostic factors and narrow down to a few such as age, sex and smoking history (p7).
- The authors further discuss some of the predictors such as dyspnea and hospitality rate, oxygen saturation and mortality, and smoking and clinical deterioration (p7).
- Also, some of the medications and their prognostic factors were highlighted. E.g. ACEi, ARBs, immunosuppressive medications etc.
Happy reading and learning,
Farzad Refahi
March 2, 2022
Let’s read an article a month – March 2022
Hellooo
Here is a hello, bonjour and shout out from the iconic voice of Toronto Raptors’ Jack Armstrong! Dedicated to all the amazing RTs!
Music: Feeling Fine
Musician: Uncleboris
URL: https://icons8.com/music/
Purchased content from Cameo
Let’s read an article a month – February 2022
Every month I read an open-access article. I share the title and associated link with my followers to encourage clinicians to read more articles, stay up to date, and continue to grow.
This month I found an interesting piece to share with you. This one falls under the innovation category and is about a product called CleanSweep. The objective of this paper is to introduce CleanSweep and assess “whether the CleanSweep suction catheter is more efficient for secretion removal than the standard suction catheter” (p.138). To give a quick description, CleanSweep is a “closed-system suctioning device with an integrated inflatable balloon at its tip. … The balloon is not designed to be inflated with the catheter beyond the distal end of the ETT, and it is only inflated during catheter withdrawal thus “sweeping” the secretions off the interior wall of the ETT” (p.138)
Before you continue, I would like to add a quick disclaimer that this is not an endorsement or a sponsored blog post. Please continue to use products that have been approved by your employer.
Evaluation of a novel endotracheal tube suctioning system incorporating an inflatable sweeper
By John D. Davies, MA, RRT, Yuh Chin Huang, MD, MHS, and Neil R. MacIntyre, MD.
Can J Respir Ther 2021;57:138–142. doi: 10.29390/cjrt-2021-02
Link to the article: https://www.cjrt.ca/wp-content/uploads/cjrt-2021-026.pdf
Reasons I found this article interesting
- The device has a physical “sweeping” method for removing secretions in the ETT versus just a suction method.
- It is a closed suction system and the valve provides three options of ‘locked, suction only mode and suction and balloon mode (p139).
- It was published on CJRT, a publication I trust.
- The authors were clear and transparent about their conflict of interests, on page 141, and also clear about the limitations of their study:
- “Neither our study nor other studies on mechanical ETT cleaners have been designed to be long enough nor large enough to demonstrate improved clinical outcomes linked to improved secretion removal. To do this will require large expensive randomized controlled trials following many patients over long periods assessing such outcomes as hospital length of stay and even mortality. “ (p141)
Happy reading and learning,
Farzad Refahi
Feb. 6, 2022
https://respiratory.blog/lets-read-an-article-a-month-february-2022/
Let’s read an article a month – January 2022
Every month I read an open-access article. Then, I share the title and associated link with my followers. This is to encourage clinicians to read more articles, stay up to date, and continue to grow.
The coexistence of asthma and COPD: risk factors, clinical history and lung function trajectories
By: Alessandro Marcon, Francesca Locatelli, Shyamali C. Dharmage, Cecilie Svanes, Joachim Heinrich, Bénédicte Leynaert, Peter Burney, Angelo Corsico, Gulser Caliskan, Lucia Calciano, Thorarinn Gislason, Christer Janson, Deborah Jarvis, Rain Jõgi, Theodore Lytras, Andrei Malinovschi, Nicole Probst-Hensch, Kjell Toren, Lidia Casas, Giuseppe Verlato, Judith Garcia-Aymerich, and Simone Accordini on behalf of the Ageing Lungs in European Cohorts (ALEC) study
European Respiratory Journal 2021 58: 2004656; DOI: 10.1183/13993003.04656-2020
Link to the article: https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/erj/58/5/2004656.full.pdf
The reasons I found this article interesting
A detailed study with around 20 years of medical history. A large number of individuals [14864, 9251 and 6122, respectively in ECRHS I, II and III who underwent clinical examinations, from 23 centres] (p4). Useful observations were presented based on past asthma, current asthma, asthma + COPD, and COPD alone. A recommended article to students, new RRTs and even experienced clinicians. There are many results, findings and conclusions that I cannot cover in a post. As always, I recommend that you read the full article for yourself.
”Lung function decline for subjects with asthma + COPD could have been mitigated by long-term anti-inflammatory treatment. “ (p9).
“The coexistence of asthma and COPD seems to be a form of severe asthma with severe asthma with origins early in life, as opposed to COPD alone, which is more linked to adult exposures.” (p10).
”…COPD without concomitant features of asthma seems predominantly linked to adult-life toxic inhalant exposures. Exposure avoidance (e.g. through smoking cessation and reduction of pollution exposure in occupational settings) may be particularly beneficial against the development of the “pure COPD” phenotype…” (p10).
Happy reading and learning.
Farzad Refahi
January 01, 2022
Link to the blog post: https://respiratory.blog/lets-read-an-article-a-month-January-2022/