Psychology Commons^™

Immunoassay Urine Drug Testing Among Patients Receiving Opioids At A Safety-Net Palliative Medicine Clinic, John M Halphen, Joseph A Arthur, Soraira Pacheco, Linh M T Nguyen, Nikitha N Samy, Nathaniel R Wilson, Gregory Sattler, Shane E Wing, Rex A D Paulino, Christine Feng, Pulin Shah, Simbiat Olayiwola, Bradley Cannell, Supriyanka Addimulam, Riddhi Patel, David Hui

Journal Articles

BACKGROUND: Few studies have examined the use of immunoassay urine drug testing of cancer patients in palliative care clinics.

OBJECTIVES: We examined the frequency of immunoassay urine drug test (UDT) abnormalities and the factors associated with aberrancy at a safety-net hospital palliative medicine clinic.

METHODS: A retrospective review of the electronic medical records of consecutive eligible patients seen at the outpatient palliative medicine clinic in a resource-limited safety-net hospital system was conducted between 1 September 2015 and 31 December 2020. We collected longitudinal data on patient demographics, UDT findings, and potential predictors of aberrant results.

RESULTS: Of the 913 patients …

Epidural Catheters For Cervical Epidural Steroid Injections To Target Higher Cervical Pathology: Clinical Images In Practice, Peter D Vu, Christopher L Robinson, Grant H Chen, Jamal J Hasoon

Journal Articles

Cervical radicular pain is commonly treated with cervical epidural steroid injections. The transforaminal approach allows for direct treatment of the steroid at a particular nerve root or level. Still, it carries a significant risk of morbidity and mortality with thromboembolism or injury to cervical vasculature. The interlaminar approach is commonly utilized as it avoids vascular structures. However, the epidural space becomes narrower at higher levels, limiting the ability to perform this approach at higher cervical levels. Cervical epidural catheters can be used and advanced to target higher cervical pathology through the interlaminar approach. We present clinical images demonstrating the utility …

Economic And Policy Determinants Of National Abortion Rates: A Cross-National Study, Olufunke Akiyode

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Abortion is as old as humanity and exists in all cultures. The number and rate of abortions differ among countries and regions of the world. Some determinants of abortion may include economic indicators and policy restrictiveness. This study analyzes the economic and policy determinants of abortion by evaluating the association of income and policy on abortion rates. It uses a panel data regression to examine the association between income, Gini Coefficient and abortion rates. Gini Coefficient measures income inequality, and GNI represents a country’s income. Publicly available longitudinal data obtained from the World Bank, United Nations, United Nations Population Development …

The Effects Of Gender And Country Of Origin On Acculturation, Psychological Factors, Lifestyle Factors, And Diabetes-Related Physiological Outcomes Among Mexican Americans: The Starr County Diabetes Prevention Initiative, Sharon A Brown, Heather A Becker, Alexandra A García, Mary M Velasquez, Hirofumi Tanaka, Mary A Winter, William B Perkison, Eric L Brown, David Aguilar, Craig L Hanis

Journal Articles

OBJECTIVES: Examine acculturation and psychological, lifestyle, and physiological factors based on gender and country of origin (U.S. vs. Mexico).

METHODS: Baseline data from the Starr County diabetes prevention study (

RESULTS: Participants were: predominantly female (73%); 51 years of age, on average; born in Mexico (71%); and Spanish-speaking. Individuals spent 11 of their waking hours (range = 0-18 h) in sedentary activities. Compared to females, more males spoke English and reported fewer hours in sedentary activities. Compared to participants born in Mexico, those born in the U.S. were more likely to: speak English; report depressive symptoms; and exhibit elevated BMI …

Adherence To Opioid Patient Prescriber Agreements At A Safety Net Hospital, Soraira Pacheco, Linh M T Nguyen, John M Halphen, Nikitha N Samy, Nathaniel R Wilson, Gregory Sattler, Shane E Wing, Christine Feng, Rex A D Paulino, Pulin Shah, Supriyanka Addimulam, Riddhi Patel, Curtis J Wray, Joseph A Arthur, David Hui

Journal Articles

Patient prescriber agreements, also known as opioid contracts or opioid treatment agreements, have been recommended as a strategy for mitigating non-medical opioid use (NMOU). The purpose of our study was to characterize the proportion of patients with PPAs, the rate of non-adherence, and clinical predictors for PPA completion and non-adherence. This retrospective study covered consecutive cancer patients seen at a palliative care clinic at a safety net hospital between 1 September 2015 and 31 December 2019. We included patients 18 years or older with cancer diagnoses who received opioids. We collected patient characteristics at consultation and information regarding PPA. The …

Difference In Smoking Patterns And Quitting Status Between Premium And Non-Premium Cigar Users After Two Years Of Follow Up In Us Adults: Findings From The Population Assessment Of Tobacco And Health (Path) Study, 2016-2019, Sarah Valencia

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Previous studies have described the demographics, purchasing behaviors, trends in frequencies of cigar use, and quitting status among cigar poly users, however, there has not been a study that evaluates differences in demographic characteristics and quitting status for premium and non-premium U.S. adult cigar users. This study used secondary data analyses of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study public-use files dataset for adult traditional cigar users in wave 4 (2016-2018) and wave 5 (2018-2019). Traditional cigars were classified as premium or non-premium at wave 4 (2016-2018) using the brand and price per stick of cigar that was …

The Substance Use Disorder Peer Workforce In Texas And The United States: Assessing And Addressing The Workforce Development And Economic Evaluation Gaps, Sierra Castedo De Martell

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

The infrastructure for addressing problematic substance use and substance use disorder (SUD) across the US has shortages in many areas, and suffered additional challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. One method to address shortages in SUD care infrastructure relatively quickly is to expand the peer workforce delivering peer recovery support services (PRSS). This workforce has expanded to cover most US states over the past two decades, but gaps in the evidence base for peer workforce development and economic evaluations of PRSS have persisted. To address these gaps, three studies were undertaken with the following aims: (1) Conducted a systematic review of …

Evaluating Implementation And Barriers To Sustainability Of An Asthma Clinical Quality Improvement Project, Holly Uphold Phd, Ms, Diane Liu Md, Faap

Journal of Nursing & Interprofessional Leadership in Quality & Safety

Purpose and Objectives

Asthma is an important public health issue in Utah and quality asthma care is essential to addressing the burden of asthma. The purpose of this initiative was to evaluate clinical asthma quality improvement (QI) program delivery formats and identify barriers to sustaining QI processes.

Intervention Approach

The focus of the intervention was to improve clinical asthma care through reducing variation in clinician knowledge about recommended asthma care and facilitating process improvements in asthma care delivery using Academic Detailing (AD) and Learning Collaboratives (LC) QI delivery formats.

Evaluation Methods

A pre/post-test design was used to compare improvements between …

Biological Correlates Of The Effects Of Auricular Point Acupressure On Pain, Chao Hsing Yeh, Nada Lukkahatai, Xinran Huang, Hulin Wu, Hongyu Wang, Jingyu Zhang, Xinyi Sun, Thomas J Smith

Journal Articles

BACKGROUND: To identify candidate inflammatory biomarkers for the underlying mechanism of auricular point acupressure (APA) on pain relief and examine the correlations among pain intensity, interference, and inflammatory biomarkers.

DESIGN: This is a secondary data analysis.

METHODS: Data on inflammatory biomarkers collected via blood samples and patient self-reported pain intensity and interference from three pilot studies (chronic low back pain, n = 61; arthralgia related to aromatase inhibitors, n = 20; and chemotherapy-induced neuropathy, n = 15) were integrated and analyzed. This paper reports the results based on within-subject treatment effects (change in scores from pre- to post-APA intervention) for …

Ultrasound-Guided Percutaneous Intercostal Cryoneurolysis For Acute-On-Chronic Pain In Cloves Syndrome, Sudipta Sen, Johanna B De Haan, Mariam Mehrafza, Nadia Hernandez

Journal Articles

Cryoneurolysis is an analgesic method that has been shown to provide extended pain relief in postoperative patients. However, to date, this method has not been described in nonsurgical inpatients with chronic pain experiencing an acute exacerbation. This analgesic modality has the potential to provide pain relief for patients whose expected duration of severe acute pain would outlast that of other regional anesthetic techniques while avoiding opioid escalation and facilitating discharge. We present a patient with acute exacerbation of chronic pain from breast ulcerations caused by congenital lipomatous overgrowth, vascular malformations, epidermal nevis, spinal/skeletal anomalies/scoliosis (CLOVES) syndrome that was successfully treated …

Family-Level Antecedents Of Children's Patterns Of Reactivity To Interparental Conflict: Testing The Reformulation Of Emotional Security Theory, Patrick T Davies, Joanna K Pearson, Vanessa T Cao, Melissa L Sturge-Apple

Journal Articles

Guided by emotional security theory, this study examined the family-level antecedents of children's reaction patterns to interparental conflict in a sample of 243 preschool children (M age = 4.60 years; 48% Black; 16% Latinx; 56% girls) and their parents in the Northeastern United States. Behavioral observations of children's responses to interparental conflict over two annual measurement occasions assessed their tendencies to exhibit four patterns of defending against threat: secure (i.e., efficiently address direct threats), mobilizing (i.e., high reactivity to potential threat and social opportunities), dominant (i.e., directly defeat threat), and demobilizing (i.e., reduce salience as a target of hostility). …

Evaluation Of The Effect Of New Multimodal Analgesia Regimen For Cardiac Surgery: A Prospective, Randomized Controlled, Single-Center Clinical Study, Lin Jin, Yafen Liang, Ying Yu, Peng Miao, Yihao Huang, Liying Xu, Huilin Wang, Chunsheng Wang, Jiapeng Huang, Kefang Guo

Journal Articles

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the feasibility of multimodal regimen by paracetamol, gabapentin, ketamine, lidocaine, dexmedetomidine and sufentanil among cardiac surgery patients, and compare the analgesia efficacy with conventional sufentanil-based regimen.

DESIGN: A single-center, prospective, randomized, controlled clinical trial.

SETTING: One participating center, the cardiovascular center of the major integrated teaching hospital.

PARTICIPANTS: A total of 115 patients were assessed for eligibility: 108 patients were randomized, 7 cases were excluded.

INTERVENTIONS: The control group (group T) received conventional anesthesia management. Interventions in the multimodal group (group M) were as follows in addition to the standard of care: gabapentin and acetaminophen 1 hour …