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Objective The authors sought to assess for the presence of practice variation in the use of intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) for open cardiac valve surgery. Design This study was a retrospective cohort analysis. Setting The administrative claims data used for this investigation were multi-institutional and a representative sample of commercially insured patients in the United States between 2010 and 2015. Participants The cohort consisted of adult patients, aged 18 years or older, undergoing open mitral valve (MV) or aortic valve (AV) surgery. Interventions This was an observational analysis without interventions. Measurements and Main Results Of 19,386 valve surgeries, 12,313 (64%) underwent AV replacement, 6,192 (32%) underwent MV repair or replacement, and 881 (<5%) underwent both MV and AV surgery. The overall rate of intraoperative TEE was 82% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 81%-82%), less frequently observed in AV procedures compared to MV or combined MV-AV procedures (80% v 85%, p < 0.001). Rates of intraoperative TEE claims varied markedly across U.S. states. After adjustment, the relative odds of an intraoperative TEE claim ranged across states from 0.26 (Louisiana, 95% CI: 0.18-0.36; p < 0.001) to 2.10 (North Carolina, 95% CI: 1.57-2.82; p < 0.001). Conclusion Among adult patients undergoing open AV or MV surgery in the United States, 82% had a claim for an intraoperative TEE with marked variability across U.S. states. Increasing adherence to intraoperative TEE guidelines for valve surgery may represent an unrecognized opportunity to improve the quality of cardiac surgical care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objective: To document the ethical issues regarding the systematic inclusion of relatives as clients in the post-stroke rehabilitation process. Methods: A two-phase qualitative design consisting of in-depth interviews with relatives and stroke-clients (Phase 1) and three focus groups with relatives, stroke-clients and health professionals (Phase 2). Data was audio recorded. Transcribed interviews and focus groups content were rigorously analyzed by two team members. Results: The interview sample was composed of 25 relatives and of 16 individuals with a first stroke whereas the three focus group sample size varied from 5 to 7 participants. Four main themes emerged: (1) overemphasis of caregiving role with an unclear legitimacy of relative to also be a client; (2) communication as a key issue to foster respect and a family-centered approach; (3) availability and attitudes of health professionals as a facilitator or a barrier to a family-centered approach; and (4) constant presence of relatives as a protective factor or creating a perverse effect. Conclusion/practice implications: The needs of relatives are well known. The next step is to legitimize their right to receive services and to acknowledge the combined clinical and ethical value of including them post-stroke. Interdisciplinary health care approaches and communication skills should be addressed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We take the example of cardiac devices, specifically the implantable cardioverter defibrillator, or ICD, to explore the complex cultural role of technology in medicine today. We focus on persons age 80 and above, for whom ICD use is growing in the U.S. We highlight an ironic feature of this device. While it postpones death and ’saves’ life by thwarting a lethal heart rhythm, it also prolongs living in a state of dying from heart failure. In that regard the ICD is simultaneously a technology of life extension and dying. We explore that irony among the oldest age group -- those whose considerations of medical interventions are framed by changing societal assumptions of what constitutes premature death, the appropriate time for death and medicine’s goals in an aging society. Background to the rapidly growing use of this device among the elderly is the ‘technological imperative’ in medicine, bolstered today by the value given to evidence-based studies. We show how evidence contributes to standards of care and to the expansion of Medicare reimbursement criteria. Together, those factors shape the ethical necessity of physicians offering and patients accepting the ICD in late life. Two ethnographic examples document the ways in which those factors are lived in treatment discussions and in expectations about death and longevity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]