Search

Objectives: To assess the occurrence, clinical picture, and triggering infections of reactive arthritis (ReA) associated with a large waterborne gastroenteritis outbreak. Methods: After an extensive sewage contamination of the water supply system, an estimated 8453 of the 30 016 inhabitants of the town of Nokia fell ill. General practitioners and occupational physicians were advised to refer any patients with suspicion of new ReA to rheumatological examination including faecal culture, human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-B27 and antibody tests for Campylobacter, Salmonella, and Yersinia. Results: Forty-five patients (33 females, 12 males) aged 16–77 years (median 53) were referred. ReA was diagnosed in 21, postinfectious arthralgia in 13, and other musculoskeletal conditions in 11 patients. HLA-B27 was positive in five out of 44 patients (11%). Of the 21 patients with ReA, possible triggering infections were observed in seven (33%), Campylobacter in four, Yersinia in three, and Salmonella in one, who also had Campylobacter infection. ReA was mild in all but one patient who presented with persistent Salmonella enterica serotype enteritidis infection. Conclusions: Taking into account the large population contaminated with potentially arthritogenic agents, the occurrence of ReA was rare and mild in character. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses findings of a questionnaire study on the joint symptoms after the outbreak of gastroenteritis in Nokia, Finland. Topics include Campylobacter being the most common pathogen found in patient's faecal culture, occurrence of reactive arthritis and symptoms like pain in the joint movement, swelling of the joints and redness in the joints.

This publisher's note contains a correction to Opt. Lett.49, 2473 (2024)10.1364/OL.521866.

Purpose: An immediate paramedic tactical response unit was implemented into a civilian emergency medical services (EMS) system. This was compared with the preexisting traditional tactical EMS support (TEMS). The primary aim of the study was to evaluate the effect on tasking frequencies. The secondary aims of the study were to assess mission timings and the effect on patient encounters., Methods: Paramedics with tactical emergency medical training provided immediate response on a 24/7 basis. They responded to support police in high-risk TEMS scenarios and incidents in a Tactical Emergency Casualty Care (TECC) role. Tasking frequencies, timings, and clinical input were compared between the first year of immediate response and 3 preceding years of TEMS., Results: The number of TEMS dispatches increased from an average of 5 to 54 annually. The median time from dispatch to scene arrival decreased from a median of 54 minutes (interquartile range [IQR] 39-65) to 17 minutes (IQR 11-26) (p < .0001). The overall mission duration decreased from a median of 3 hr 13 min (IQR 2 h 29 min to 4 h 40 min) to 1 h 12 min (IQR 34 min-1 h 18 min) (p < .0001). The number of treated patients increased from one minor injury annually to 13 severe and six minor injuries annually., Conclusions: Implementing immediate tactical paramedic response significantly decreases response time and mission duration and increases the number of activations and resultant number of treated patients., (2021.)

Background : Cancer patients may need to seek support from electronic sources because their needs are not fulfilled in the hospital settings. Objectives : The explore cancer patients' perception of social support in non-profit electronic counselling services. Design : A qualitative descriptive cross-sectional design. Methods : The data were collected from adult cancer patients who had utilized non-profit electronic counselling services. The interviews were conducted face-to-face or over the phone and analysed with inductive content analysis. Findings : Two patterns were identified: (1) a contact person that will ensure a personalized matching type of support to enhance patients' ability to cope with cancer if necessary and (2) deficient resources of the electronic counselling services to provide the matching type of support to enhance patients' coping with cancer. Conclusions : For patients to be able to successfully cope with their disease, it is essential that the electronic social support type matches each patient's specific needs.

Background: Nonprofit cancer societies play an important role in providing social support for patients with cancer through nonprofit electronic counselling services (ECS) provided by counselling nurses (CNs) with experience in oncology nursing. To date, there exist only few studies addressing the facilitators and barriers for social support of patients with cancer as reported by CNs., Objective: To describe the facilitators and barriers for electronic social support of patients with cancer received from the ECS in the nonprofit cancer societies as reported by CNs., Methods: Qualitative design with three group interviews was conducted with 10 CNs in three nonprofit cancer societies in southern and western parts of Finland. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and content analysed inductively., Findings: The facilitators were promotion of the access to ECS, functioning structures of ECS, utilisation of the strengths of an individual CN in ECS, promotion of the life management of patients, patient-centeredness as a basis of ECS and reliability of ECS. The barriers for electronic social support were the unmet paths between ECS and patients, nonfunctioning structures of ECS, inadequacy of mutual communication and lack of shared viewpoints between CNs and patients., Conclusions: Facilitators and barriers for electronic social support of patients with cancer were related to organisation, individuals and counselling process. The counselling work in ECS as its best promotes the life management of patients with cancer but, alternatively, can lead to conflicts in communication and therefore be a barrier for electronic social support., Implications for Practice: To make the nonprofit ECS better known, the cooperation with hospitals is needed to enable social support for patients. To improve communication between CNs and patients, continuous communications skills training and functional working environments are needed., (© 2015 Nordic College of Caring Science.)

Purpose: To describe the phases of the cancer trajectory when social support, in the form of electronic counselling services, as provided by the non-profit cancer societies, is needed, as well as how these services are integrated into the cancer care in public healthcare., Methods: In this descriptive qualitative study a purposive sample of patients with cancer (n = 12) were interviewed. The data were content analysed inductively., Results: Social support was needed when emotional well-being was weakened, when the body broke, when the care pathway induced unawareness, and when empowerment needed strengthening. There was no need for social support when well-being was considered in balance. The electronic counselling services were integrated into cancer care by supporting the patient with cancer emotionally, developing the informational expertise of the patient with cancer, expanding the opportunities for support, and supporting public healthcare. Integration required improvements to the actions of the patients and various actors involved in the healthcare system. There was no integration due to the health status of the patient and the sufficiency of the primary support sources. The received social support was not integrated into the actual cancer treatment process of the patient with cancer in the public healthcare system., Conclusions: The phases of support needed in the cancer trajectory as defined by the patient differ from the traditional biomedical phases of treatment., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Patient education in the public healthcare system does not necessarily meet the needs of patients with cancer. Because of this, they may turn to the Internet, or they are guided to electronic sources of social support. The purposes of this study were to describe what kind of social support patients with cancer receive from the Internet and its meaning for them. The data were collected using an online survey that consisted of open-ended questions based on a theory of online social support. The data were analyzed using an inductive content analysis. Online social support consisted of three categories: disease-related information from reliable sources, supportive interaction enhancing positive emotions, and practical tips for daily life with cancer. Three major categories related to the meaning of online social support were identified: peers helping make life easier, empowerment, and inadequate support. The findings can be utilized in tailoring educational interventions for patients with cancer. In the future, the long-lasting effects of online social support need to be examined.

An extensive drinking water-associated gastroenteritis outbreak took place in the town of Nokia in Southern Finland in 2007. 53% of the exposed came down with gastroenteritis and 7% had arthritis-like symptoms (joint swelling, redness, warmth or pain in movement) according to a population-based questionnaire study at 8 weeks after the incident. Campylobacter and norovirus were the main pathogens. A follow-up questionnaire study was carried out 15 months after the outbreak to evaluate the duration of gastrointestinal and joint symptoms. 323 residents of the original contaminated area were included. The response rate was 53%. Participants were inquired about having gastroenteritis during the outbreak and the duration of symptoms. Of those with gastroenteritis, 43% reported loose stools and abdominal pain or distension after the acute disease. The prevalence of symptoms declined promptly during the first 3 months but at 15 months, 11% reported continuing symptoms. 32% of the respondents with gastroenteritis reported subsequent arthritis-like symptoms. The disappearance of arthritis-like symptoms was more gradual and they levelled off only after 5 months. 19% showed symptoms at 15 months. Prolonged gastrointestinal symptoms correlated to prolonged arthritis-like symptoms. High proportion of respondents continued to have arthritis-like symptoms at 15 months after the epidemic. The gastrointestinal symptoms, instead, had declined to a low level.

Objectives: Waterborne outbreaks offer an opportunity to study joint symptoms after a simultaneous exposure. In November 2007, a gastroenteritis outbreak due to faecal contamination of tap water took place in a Finnish town. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the occurrence of joint symptoms after the outbreak., Methods: The authors conducted a controlled, population-based questionnaire survey to study the occurrence of joint symptoms within 8 weeks after the exposure. The survey covered three areas: contaminated and uncontaminated parts of the town and a control town. A total of 1000 residents were randomly selected from each area, and the joint symptoms were first analysed separately and thereafter categorized as arthritis-like if joint swelling, redness, warmth or pain in movement was reported., Results: A total of 2123 responses could be evaluated. The overall prevalence of joint symptoms was 13.9% in the contaminated group, 4.3% in the uncontaminated group and 1.5% among the control group, and the frequency of arthritis-like symptoms in the groups was 6.7, 2.1 and 0.5%, respectively. Gastrointestinal symptoms predicted joint complaints, diarrhoea and blood in faeces being the most significant. Residing in the contaminated area was associated with any joint symptom [odds ratio (OR) = 4.0, 95% CI 1.8, 9.0] and joint pain (OR = 7.3, 95% CI 2.1, 24.8) without preceding gastroenteritis., Conclusion: The frequency of joint symptoms was high in the contaminated group and also increased in the uncontaminated group. Furthermore, the risk of joint symptoms was increased in the contaminated group even without gastroenteritis.