Author Interviews, Health Care Systems, Sleep Disorders / 16.02.2023
McMaster Study Finds Musical Alarms Can Decrease Stress For Hospital Workers
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
[caption id="attachment_60038" align="alignleft" width="200"] Dr. Schutz[/caption]
Michael R. Schutz, Ph.D.
Professor of Music Cognition/Percussion at McMaster University
Founding director of the MAPLE Lab and
Core member of the McMaster Institute for Music and the Mind.
Prof. Schutz is also a professional musician and directs McMaster’s percussion ensemble.
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Hospitals around the world are filled with devices generating aconstant stream of tones conveying information to medical staff.overburdened healthcare professionals, and contributes to burnout inmedical staff. The Emergency Care Research Institute (ECRI) regularlyincludes problems with auditory alarms in their list of "Top 10 HealthTechnology Hazards" and they are so problematic an FDA surveyimplicated them in hundreds of patient deaths.While there is currently a lot of interest in how to improve alarmmanagement protocols, this study is different in that it looks atimproving the quality of the alarm sounds themselves. For historicalreasons many default to simplistic "beeps" which are generallyannoying. While annoying is useful for critical alarms requiringimmediate action, the vast majority of these messages are merelyintended to update medical staff of changes (i.e. blood pressure isrising) or indicate other situations that do not require immediateaction. Unfortunately, many machines use the same simplistic andannoying "beeps" regardless of whether the messages are urgent ornon-urgent. This constant flood of annoying beeps negatively affectsboth patients (extending recovery time due to interrupted rest) andstaff (who can develop "alarm fatigue" from the constant cacophony).
Dr. Schutz[/caption]
Michael R. Schutz, Ph.D.
Professor of Music Cognition/Percussion at McMaster University
Founding director of the MAPLE Lab and
Core member of the McMaster Institute for Music and the Mind.
Prof. Schutz is also a professional musician and directs McMaster’s percussion ensemble.
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Hospitals around the world are filled with devices generating aconstant stream of tones conveying information to medical staff.overburdened healthcare professionals, and contributes to burnout inmedical staff. The Emergency Care Research Institute (ECRI) regularlyincludes problems with auditory alarms in their list of "Top 10 HealthTechnology Hazards" and they are so problematic an FDA surveyimplicated them in hundreds of patient deaths.While there is currently a lot of interest in how to improve alarmmanagement protocols, this study is different in that it looks atimproving the quality of the alarm sounds themselves. For historicalreasons many default to simplistic "beeps" which are generallyannoying. While annoying is useful for critical alarms requiringimmediate action, the vast majority of these messages are merelyintended to update medical staff of changes (i.e. blood pressure isrising) or indicate other situations that do not require immediateaction. Unfortunately, many machines use the same simplistic andannoying "beeps" regardless of whether the messages are urgent ornon-urgent. This constant flood of annoying beeps negatively affectsboth patients (extending recovery time due to interrupted rest) andstaff (who can develop "alarm fatigue" from the constant cacophony).
Dr. Mahdavi[/caption]
Dr. Sara Mahdavi, PhD
Clinical Scientist and Clinical Instructor
Research Appointment in the Faculty of Medicine
University of Toronto
Toronto, ON
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: This was a long-term study spanning 16 years and began with a population of young adults who were medically assessed on a regular basis. It was remarkable to see just how striking the effects of coffee were in the group that had the susceptible genetic variant, what we termed “slow caffeine metabolizers” yet no effect whatsoever in those who did not were termed “fast metabolizers”.
Alcoholism is a serious problem that affects people of all ages, genders, and backgrounds. It is defined as an addiction to alcohol, in which the person feels unable to control their drinking and continues to drink despite its negative consequences. Alcoholism can lead to health problems, family issues, financial difficulties, and even death
Alcoholism is a chronic, progressive disease that is characterized by a strong craving for alcohol, difficulty controlling one's drinking, and continued drinking despite negative consequences. People with alcoholism often have trouble holding down a job, maintaining relationships, and taking care of their health. If you or someone you know is struggling with alcoholism, it's important to get help as soon as possible. There are many resources available to help people recover from this disease.
Kenya Colvin[/caption]
Kenya Colvin, MBS
Department of Medical Education
Scranton, PA
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Vaccine hesitancy is a major driver of COVID-19 vaccination disparities between minority and non-Hispanic White communities. Our goal was to understand what factors influenced vaccine hesitancy among individuals in Eastern Pennsylvania to identify more effective ways to promote vaccine uptake within minority communities.
Dr. Kim[/caption]
Brian S Kim, MD, MTR
Sol and Clara Kest Professor
Vice Chair of Research | Site Chair, Mount Sinai West and Morningside
Director, Mark Lebwohl Center for Neuroinflammation and Sensation
The Kimberly and Eric J. Waldman Department of Dermatology
Precision Immunology Institute | Friedman Brain Institute
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: We generated preliminary data in mice that difelikefalin suppresses itch robustly with very little to no effect on inflammation in a model of atopic dermatitis. This led us to hypothesize that the primary mode of action of difelikefalin must be by direct modulation of sensory neurons to suppress itch and thus would be best suited for a neuropathic itch condition. These are conditions in which itch occurs relatively independently of skin inflammation as in atopic dermatitis due to hyperactive nerves.
Dr. Pierce[/caption]
Karen Pierce, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Neurosciences, UCSD
Co-Director, Autism Center of Excellence, UCSD
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: The mean age of ASD diagnosis and eventual treatment remains at ~52 months in the United States1 - years beyond the disorder’s prenatal origins2, and beyond the age when it can be reliably diagnosed in many cases3.
Currently the only way to determine if a child has autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is to receive a developmental evaluation from an experienced clinician (usually a licensed clinical psychologist). There are often long waiting lists, and only a small number of clinicians have the experience required to make early-age (i.e., between 12-36 months) diagnoses of ASD. Thus, there are many places in the country as well as world wide wherein children wait months or years to receive a formal diagnosis due to a lack of available expertise. Moreover, diagnostic evaluations are expensive and usually cost the parent and/or insurance approximately ~$2,000 or more per evaluation. Finally, clinical evaluations usually take between 2-3 hours to complete and result in fatigue for both the parent and toddler.
Eye-tracking, which generates biologically-relevant, objective, and quantifiable metrics of both visual and auditory preference profiles in babies and toddlers in just minutes, is a technology that can dramatically change how ASD is diagnosed.
Dr. Zhongshang Yuan[/caption]
Yuan, Zhongshang PhD
Department of Biostatistics
School of Public Health
Shandong University
Jinan, Shandong, China
What is the background for this study?
Response: Comorbidities and genetic correlations between gastrointestinal tract diseases and psychiatric disorders have been widely reported, with the gut-brain axis (GBA) hypothesized as a potential biological basis. However, it is unclear the degree to which the shared genetic determinants contribute to these associations underlying GBA.
Tom Arild Torstensen
Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society
Division of Physiotherapy,
Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden and
Holten Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: People suffering from pain due to knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a major and increasing problem. There there is today good scientific evidence for different forms of exercise therapy, but there is no agreement regarding what type of exercises and what dose of exercise therapy is best. Thus, we wanted to investigate if high dose medical exercise therapy is superior to low dose.
Dr. García Cenoz[/caption]
Manuel García Cenoz MD, PhD
Dr. Grandahl[/caption]
Maria Grandahl, Associate Professor, PhD, Senior lecturer
Director of Education in Nursing and Midwifery programs
Uppsala University
Department of Women’s and Children’s Health
on behalf of authors:
Dr Jenny Stern, Dr Eva-Lotta Funkquist and Dr Maria Grandahl
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Conflicting advice and non-evidence-based recommendations have a negative effect on breastfeeding. Since 2011, the National Food Agency in Sweden has informed parents that they can introduce tiny tastings (1 mL of solid food, i.e. other sources of nutrition than breastmilk/formula) to infants from four months of age. It is unknown how national recommendations, which differ from the Word Health Organization’s recommendation, affect breastfeeding.
Dr. Hussain[/caption]
Dr Monira Hussain
Dr. Caraballo-Cordovez[/caption]
César Caraballo-Cordovez, MD
Casey Hribar[/caption]
Casey Hribar
Fourth-year medical student
University of North Carolina
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Several great pieces of literature already exist about patient perception of doctors wearing white coats, formal attire, business attire, and the like. But recently, scrubs are garnering favor, especially as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While there has been some interest in what is worn over scrubs (jackets, vests, name tags, etc.), to our knowledge, there has not been any investigation into scrub color. Scrubs are a highly variable article of clothing, from fit, to pockets, pattern, and color, and it makes sense that these variations could have their own associated perceptions. Our study served as a way to open up the conversation around scrubs and the potential impact of their color on patients.
Alden Mileto, BA
Department of Medical Education
Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine
Scranton, PA
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: The drug buprenorphine is a partial opioid agonist, originally developed in the 1960s as an alternative to the stronger full opioid mu receptor agonists like morphine. Today, the drug is sometimes used for pain, but is more often used as a treatment for Opioid Use Disorder (OUD). Since the 2002 federal approval for buprenorphine use in treatment of OUD, there has been an increase in buprenorphine prescription across all states.
However recent studies have showed a disproportionate increase in buprenorphine prescriptions to rural/ less populated areas in comparison to urban/densely populated areas. The objective of this study [1] was to analyze the trends in buprenorphine distribution, overall and by three-digit zip codes, in Pennsylvania from 2010-2020.