Plugging the “Phishing” Hole: Legislation Versus Technology

This iBrief analyzes the Anti-Phishing Act of 2005, legislation aimed at curbing the problem of phishing. Phishing is the sending of fraudulent emails which appear to be from legitimate businesses and thereby fooling the recipients into divulging personal information such as credit card numbers. While this legislation may provide some assistance in the fight against phishing, it is limited by the global nature of the Internet and the ease with which phishers can hide and avoid judgments. This iBrief therefore concludes that although the Anti-Phishing Act can play a supporting role in the battle, technological solutions are the most effective means of reducing or eliminating phishing attacks

Role of frailty assessment in patients undergoing cardiac interventions.

Average life expectancy is increasing in the western world resulting in a growing number of frail individuals with coronary heart disease, often associated with comorbidities. Decisions to proceed to invasive interventions in elderly frail patients is challenging because they may gain benefit, but are also at risk of procedure-related complications. Current risk scores designed to predict mortality in cardiac procedures are mainly based on clinical and angiographic factors, with limitations in the elderly because they are mainly derived from a middle-aged population, do not account for frailty and do not predict the impact of the procedure on quality of life which often matters more to elderly patients than mortality. Frailty assessment has emerged as a measure of biological age that correlates well with quality of life, hospital admissions and mortality. Potentially, the incorporation of frailty into current risk assessment models will cause a shift towards more appropriate care. The need for a more accurate method of risk stratification incorporating frailty, particularly for elderly patients is pressing. This article reviews the association between frailty and cardiovascular disease, the impact of frailty on outcomes of cardiac interventions and suggests ways in which frailty assessment could be incorporated into cardiology clinical practice

Priority setting in primary health care - dilemmas and opportunities: a focus group study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Swedish health care authorities use three key criteria to produce national guidelines for local priority setting: severity of the health condition, expected patient benefit, and cost-effectiveness of medical intervention. Priority setting in primary health care (PHC) has significant implications for health costs and outcomes in the health care system. Nevertheless, these guidelines have been implemented to a very limited degree in PHC. The objective of the study was to qualitatively assess how general practitioners (GPs) and nurses perceive the application of the three key priority-setting criteria.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Focus groups were held with GPs and nurses at primary health care centres, where the staff had a short period of experience in using the criteria for prioritising in their daily work.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The staff found the three key priority-setting criteria (severity, patient benefit, and cost-effectiveness) to be valuable for priority setting in PHC. However, when the criteria were applied in PHC, three additional dimensions were identified: 1) viewpoint (medical or patient's), 2) timeframe (now or later), and 3) evidence level (group or individual).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The three key priority-setting criteria were useful. Considering the three additional dimensions might enhance implementation of national guidelines in PHC and is probably a prerequisite for the criteria to be useful in priority setting for individual patients.</p

Canadian guidelines for clinical practice: an analysis of their quality and relevance to the care of adults with comorbidity

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Clinical guidelines have been the subject of much criticism in primary care literature partly due to potential conflicts in their implementation among patients with multiple chronic conditions. We assessed the relevance of selected Canadian clinical guidelines on chronic diseases for patients with comorbidity and examined their quality.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We selected 16 chronic medical conditions according to their frequency of occurrence, complexity of treatment, and pertinence to primary care. Recent Canadian clinical guidelines (2004 - 2009) on these conditions, published in English or French, were retrieved. We assessed guideline relevance to the care of patients with comorbidity with a tool developed by Boyd and colleagues. Quality was assessed using the Appraisal of Guidelines Research and Evaluation (AGREE) instrument.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Regarding relevance, 56.2% of guidelines addressed treatment for patients with multiple chronic conditions and 18.8% addressed the issue for older patients. Fifteen guidelines (93.8%) included specific recommendations for patients with one concurrent condition; only three guidelines (18.8%) addressed specific recommendations for patients with two comorbid conditions and one for more than two concurrent comorbid conditions. Quality of the evaluated guidelines was good to very good in four out of the six domains measured using the AGREE instrument. The domains with lower mean scores were Stakeholder Involvement and Applicability.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The quality of the Canadian guidelines examined is generally good, yet their relevance for patients with two or more chronic conditions is very limited and there is room for improvement in this respect.</p

Micro Level Priority Setting for Elderly Patients with Acute Cardiovascular Disease and Complex Needs : Practice What We Preach or Preach What We Practice?

Demographic trends and other factors are expected to continue widening the gap between health care demands and available resources, especially in elder services. This growing imbalance signals a need for priority setting in health care. The literature has previously described problems in constructing useable means of priority setting, particularly when evidence is sparse, when patient groups are not satisfactorily defined, when interpretation of the term patient need is unclear, and when uncertainty prevails on how to weigh different ethical values. The chosen study object illustrates these problems. Moreover, the Swedish Government recently stated that care for elderly persons with complex health care needs remains underfunded. The general aim of this thesis is: to study micro-level priority setting for elderly heart patients with complex needs, as illustrated by those with non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI); to relate the findings to evidence-based priority setting, e.g. guidelines for heart disease; and to analyse how complex needs could be appropriately categorised from a perspective of evidence-based priority setting. Paper I presents a register study that uses data from the Patient Register to describe inpatient care utilization, costs, and characteristics of elderly patients with multiple diseases. Paper II presents a confidential survey study from a random sample of 400 Swedish cardiologists. Paper III presents a prospective, clinical, observational multicentre-study of elderly patients with myocardial infarction (NSTEMI). Paper IV presents a questionnaire study from a purposeful, stratified sample of Swedish cardiologists. The results from Paper I show that elderly patients with multiple diseases have extensive and complex needs, frequently manifesting chronic and intermittently acute disease and consuming health care at various levels. A large majority have manifested cardiovascular disease. Results from Paper II indicate that although 81% of cardiologists reported extensive use of national guidelines in their clinical decision-making generally, the individual clinician’s personal clinical experience and the patient’s views were used to a greater extent than national guidelines, when making decisions about elderly multiple-diseased patients. Many elderly heart disease patients with complex needs manifest severe, acute or chronic, comorbid conditions that constitute exclusion criteria in evidence-generating studies, thereby limiting the generalisability of evidence and applicability of guidelines for these patients. This was indicated in papers I-IV. Paper III reports that frailty is a strong independent risk factor for adverse, short-term, clinical outcomes, e.g. one-month mortality for elderly NSTEMI patients. Particularly frail patients with a high comorbidity burden manifested a markedly increased risk. In the future, prospective clinical studies and registries with few exclusion criteria should be conducted. Consensus-based judgments based on a framework for priority setting as regards elderly patients with complex needs may offer an alternative, estimating the benefitrisk ratio of an intervention and the time-frame of expected benefits in relation to expected life-time. Such a framework, which is tentatively outlined in this thesis, should take into account comorbidity, frailty, and disease-specific risk

Linköping University Medical Dissertations No. 1240 Micro Level Priority Setting for Elderly Patients with Acute Cardiovascular Disease and Complex Needs Practice What We Preach or Preach What We Practice?

Si l&apos;on pense à l&apos;alternative, vieillir n&apos;est pas si mal [Att åldras är inte så illa, om man tänker på alternativet] Maurice Chevalier (1888-1972) CONTENT

Consensus-based priority setting for frail elderly NSTEMI (Non ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction) patients

Introduction: Evidence based medicine is difficult to practice when the evidence base is weak. Priority setting for frail elderly patients with heart disease illustrates this problem. We have constructed a tentative model for priority setting for frail elderly patients. Our aim is to evaluate its potential to predict experts’ priority setting. Methods: The tentative model, taking into account cardiovascular risk, frailty and co-morbidity, was based on a literature review, a register study and a questionnaire study. In a pilot study six experienced cardiologists were confronted with 15 validated authentic NSTEMI cases, all of them with different patterns of co-morbidity and frailty. We evaluated the convergence between the rankings of the individual cardiologists and also whether these rankings were in accordance with the suggested model rankings. In the ongoing main study participating cardiologists were recommended by experts. The convergence is measured via an intra-class correlation test. Results: Respondents in the pilot study considered the cases to be clear and relevant. The convergence was evident, both between the cardiologists´ rankings and regarding the model’s suggested rankings compared to the cardiologists’ rankings. The model components were considered relevant and important. The current main study evaluates the same issues on a larger scale. The results will soon be reported. Conclusions: In order to enhance the usability of guidelines in cardiology, they ought to be adapted to frail elderly patients. Our tentative model constitutes a first step in a process towards experts’ consensus-based priority setting when the evidence base is weak.</p

Clinical Frailty Scale score is a predictor of short-, mid- and long-term mortality in critically ill older adults (≥ 70 years) admitted to the emergency department: an observational study

Background The estimated prognos of a patient might influence the expected benefit/risk ratio of different interventions. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) score as an independent predictor of short-, mid- and long-term mortality in critically ill older adults (aged ≥ 70) admitted to the emergency department (ED).  Methods This is a retrospective, single-center, observational study, involving critically ill older adults, recruited consecutively in an ED. All patients were followed for 6.5–7.5 years. The effect of CFS score on mortality was adjusted for the following confounders: age, sex, Charlson’s Comorbidity Index, individual comorbidities and vital parameters. All patients (n = 402) were included in the short- and mid-term analyses, while patients discharged alive (n = 302) were included in the long-term analysis. Short-term mortality was analysed with logistic regression, mid- and long-term mortality with log rank test and Cox proportional hazard models. The CFS was treated as a continuous variable in the primary analyses, and as a categorical variable in completing analyses. Results There was a significant association between mortality at 30 days after ED admission and CFS score, adjusted OR (95% CI) 2.07 (1.64–2.62), p &lt; 0.0001. There was a significant association between mortality at one year after ED admission and CFS score, adjusted HR (95% CI) 1.75 (1.53–2.01), p &lt; 0.0001. There was a significant association between mortality 6.5–7.5 years after discharge and CFS score, adjusted HR (95% CI) 1.66 (1.46–1.89), p &lt; 0.0001. Adjusted HRs are also reported for long-term mortality, when the CFS was treated as a categorical variable: CFS-score 5 versus 1–4: HR (95% CI) 1.98 (1.27–3.08); 6 versus 1–4: HR (95% CI) 3.60 (2.39–5.44); 7 versus 1–4: HR (95% CI) 3.95 (2.38–6.55); 8–9 versus 1–4: HR (95% CI) 20.08 (9.30–43.38). The completing analyses for short- and mid-term mortality indicated a similar risk-predictive value of the CFS.  Conclusions Clinical frailty scale score was independently associated with all-cause short-, mid- and long-term mortality. A nearly doubled risk of death was observed in frail patients. This information is clinically relevant, since individualised treatment and care planning for older adults should consider risk of death in different time perspectives