Application Value of Information-Based Health Education and Continuity of Care in Patients With Peptic Ulcer

Chinese Herbal Medicines for Coronary Heart Disease: Clinical Evidence, Pharmacological Mechanisms, and the Interaction with Gut Microbiota

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a common type of cardiovascular disease (CVD) that has been on the rise in terms of both incidence and mortality worldwide, presenting a significant threat to human health. An increasing body of studies has shown that traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), particularly Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs), can serve as an effective adjunctive therapy to enhance the efficacy of Western drugs in treating CHD due to their multiple targets and multiple pathways. In this article, we critically review data available on the potential therapeutic strategies of CHMs in the intervention of CHD from three perspectives: clinical evidence, pharmacological mechanisms, and the interaction with gut microbiota. We identified 20 CHMs used in clinical practice and it has been found that the total clinical effective rate of CHD patients improved on average by 17.78% with the intervention of these CHMs. Subsequently, six signaling pathways commonly used in treating CHD have been identified through an overview of potential pharmacological mechanisms of these 20 CHMs and the eight representative individual herbs selected from them. CHMs could also act on gut microbiota to intervene in CHD by modulating the composition of gut microbiota, reducing trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) levels, increasing short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), and maintaining appropriate bile acids (BAs). Thus, the therapeutic potential of CHMs for CHD is worthy of further study in view of the outcomes found in existing studies.

Post-stroke experiences and health information needs among Chinese elderly ischemic stroke survivors in the internet environment: a qualitative study

Background

Elderly stroke survivors are encouraged to receive appropriate health information to prevent recurrences. After discharge, older patients seek health information in everyday contexts, examining aspects that facilitate or impair healthy behavior.

Objectives

To explore the experiences of older stroke patients when searching for health information, focusing on search methods, identification of health information, and difficulties faced during the search process.

Methods

Using the qualitative descriptive methodology, semi-structured interviews were conducted with fifteen participants.

Results

Participants associated the health information they sought with concerns about future life prospects triggered by perceived intrusive changes in their living conditions. Based on the participants' descriptions, four themes were refined: participants' motivation to engage in health information acquisition behavior, basic patterns of health information search, source preferences for health information, and difficulties and obstacles in health information search, and two search motivation subthemes, two search pattern subthemes, four search pathway subthemes, and four search difficulty subthemes were further refined.

Conclusion

Older stroke patients face significant challenges in searching for health information online. Healthcare professionals should assess survivors' health information-seeking skills, develop training programs, provide multichannel online access to health resources, and promote secondary prevention for patients by improving survivors' health behaviors and self-efficacy.

Evaluation of Social Platform-Based Continuity of Care in Improving Cognitive and Prognostic Effects of Young Patients with Diabetic Retinopathy

Objective

This study was performed to evaluate the effectiveness of social platform-based continuity of care in improving cognitive and prognostic effects of young age diabetic patients without diabetic retinopathy (DR).

Methods

A total of 88 young age diabetic patients admitted to the outpatient clinic of First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University (Endocrine and Ophthalmology Outpatient) from January 2021 to May 2022 were recruited and assigned via random number table method to receive either routine follow-up care (routine group) or social platform-based continuity of care (WeChat group), with 44 patients in each group. Treatment compliance, cognitive-behavioral ability, self-care ability (self-care responsibility, self-care skills, self-status, knowledge of diabetic retinopathy), quality of life (physical function, psychosocial, symptom and visual function, social activity), and prognosis of the patients were analyzed to investigate the effectiveness of WeChat social platform-based continuity of care. All patients were followed up for one year.

Results

Patients receiving WeChat social platform-based continuity of care exhibited obviously higher treatment compliance and better cognitive-behavioral ability, self-care responsibility, self-care skills, self-state, and diabetic retinopathy knowledge follow-up than those with routine care (P<0.05). Patients in the WeChat group had significantly better physical function, mental psychology, symptoms and visual function, and social activity levels than those in the routine group (P<0.05). WeChat-based continuity of care resulted in a significantly lower incidence of visual acuity loss and diabetic retinopathy during follow-up than routine care (P<0.05).

Conclusion

WeChat social platform-based continuity of care effectively improves treatment compliance and diabetic retinopathy awareness, and enhances self-care ability of young patients with diabetes mellitus. The life quality of these patients is improved and the risk of poor prognosis has been reduced.

Meta-Analysis on the Application Value of Collaborative Nursing in Postcolostomy Nursing of Patients with Colorectal Cancer

OBJECTIVE

To systematically evaluate the effect of collaborative nursing on self-care ability of postcolostomy patients with colorectal cancer (CRC).

METHODS

PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang databases were searched to collect relevant literatures on randomized controlled trials of postcolostomy patients with CRC. The search period was started from 2010 to 2021. Statistical analysis was performed on the data extracted from the comprehensive meta-analysis with STATA 16.0 analysis software.

RESULTS

As a result, it was found that the incidence of adverse reactions in the control group was higher than that in the treatment group. Seven studies included the preintervention self-care concept and preintervention self-care skills. Six studies included preintervention self-care responsibility and preintervention exercise of self-care agency (ESCA) scale. In the comparison among the concept of self-care after intervention, self-care skills, self-care responsibility, and ESCA scale, all of them had higher scores in the treatment group than in the control group (P < 0.05). It fully explains that collaborative nursing can significantly improve the evaluation indicators of patients' self-care ability and reduce patient complications.

CONCLUSION

The application of collaborative nursing in the nursing work of patients with CRC after colostomy can significantly reduce the incidence of adverse nursing reactions.