The time is now: Achieving FH paediatric screening across Europe - The Prague Declaration

Familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) is the most common inherited metabolic disorder characterized by high cholesterol and if left untreated leads to premature cardiovascular disease, such as heart attacks. Treatment that begins early in life, particularly in childhood, is highly efficacious in preventing cardiovascular disease and cost-effective, thus early detection of FH is crucial. However, in Europe, less than 10% of people living with FH are diagnosed and even less receive life-saving treatment. The Prague Declaration is a call to action for national and European Union policymakers and decision-makers and a result of the Czech EU Presidency meeting on FH Paediatric Screening (early detection of inherited high cholesterol) at the Czech Senate in Prague on 6th September 2022. It builds on a considerable body of evidence which was discussed at the Technical Meeting under the auspices of the Slovenian EU Presidency in October 2021. The Prague meeting addressed the outstanding barriers to the systematic implementation of FH paediatric screening across Europe. In this article, we present the key points from the Prague meeting and concrete actions needed to move forward.

Process Evaluation of the Regional Referral Clinical Pathway for Home-Based Palliative Care and Outreach Program: A Questionnaire Survey of the Medical Staff and Bereaved Families

Background: The purpose of this study was to clarify how the Regional Referral Clinical Pathway for Home-based Palliative Care (RRCP-HPC) and an outreach program by a palliative care team (PCT) lead to an improvement in the outcome. Design and Methods: We conducted questionnaire surveys using the mailing method involving the regional medical staff involved in cancer patients introduced to the PCT of a single hospital, as well as bereaved families. The questionnaire was prepared through interviews with the medical staff and bereaved families. Subsequently, factor analysis was performed to identify factor structures and calculate the correlation coefficient with each outcome. Results: For the questionnaire survey involving the medical staff, responses were collected from 119 regional medical institutions and 84 regional medical staff. The response rate per institution was 51.3%. Similarly, for the questionnaire survey involving bereaved families, the response rate was 42.4%. For the survey involving the medical staff, 6 factors, such as “improved awareness of an interdisciplinary team,” were extracted. For the survey involving the bereaved families, 4 factors, such as “improvement of communications between patients and healthcare professionals,” were extracted. There were significant (≥moderate) correlations between these factors and all outcomes. Conclusion: In this study, we clarified the process of achieving palliative care until death at home without difficulties using the outreach program and RRCP-HPC. The results suggest the importance of improving communications. The outreach program and RRCP-HPC may have contributed to palliative care at home without difficulties through an improvement in communications.

How do Swiss dog owners visiting a dog exhibition understand feed labels?

While teaching, the Institute of Animal Nutrition of the University of Zurich (IANZ) noticed that veterinary students, veterinarians and pet owners have significant difficulties in reading and understanding pet food labels (PFL). The authors hypothesized that if PFL are easy to read and understand, 90% of those dog owners (n = 43) polled at a dog exhibition are able to answer a questionnaire after reading an exemplary PFL modified from existing products. About 30.2% of the participants were able to compare the protein content of a canned diet versus a dry diet. About 34.9% were able to estimate and compare the carbohydrate content of two dry diets by reading the composition. About 32.6% identified which of the two dry diets was potentially a complete diet by reading the listed ingredients. The results show that a majority of the participants was overwhelmed with the task of reading and understanding the exemplary PFL. An improvement of public education on the basics of product labelling or additional simplified information on the labels might be helpful.

[Adverse event sheets, a quality improvement tool]

The declaration of adverse events comprises a written nurse report which helps to improve the quality and safety of care. Submitted to professionals from the quality department, this report will be used to perform an analysis of the causes and must therefore be descriptive and objective.

[Occupational asthma compensation in the Tunisian Center: cross-sectional study over a period of eight years]

INTRODUCTION

Our study aimed to highlight the epidemiological profile of patients compensated for occupational asthma in the Tunisian Center, to identify their professional characteristics and to determine compensation practices for this occupational disease.

METHODS

We conducted an exhaustive retrospective study over a period of eight years. This case study included workers with occupational asthma diagnosed and compensated in the Tunisian Center by the only two medical commissions empowered to set rates for permanent partial disability caused by either a work-related injury or an occupational diseases in the seven central governorates.

RESULTS

A total of 129 workers, with average age of 40.6 ± 7.75 years were compensated for occupational asthma during the study period. Sex ratio was 0.66. The most incriminated etiologic agents were vegetable dust pollution in the textile industry (75.2%), wood dust, flour and isocyanates. Nonspecific bronchial hyperreactivity was found in 38% of cases, a high rate of IgE in 14% of cases and positive skin prick test in 10.9% of cases. The average rate of permanent partial disability was 25.6 ± 14.2%. On the basis of the analytical study, this rate was related to patient's age and to the medical commission which had set this rate.

CONCLUSION

This study of workers compensated for occupational asthma provides relevant data about epidemiological and clinical features of diagnosed patients and committee practices in particular, in term of application of the voluntary indicative scale, but it does not allow an assessment of the prevalence of this pathology which is often underestimated.

[Learning from errors after a care-related adverse event]

The mobilisation of all health professionals with regard to the detection and analysis of care-related adverse events is an essential element in the improvement of the safety of care. This approach is required by the authorities and justifiably expected by users.

The world alliance against antibiotic resistance: consensus for a declaration

Antibiotic resistance is increasing worldwide and has become a very important threat to public health. The overconsumption of antibiotics is the most important cause of this problem. We created a World Alliance Against Antibiotic Resistance (WAAAR), which now includes 720 people from 55 different countries and is supported by 145 medical societies or various groups. In June 2014, WAAAR launched a declaration against antibiotic resistance. This article describes the process and the content of this declaration.

The future of immunization policies in Italy and in the European Union: The Declaration of Erice

On December 2014 the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) of the European Union adopted the Council Conclusions on "Vaccinations as an effective tool in public health," a crucial step to strengthen EU action supporting Member States (MS) to implement effective immunization policies and programs. As a contribution to the ongoing pan-European discussion and to the Italian commitment to stay at the forefront of promoting vaccination policies, the Erice Declaration was drafted by Italy's best experts in the field of immunization to transpose to the national level the goals set by the EPSCO Conclusions. The aim of the current letter is to present to the broader international audience the Italian perspective as a case study to assess different immunization policy models, challenges and priorities.

Transforming children's palliative care-from ideas to action: highlights from the first ICPCN conference on children's palliative care

The International Children’s Palliative Care Network (ICPCN) held its first international conference on children’s palliative care, in conjunction with Tata Memorial Centre, in Mumbai, India, from 10–12 February 2014. The theme of the conference, Transforming children’s palliative care—from ideas to action, reflected the vision of the ICPCN to live in a world where every child who needs it, can access palliative care, regardless of where they live. Key to this is action, to develop service provision and advocate for children’s palliative care. Three pre-conference workshops were held on 9 February, aimed at doctors, nurses, social workers, and volunteers, and focused around the principles of children’s palliative care, and in particular pain and symptom management. The conference brought together 235 participants representing 38 countries. Key themes identified throughout the conference included: the need for advocacy and leadership; for education and research, with great strides having been taken in the development of an evidence base for children’s palliative care, along with the provision of education; the importance of communication and attention to spirituality in children, and issues around clinical care, in particular for neonates. Delegates were continually challenged to transform children’s palliative care in their parts of the world and the conference culminated in the signing of the ICPCN Mumbai Declaration. The Declaration calls upon governments around the world to improve access to quality children’s palliative care services and made a call on the Belgian government not to pass a bill allowing children to be euthanised in that country. The conference highlighted many of the ongoing developments in children’s palliative care around the world, and as she closed the conference, Joan Marston (ICPCN CEO) challenged participants to take positive action and be the champions that the children need, thus transforming children’s palliative care.

Clinical approaches to the withdrawal of nutrition and hydration

The request for withdrawal of nutrition and hydration from the vegetative patient is rare, but when it occurs it causes considerable anxiety for the clinical team. This anxiety is exacerbated by the need to seek a declaration from court that withdrawal of treatment would be legal. This paper discusses the process from the time of the request to the withdrawal of the tube feeding, and the actions the clinical team needs to take.