Improving interpretation for inpatients
Experts offer tips for hospitalists on providing care to patients speaking any language amid an ongoing shortage of interpreters.
Newman's Notions | November 27, 2024 | FREE
Most ACP Hospitalist content is available exclusively to ACP Members. This article is free to the public.
Gesticulation
Hands convey a surprising amount of information, but it's not always accurate.
For BSI, seven days of antibiotics noninferior to 14 days, even in ICU patients
Ninety-day mortality was 14.5% among patients randomized to seven days of antibiotics for a bloodstream infection (BSI) compared to 16.1% in those assigned to 14 days of medication, a large international trial found.
Rapid correction of hyponatremia associated with lower mortality, review finds
Hospitalized patients with severe hyponatremia who had their serum sodium level corrected by 8 to 10 mEq/L per 24 hours or faster had significantly lower inpatient mortality than those who got slower correction, according to a systematic review of 16 studies.
Observation stay patients more likely to return to hospital than admitted ones
Observation stays increased from 31.1% of Medicare hospitalizations shorter than five days in 2009 to 48.4% in 2019, according to a retrospective analysis of the top 30 most common conditions seen in observation units.
Patients discharged to SNFs during early pandemic were older, more often from ICU
A single-center study compared Medicare discharges to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) by age, concurrent depression diagnosis, length of stay, and ICU admission in March 2020 to February 2021, March 2021 to February 2022, and March 2022 to February 2023.
Take a quiz about the Nov. 20 issue!
Every week, ACP Hospitalist posts a question about the previous week's issue. See how well you remember what you've read compared to other readers.
Restoring trust after rough times in residency
The pandemic made many medical trainees less trustful and engaged. A program director talks about how to win them back.
Hypertension
Accurate documentation of hypertensive crisis, urgency, and emergency can have a substantial impact on reimbursement.
Over one-third of surgical inpatients experience adverse events, study suggests
Nearly two in five patients who underwent surgery at one of 11 hospitals in Massachusetts in 2018 experienced adverse events, 60% of which were considered potentially preventable.
Hospitalizations, liver transplants linked to alcohol on the rise across age, gender groups
Between 2005 and 2021, liver transplants associated with alcohol-induced liver disease saw a relative increase of more than 2,000% among women younger than 40 years of age in the U.S., and their liver disease hospitalization rate more than doubled, according to data from the National Inpatient Sample.
Heart failure admission outcomes similar with hospital at home, traditional inpatient stay
More than 90% of acute heart failure patients who were offered hospital at home care accepted it in place of a brick-and-mortar hospital stay, and 84% of them completed home hospitalization without requiring transfer back to the hospital, a retrospective analysis found.
Research Summaries | November 20, 2024 | FREE
Most ACP Hospitalist content is available exclusively to ACP Members. This article is free to the public.
Outcomes similar with hospital-acquired COVID-19 vs. flu, Swiss study finds
A comparison of patients who developed symptomatic omicron-variant COVID-19 or flu during hospitalization found similar case-fatality rates at 6.2% and 6.1%, respectively. ICU admission was required for 2.4% of those with COVID-19 versus 2.6% with influenza.
Hospitalists plus students
Direct care hospitalist teaching services have been on the rise, giving physicians and students more time to interact.
Success Story | November 13, 2024 | FREE
Most ACP Hospitalist content is available exclusively to ACP Members. This article is free to the public.
Procedures for saving the planet
An internal medicine team redesigned their procedure cart and halved the waste produced by bedside procedures.
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