Adding up adverse events
Patient safety experts talk about the latest data and what hospitalists can do to improve them.
Perspectives | FREE
Most ACP Hospitalist content is available exclusively to ACP Members. This article is free to the public.
Even the smallest steps can bring big changes
A physician offers tips on how hospitalists can make more use of pulmonary rehabilitation in patients with COPD.
Supervised walking may benefit hospitalized older adults, trial finds
Rates of discharge to a skilled nursing facility instead of home dropped from about 13% before implementation of the STRIDE (AssiSTed EaRly MobIlity for HospitalizeD VEterans) program to 8% afterward in a randomized trial at eight Veterans Affairs hospitals.
Intensive treatment may increase adverse events in older adults with elevated blood pressure
Intensive blood pressure treatment in the first 48 hours of hospitalization for a noncardiovascular diagnosis was associated with greater risk of a composite outcome that included cardiac injury, acute kidney injury, and transfer to the ICU.
Chief resident-led medical procedure service appears safe, successful
Internal medicine chief residents trained and supervised interns in ultrasound-guided procedures during a four-week rotation. Rates of overall procedure success, complications, and major complications were 94%, 2.6%, and 0.6%, respectively, according to analysis from 2011 to 2022.
90% of patients with Cryptococcus infections were HIV-negative, study finds
Most (60.8%) of the HIV-negative patients with cryptococcosis had another immunocompromising condition, according to the retrospective study using 2015 to 2019 data from hospitals in Australia and New Zealand.
Treating addiction behind bars
Incarcerated patients have a right to medication for opioid use disorder, and hospitalists can help them access it.
Brief Case | FREE
Most ACP Hospitalist content is available exclusively to ACP Members. This article is free to the public.
Hypercalcemia from calcium sulfate antibiotic beads
A patient was admitted with right hip pain from a chronic prosthetic joint infection.
MD and DO hospitalists provide care of similar cost and quality
A retrospective study of hospitalized Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries found no differences in 30-day mortality, readmissions, length of stay, or spending between those cared for by physicians with an allopathic versus an osteopathic degree.
Rapid uptitration of oral therapies after hospitalization was safe, effective across LVEF categories
A high-intensity care strategy after discharge was associated with a reduced risk of death and heart failure readmission at 180 days, regardless of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), a prespecified analysis of a randomized trial found.
Automated alert increased documented goals-of-care conversations
Emailing primary hospital team members about their older or seriously ill patients' current code status with suggested language about goals of care had a particularly large effect on whether these conversations occurred with patients of minoritized race or ethnicity, a trial found.
AHA/ASA update recommendations on aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage
The new guideline from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association (AHA/ASA) covers diagnosis and management of the condition and replaces the organizations' 2012 guideline.
Internal Medicine Meeting 2023 | FREE
Most ACP Hospitalist content is available exclusively to ACP Members. This article is free to the public.
Replace diagnostic errors with excellence
Five strategies can help hospitalists achieve diagnostic excellence, a researcher says.
Coronavirus | FREE
Most ACP Hospitalist content is available exclusively to ACP Members. This article is free to the public.
Higher risk of false-positive HIV test in those testing positive for COVID-19 infection
Hospitalized patients with positive SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test results were significantly more likely to have a false-positive fourth-generation HIV test than those with negative SARS-CoV-2 PCR test results, a retrospective study found.
Observation has highest utility, lowest cost of options for primary spontaneous pneumothorax
A review comparing strategies for primary spontaneous pneumothorax found that chest tube and aspiration were more likely to result in resolution of the condition without additional intervention, but patients who underwent observation instead had the shortest length of stay.
Early palliative care did not improve quality of life in cancer surgery patients
The trial randomly assigned participants scheduled for intra-abdominal cancer operations to receive either usual care or an intervention including preoperative consultation with palliative care specialists and postoperative inpatient and outpatient palliative care follow-up for 90 days.
Use of CT pulmonary angiography for suspected PE rose from 2015 to 2019
The findings of a retrospective analysis suggest that the development and validation of clinical decision rules for diagnosing pulmonary embolism (PE) didn't affect use of CT pulmonary angiography in European EDs, according to the authors.
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