August 24, 2022
Talking about heart failure
Patients with heart failure often have a hard time wrapping their heads around it. Hospitalists can do a lot to improve communication and education during hospitalization.
Glycogenic hepatopathy
A 21-year-old man with type 1 diabetes presented to the hospital with nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Physical exam showed hepatosplenomegaly.
Electronic tool for ICU-to-ward discharge linked to timely, complete discharge summaries
A Canadian study of adult patients discharged from the ICU to a hospital ward found that the proportion of those with timely and complete discharge summaries increased from 10.8% to 71.1% after implementation of a structured electronic discharge summary tool.
COVID-19 hospitalization carries higher VTE risk than flu regardless of vaccination status
The 90-day absolute risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) was 5.3% in patients hospitalized with influenza compared to 9.5% in COVID-19 patients hospitalized before vaccine availability and 10.9% in patients with COVID-19 after vaccines became available, a study found.
Behavioral symptoms associated with poor outcomes in hospitalized patients with dementia
A cross-sectional retrospective study of elderly U.S. inpatients found that behavioral symptoms of dementia were associated with higher in-hospital mortality, longer length of stay, higher rates of 30-day readmission, and lower likelihood of discharge to home.
Effects of interdisciplinary teams on readmissions may vary by team structure
Interdisciplinary teams may function better if they have a dedicated time and space for meetings, have a specific social worker or case manager assigned, and use structured tools to support discussions, a recent study suggested.