February 1, 2023
![Photos courtesy of Dr Moriates left and Dr Silverstein right graphic from Getty Images](/archives/2023/02/01/free/acph-20230201-slashing-superfluous-labs_h1.jpg)
Slashing superfluous labs
Experts offer their advice on getting over your love of daily labs to help patients and reduce costs.
Paying for hospital care at home
Traditional hospital-at-home models include costs for care, medications, and labs but do not cover the capital expenses that diagnosis-related group payments typically support.
Mortality similar with restrictive vs. liberal fluid strategies for sepsis with hypotension
A multicenter U.S. trial randomized patients with sepsis-induced hypotension to either a strategy prioritizing vasopressors and lower IV fluid volumes or a strategy prioritizing higher volumes of IV fluids before vasopressors for 24 hours after initial treatment.
Early mobilization significantly reduced cognitive impairment in ICU patients, trial finds
Less than a quarter of patients randomized to early occupational and physical therapy while ventilated were cognitively impaired at one year, compared to 43% of those who received usual care, a single-center study found.
Adults hospitalized with RSV had worse outcomes than those with influenza
Patients with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) were at higher risk of a long hospital stay and mechanical ventilation versus those with influenza, a prospective study found. The former group also had more pre-existing cardiopulmonary conditions.
Overdose risk may be highest in week after hospital discharge for patients on long-term opioids
During the first seven days after hospital discharge, patients prescribed long-term opioid therapy overdosed on opioids at a rate more than six times higher than in other time periods, a retrospective study in one health system found.