January 24, 2024
A bone to pick
Osteoporosis is undertreated in fragility fracture patients. Hospitalists have an opportunity to help close that gap.
The palliative car consult
A conversation with an expert helps a family make a big decision.
Switch to oral antibiotics noninferior for low-risk patients with S. aureus bacteremia
Complication rates were similar in patients with low-risk Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection who were switched to oral antibiotics versus continued on IV therapy in a European randomized trial that was stopped early due to low enrollment.
Sedation practices worsened during pandemic among patients without COVID-19
The percentage of mechanically ventilated patients treated with sustained deep sedation following intubation rose during the pandemic and did not improve after its peak, a single-center study found.
Palliative care consults by default did not affect inpatient length of stay
Implementation of a default, opt-out palliative care consultation intervention for older hospital patients with advanced chronic illnesses did increase consult rates from 16.6% to 43.9% and significantly increased odds of discharge to hospice.
Many IM residencies lack policies on lactation, survey finds
In a survey of internal medicine residency programs, only 55.4% of 78 respondents reported that their institution had a policy on lactation and only 22.1% said that their program had its own policy. Most policies did not provide protected time for lactation.