November 27, 2024
Improving interpretation for inpatients
Experts offer tips for hospitalists on providing care to patients speaking any language amid an ongoing shortage of interpreters.
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.