Journal of hospital medicine : an official publication of the Society of Hospital Medicine
-
Comparative Study
Implementation and evaluation of an alpha-numeric paging system on a resident inpatient teaching service.
Numeric pagers are commonly used communication devices in healthcare, but cannot convey important information such as the reason for or urgency of the page. Alphanumeric pagers can display both numbers and text, and may address some of these communication problems. ⋯ We successfully implemented an alphanumeric paging system that reduced disruptive pages on a GM inpatient service.
-
The clinical venous thromboembolism (VTE) burden remains high in the United States, despite guidelines recommending that safe and effective VTE prophylaxis be available. This study assesses the real-world rate of appropriate inpatient VTE prophylaxis in hospitalized U.S. medical and surgical patients at risk of VTE, in accordance with the seventh American College of Chest Physicians, (ACCP) guidelines. ⋯ Few medical and surgical patients at high risk of VTE receive appropriate inpatient prophylaxis in accordance with guideline recommendations. It is important for individual hospitals to improve VTE prophylaxis practices to meet national performance initiatives.
-
Efficacy of simulators in teaching central venous catheterization (CVC) in an internal medicine residency program is unknown. ⋯ Use of simulators in teaching CVC in an internal medicine residency program results in improved procedural performance, knowledge, and self-reported confidence. Improvement in knowledge and confidence was retained at 18 months.
-
Institution of a rapid response team (RRT) improves patients' quality of death (QOD). ⋯ Institution of an RRT in our hospital had negligible impact on outcomes of patients whose goal was restorative care. Deployment of the RRT was associated with generally improved end-of-life pain management and psychosocial care.
-
Peripherally inserted central catheters (PICC) are increasingly used in hospitalized patients. The benefit can be offset by complications such as upper extremity deep vein thrombosis (UEDVT). ⋯ About 5% of patients undergoing PICC placement in acute care hospitals will develop thromboembolic complications. Thromboembolic complications were especially common among persons with a past history of VTE. Catheter tip location at the time of insertion may be an important modifiable risk factor.