Journal of hospital medicine : an official publication of the Society of Hospital Medicine
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Optimal design of healthcare spaces can enhance patient care. We applied design thinking and human factors principles to optimize communication and signage on high risk patients to improve situation awareness in a new clinical space for the pediatric ICU. ⋯ When evaluating all patients, shared situation awareness for accurate high-risk status improved from 81% pre-transition to 92% post-transition (p = .006). When assessing individual care team roles, accuracy of patient high-risk status improved from 88% to 95% (p = .05) for RNs, 85% to 96% (p = .003) for residents, and 88% to 95% (p = .03) for RTs. There was no change in the rate of CPR events following the transition.
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Clinical guidelines suggest that hospital antibiograms are a key component when deciding empiric therapy, but little is known about how often clinicians use antibiograms and how they influence clinicians' empiric therapy decisions. We surveyed hospitalists at seven healthcare systems in the United States on their reported practices related to antibiograms and their hypothetical prescribing for four clinical scenarios associated with gram-negative rod pathogens. ⋯ Across all four clinical scenarios, there was no evidence that antibiogram susceptibility levels influenced antibiotic prescribing practices. With limited utilization and no evidence that they influenced practice, antibiograms may have a limited role in hospitalist care delivery for common gram-negative rod infections.
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Phlebotomy for hospitalized children has consequences (e.g., pain, iatrogenic anemia), and unnecessary testing is a modifiable source of waste in healthcare. Days without blood draws or phlebotomy-free days (PFDs) has the potential to serve as a hospital quality measure. ⋯ We identified 126,135 encounters. Bronchiolitis (0.78) and pneumonia (0.54) had the highest PFD ratios (most PFDs), while osteoarticular infections (0.28) and gastroenteritis (0.30) had the lowest PFD ratios. There were no differences in adjusted clinical outcomes across PFD ratio groups. Among children hospitalized with common infections, PFD ratios varied across conditions and hospitals, with no association with outcomes. Our data suggest overuse of phlebotomy and opportunities to improve the care of hospitalized children.
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Stigma surrounding opioid use disorder (OUD) is a barrier to treatment. The use of stigmatizing language may be evidence of negative views toward patients. ⋯ Stigmatizing language was common in this study of patients hospitalized for infectious complications of OUD. Best-practice language was uncommon, but when used was associated with increased odds of addiction treatment and specialty care referrals.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Comparing two durations of medically tailored meals posthospitalization: A randomized clinical trial.
Medically tailored meals (MTM) may be beneficial to patients after hospital discharge. ⋯ Different durations of short-term MTM did not affect patient-centered or utilization outcomes.