Journal of general internal medicine
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Patient safety indicators (PSIs) are screening tools that use administrative data to identify potential complications of care and are being increasingly used as measures of hospital safety. It is unknown whether PSIs are related to standard quality metrics. ⋯ With the exception of failure to rescue, we found poor or inverse relationships between PSIs and other measures of healthcare quality. Whether the lack of relationship is due to the limitations of the PSIs is unknown, but suggests that PSIs need further validation before they are employed broadly.
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Limited community-based data describe weight change after diabetes diagnosis. ⋯ A small-but-substantial group of patients had a mean weight trajectory that included a clinically significant weight loss. Weight-loss trajectories were strongly associated with better glycemic control when compared to weight gain. Patients with certain characteristics may need more support for weight loss.
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The risk of adverse events among alcohol-interactive medication users can occur with one standard alcoholic drink. Research on the extent to which this occurs is scant. ⋯ Combining alcohol and AI medications is a common phenomenon, and the risk of alcohol-related adverse drug events may be nontrivial. Screening for alcohol use before prescribing AI medications would be prudent. Better communication regarding the dangers of mixing alcohol with AI medications is warranted.