Articles: hospitals.
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Used as a veterinary sedative and not approved for human use, xylazine has been increasingly linked with opioid overdose deaths in the United States. A growing number of people have been exposed to xylazine in the illicit opioid supply (especially fentanyl) or in other drugs, particularly in some areas of the Northeast. Xylazine is an α-2 adrenergic agonist that decreases sympathetic nervous system activity. ⋯ The significance and clinical effects of xylazine as an adulterant is focused on 4 domains that merit further evaluation: fentanyl-xylazine overdose, xylazine dependence and withdrawal, xylazine-associated dermal manifestations, and xylazine surveillance and detection in clinical and nonclinical settings. This report reflects the Proceedings of the National Institute on Drug Abuse Center for the Clinical Trials Network convening of clinical and scientific experts, federal staff, and other stakeholders to describe emerging best practices for treating people exposed to xylazine-adulterated opioids. Participants identified scientific gaps and opportunities for research to inform clinical practice in emergency departments, hospitals, and addiction medicine settings.
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"One Pill Can Kill" is a meme originating in the 1990s. This construct lists pharmaceuticals that have the alleged potential for fatality after the ingestion of a single pill by a toddler. ⋯ The negative outcome of the one pill can kill construct is inappropriate management manifested by over-referral of young children by poison centers to emergency departments for care, overly prolonged emergency department observation and needless hospital admissions. A more accurate construct is that one pill of anything other than opioids will not kill anybody with the caveat being that we are referring to regulated pharmaceuticals.
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Critical care medicine · Jul 2024
ReviewConcise Definitive Review: In-Hospital Violence and Its Impact on Critical Care Practitioners.
To provide a narrative review of hospital violence (HV) and its impact on critical care clinicians. ⋯ HV is a global problem that impacts clinicians and imperils patient care. Specific initiatives to reduce HV drivers include individual training and system-wide adaptations. Future methods to identify potential perpetrators may leverage machine learning/augmented intelligence approaches.
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Critical care medicine · Jul 2024
Measures and Impact of Caseload Surge During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review.
COVID-19 pandemic surges strained hospitals globally. We performed a systematic review to examine measures of pandemic caseload surge and its impact on mortality of hospitalized patients. ⋯ Pandemic caseload surge was associated with lower survival across most studies regardless of jurisdiction, timing, and population. Markedly variable surge strain measures precluded meta-analysis and findings have uncertain generalizability to lower-middle-income countries (LMICs). These findings underscore the need for establishing a consensus surge metric that is sensitive to capturing harms in everyday fluctuations and future pandemics and is scalable to LMICs.
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Meta Analysis
Revisiting Race and the Benefit of RAS Blockade in Heart Failure: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials.
Concerns have arisen that renin-angiotensin system (RAS) blockers are less effective in Black patients than non-Black patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). ⋯ The mortality benefit from RAS blockade was similar in Black and non-Black patients. Despite the smaller relative risk reduction in hospitalization for HF with RAS blockade in Black patients, the absolute benefit in Black patients was comparable with non-Black patients because of the greater incidence of this outcome in Black patients.