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News
ACP Guidelines for Evaluation of Suspected Pulmonary Embolism
December 25, 2015
Clinical question: What are best practices for evaluating patients with suspected acute pulmonary embolism (PE)? Background: Use of CT in the evaluation of PE has increased across all clinical settings without improving mortality.
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News
Early Palliative Care Can Save Money
December 25, 2015
Clinical question: Does time to consult after admission change the effect palliative care consultation has on cost of care? Background: Studies have shown that early palliative care involvement improves quality of life and survival among cancer patients while reducing the cost of care.
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News
Parental Perceptions of Nighttime Communication Are Strong Predictors of Patient Experience
December 23, 2015
Clinical question: How does parental perception of overnight pediatric inpatient care affect the overall patient experience? Background: Restrictions on resident duty hours have become progressively more stringent as attention to the effects of resident fatigue on patient safety has increased.
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News
Effectiveness of Antipsychotics in Treatment of Delirium
December 21, 2015
Clinical questions: Are antipsychotics for the treatment of delirium safe and effective? Does efficacy differ between ICU and non-ICU settings? Does efficacy differ between first- and second-generation antipsychotics (SGA)? Background: Delirium is common in hospitalized patients.
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News
Predictors for Surgical Management of Small Bowel Obstruction
December 18, 2015
Clinical question: Are there clinical or computerized tomography (CT) findings that identify which patients will need early surgical management in adhesive small bowel obstruction (ASBO)? Background: Previous studies determined adverse outcomes resulting from delayed surgery in patients with
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News
Adding Advanced Molecular Techniques to Standard Blood Cultures May Improve Patient Outcomes
December 18, 2015
Clinical question: Does the addition of rapid multiplex polymerase chain reaction molecular techniques to standard blood culture bottle (BCB) processing, with or without antimicrobial stewardship recommendations, affect antimicrobial utilization and patient outcomes? Background: Standard BCB
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News
Some Readmission Risk Factors Not Captured by Medicare
December 14, 2015
Clinical question: Are there patient characteristics not currently measured by the Medicare readmission program that account for differences in hospital readmission rates? Background: The Medicare Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) financially penalizes hospitals with higher than
News
Unassigned, Undocumented Patients Take a Toll on Healthcare and Hospitalists
December 3, 2015
When a patient must remain in the acute care hospital setting—despite being well enough to transition to a lower level of care, costs continue to mount as the patient receives care at the most expensive level. “But policymakers must understand that reducing support for essential hospitals might s
News
Heparin Bridging for Atrial Fibrillation
December 3, 2015
Maralyssa Bann, MD, Kay M. Johnson, MD, Anneliese M. Schleyer, MD, MHA, FHM, Shobha W. Stack, MD, PhD, Lindee Strizich, MD, MSc, Jessica S. Woan, MD; Hospital Medicine Program, University of Washington Medicine, Seattle
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Audio
LISTEN NOW: Scott Sears, MD, Discusses Hospitalist Challenges with Unassigned, Uninsured Patients
December 1, 2015
Scott Sears, MD, chief clinical officer for Sound Physicians in Tacoma, Wash., discusses why patients without health insurance put hospitalists in a difficult situation.
