News
Steroids Beneficial as Adjunctive Treatment for Community-Acquired Pneumonia
November 30, 2015
Clinical question: Should steroids be used as adjunctive therapy for patients with community-acquired pneumonia? Bottom line: Moderate-quality to high-quality evidence suggests that steroids, when added to antibiotics and usual care, can improve outcomes in the treatment of community-acquired pne
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Functional Outcomes Better With Endovascular Thrombectomy for Acute Ischemic Stroke
November 30, 2015
Clinical question: Does endovascular thrombectomy improve clinical outcomes in patients presenting with acute ischemic stroke? Bottom line: High-quality evidence shows that endovascular therapy using mechanical thrombectomy for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke leads to improved functional o
News
Guide Helps Hospitalists Choose Most Appropriate Catheter for Patients
November 30, 2015
The Michigan Appropriateness Guide for Intravenous Catheters (MAGIC) is a new resource designed to help clinicians select the safest and most appropriate peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) for individual patients. “How do you decide which catheter is best for your patient?
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Institute of Medicine Report Examines Medical Misdiagnoses
November 30, 2015
In the latest report in its series on quality and patient safety in healthcare, the Institute of Medicine addresses the challenge of errors in medical diagnoses. Authors of the IOM’s “Improving Diagnosis in Health Care” report cite problems in communication and limitations in electronic health re
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Quality Improvement Initiative Targets Sepsis
November 30, 2015
A quality improvement (QI) initiative at University Hospital in Salt Lake City aims to save lives and cut hospital costs by reducing inpatient sepsis mortality. Program co-leaders, hospitalists Devin Horton, MD, and Kencee Graves, MD, of University Hospital, launched the initiative as a pilot pro
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Thombosis Management Demands Balanced Approach
November 30, 2015
[caption id="attachment_12180" align="alignright" width="295"] Image Credit: SHUTTERSTOCK.COM[/caption] The delicate balance involved in providing hospitalized patients with needed anticoagulant, anti-platelet, and thrombolytic therapies for stroke and possible cardiac complications, while minimi
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Liver Transplant Only Cure for Some Inpatients with Cirrhosis
November 30, 2015
Bilal Hameed, MD, assistant professor of medicine in the division of gastroenterology at the University of California San Francisco, reviewed a wide range of serious and life-threatening medical complications resulting from cirrhosis during the annual UCSF Management of the Hospitalized Patient conf
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Quality of Healthcare Systems Depends on People Caring Within
November 30, 2015
The experience I describe here is an acute illness that my family experienced. Aside from the actual illness, most of the story will not sound surprising or unique to most of you.
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Patients Dissatisfied with Medicare Advantage Plans
November 20, 2015
NEW YORK - Medicare Advantage plans might not be meeting the needs of patients requiring the costliest and most complex levels of care, a new study suggests. Between 2010 and 2011, such patients were more likely to switch from Medicare Advantage plans to traditional Medicare, rather than vice ver
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ICD-10 Under ACP Scrutiny
November 19, 2015
NEW YORK - While the new International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) codes offer greater diagnostic precision, their implementation will require training of clinicians, coders, and other staff to minimize payment denials or delays from both public and
