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It may be that at one time the desire to seek accreditation from the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Health Care Organizations was a given among hospital quality professionals, but a growing number of them no longer consider the decision a no-brainer. This is not to say that quality managers are rejecting the Joint Commission in large numbers, but some are thinking longer and harder before taking the plunge.
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A downloadable software program has just been made available to help hospitals and health systems plan antibiotic dispensing and vaccination campaigns to respond to bioterrorism or large-scale natural disease outbreaks.
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The newly released report, Computerized Physician Order Entry in Community Hospitals: Lessons from the Field, jointly sponsored by the California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF) of Oakland and
First Consulting Group of Long Beach, CA, provides insights into how 10 community hospitals successfully adopted computerized physician order entry (CPOE) systems.
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Hospitals outscored eight other industries in a recent customer satisfaction survey by J.D. Power and Associates. In the survey of 2,350 randomly selected patients recently discharged from general acute-care hospitals, three out of four patients who stayed in the hospital at least one night expressed satisfaction with their hospital stay.
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A new report based on research co-sponsored by the California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF) of Oakland and First Consulting Group (FCG) of Long Beach, CA, shows that the successful adoption of computerized physician order entry (CPOE) actually is one of the later stages of a comprehensive clinical information system initiative.
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Elevated homocysteine levels have been associated with atherosclerosis. Folic acid supplementation is a simple, inexpensive way to reduce homocysteine levels, which has become popular for secondary prevention in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), despite a paucity of long-term clinical trial data. Thus, Liem and colleagues studied 593 patients with stable CAD on statins who were randomized to open-label folic acid 0.5 mg/d or standard care, which included aggressive pursuit of lipid goals.
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In 1998, Beyth and colleagues developed a modified outpatient bleeding risk index. In this prospective study conducted at the University of Ottawa, 222 patients with diagnosed pulmonary embolism or deep venous thrombosis were observed for an average of 18.5 months.
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The FDA has approved Genentechs omalizumab, the first biotechnology drug for the treatment of asthma.
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Metformin and Thiazolidinedione Use in Medicare Patients with Heart Failure; Alcohol Consumption Patterns and Biologic Markers of Glycemic Control Among 459 Women; Azelaic Acid Gel as a New Treatment for Papulopustular Rosacea
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The ECG in the Figure was obtained from a 57-year-old woman with palpitations. Is there a short run of VT (ventricular tachycardia) in lead V1? What else may be wrong with the tracing?
