Articles Tagged With:
-
Identifying and Treating Skin and Soft Tissue Infections
Skin and soft tissue infections refer to infections that affect the skin and its underlying soft tissues. These infections are classified by the level of skin involvement. The costs associated with Staphylococcus aureus skin and soft tissue infections are estimated at an average of $8,865 for both inpatient and outpatient treatment, and a median charge of $19,984 for hospitalizations. These costs can place a significant burden on both patients and the healthcare system. Timely and accurate diagnosis and treatment can help to reduce this burden, both financially and by decreasing the risk of complications.
-
Quality Improvement Project Aims to Decelerate Aggressive Hypertension Treatment
Although there might be good intentions behind administering intravenous antihypertensive medication, staff should remain mindful of possible consequences.
-
CMS to Test Innovative Primary Care Model
The focus is on better management of chronic health conditions by streamlining access to integrated services.
-
The Current State of RSV
Respiratory syncytial virus is a common virus encountered in the ED, with myriad presentations and complications that clinicians must be able to identify and manage. The authors provide state-of-the-art diagnostic and management strategies for the acute care clinician.
-
Many Seriously Ill Older Adults Lack Documented Goals-of-Care Discussions
Benign nudges may advance those discussions. These conversations do not need to be lengthy. A few short inquiries asked by a respectful, attentive provider is all that is needed to help many patients share concerns and preferences for care.
-
Ethicists Debate Withdrawing ECMO Over Patient’s Objections
The commonly used ethical justifications for unilateral withdrawal over the objection of a patient with decision-making capacity are problematic. The ethicists’ task is to help stakeholders examine the underlying assumptions in light of the available empirical evidence or potential counterarguments.
-
Ethics Consults Depend on Ability to Absorb Multiple Viewpoints
An important role for the ethicist is to clarify the values people hold that inform their decision-making. Thus, ethicists must develop skills that encourage patients, families, or surrogates to openly express these values. But these skills do not always come naturally.
-
Sham Surgeries: Should Researchers Offer the Real Procedure After the Trial?
There are legitimate concerns when investigators conduct sham-controlled trials. Researchers need a way to effectively determine if the surgery works, but designing this kind of ethically sound and efficacious clinical trial is difficult.
-
Researchers Often Exclude Adults Living with Intellectual Disabilities
Historically, adults living with intellectual disabilities have not been considered among potential participants in the recruitment phase of studies, or have been presumed to lack capacity for first-person consent and excluded on that basis. While there is a contemporary trend toward greater inclusion, these barriers to research participation remain important concerns.
-
Ethical Approach to Informed Consent for Adults with Intellectual Disabilities
The criteria to demonstrate sufficient capacity to consent should be flexible — and proportional to the complexity and risks of each individual study. Researchers must consider individual differences and be prepared to use a variety of methods.