Hospital Medicine Alert – July 1, 2014
July 1, 2014
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Hospitalist Workload May Impact Quality of Care
Hospitalists are frequently asked in many systems to work harder and see more patients, yet the effect of the hospitalist workload on the quality and efficiency of care has not been systematically evaluated. -
Functional Status and the Risk for Readmission
Reducing 30-day hospital readmission rates is an important goal in improving healthcare quality and reducing healthcare costs. -
Can We Prevent the Avoidable Readmission When Time Is of the Essence?
There are four predictors for a potentially avoidable readmission due to end-of-life issues: number of admissions in the past year, opiate prescription at discharge, neoplasm and Elixhauser comorbidity index. -
Gloves Are Not Perfect
After caring for patients with Clostridium difficile infection, nearly 25% of health care workers were found to have hand contamination with C. difficile spores. -
Patients with Multiple Medical Emergency Team Calls Are at High Risk for Adverse Outcomes
In this large observational study in four hospitals with a standardized rapid response system, among patients with an initial team activation who were not immediately transferred to the ICU, those with one or more additional activations during the hospitalization were more likely to need ICU care and had both longer hospital stays and higher mortality. -
U.S. MERS cases worked in Saudi hospitals
The first U.S. case of MERS-CoV infection diagnosed in the U.S. has been identified in an individual traveling from Saudi Arabia.