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The Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) developed a web-based educational resource for hospitalists, a VTE "resource room" (http://www.hospitalmedicine.org/ResourceRoomRedesign/RR_LandingPage.cfm). "The overarching goal of SHM was to bridge the gap between the best evidence in terms of medical prophylaxis and actual practice," Sylvia McKean, MD, SFHM, FACP, a senior hospitalist at Brigham and Women's Hospital, notes.
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While Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston has been successful in reducing the incidents of venous thromboembolism (VTE), it has taken an ongoing effort and a combination of successful interventions, says Sylvia McKean, MD, SFHM, FACP, a senior hospitalist. "National and international registries have shown that prophylaxis is still underutilized," she says.
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The recently passed health care reform legislation may have generated controversy in political circles, but there appears to be a consensus among health care quality observers that it will strengthen the position of hospital quality managers and give their roles even greater importance.
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Health care clinicians and organizations likely will find that the new health care reform bill's positive features outweigh its drawbacks, experts say.
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In a prospective surveillance study, 50 HIV-positive patients who presented with febrile respiratory symptoms were evaluated for the presence of respiratory viruses by multiplex RT-PCR and a microarray assay and for atypical bacterial pathogens by PCR, in addition to sputum cultures and serologic testing. Viruses accounted for 64% of the infections. Influenza virus was identified in 22 cases, and human metapneumovirus (hMPV) was next most common, with six cases.
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Patients presenting with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) often have co-existing lesions in the non-infarct arteries (i.e., they have multi-vessel disease). These patients present a management dilemma.
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In this study, 847 patients with peritonsillar abscess (PTA) admitted to Aarhus University hospitals from 2001-2006 were included in this retrospective study.
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Natriuretic peptide levels (BNP, NT-proBNP) are of prognostic value in general populations, but whether they add information to other known risk factors for cardiovascular outcomes is less clear.
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This non-randomized, prospective trial demonstrated that passive leg raising can be used to predict fluid responsiveness in non-intubated, spontaneously breathing patients with severe sepsis or acute pancreatitis.
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Colistin, a 50-year-old polymyxin antibiotic that recently has been reintroduced to treat multidrug-resistant hospital-acquired Acinetobacter or Pseudomonas pneumonia, can cause acute neuromuscular weakness and precipitate acute hypercapnic respiratory failure, as illustrated by this case report.
