Articles Tagged With: Diagnostics
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Gastrointestinal Bleeding on Anticoagulants: Predicting Colorectal Cancer in Afib Patients
A large Danish registry study showed that in atrial fibrillation patients on oral anticoagulants and who experience a lower gastrointestinal bleed (LGIB), the incidence of a subsequent diagnosis of colorectal cancer is significantly higher than in those without a LGIB.
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Noncompliance with Sepsis Measures Used to Prove Care Was Negligent
Along with growing general awareness, there are several positive developments in ED sepsis care, including laboratory tests helpful in diagnosing sepsis cases that have improved substantially. Also, there are new biomarkers of sepsis that are promising, and new molecular tests allow a lab to identify blood-borne infections in hours instead of the days formerly required for blood cultures to grow.
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How Certain is a Negative Echocardiogram for Excluding Infective Endocarditis?
Applying the proposed strict negative criteria for infective endocarditis (IE) on the first echocardiogram indicated this approach largely prevented unnecessary repeat tests unless clinically indicated for continued suspicion of IE.
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Coronary Calcium Score Zero: Are You Home Free?
Among those with a coronary calcium score of 0 after a median follow-up of 16 years, current cigarette smoking, diabetes, and hypertension were independently associated with the development of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
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Jugular Venous Pressure by Bedside Ultrasound
Using a handheld point-of-care ultrasound device to estimate right atrial pressure from images of the jugular vein resulted in a higher imaging success rate vs. visual inspection and a reasonably accurate estimation, especially in those with elevated right atrial pressures.
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Damages, Causation Are Obstacles in Abdominal Pain Med/Mal Cases
Many older ED patients are living with a host of preexisting conditions, which, coupled with the patient’s age, argue against investing the needed time and money to pursue a malpractice claim. Even if there is clear liability and causation, the case of misdiagnosed abdominal pain still might not be worth pursuing from a financial standpoint.
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Older Adults with Abdominal Pain Risk Mistriage, Inadequate Diagnostic Tests
ED providers should not think of abdominal pain in older adults as the same as abdominal pain in younger patients. At the department level, consider adding abdominal pain in older patients to the list of automatic ECG criteria.
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AAP Recommends Routine HIV Screening, Prevention for All Teens, At-Risk Youth
The organization advises pediatricians to create safe spaces that allow frank discussions of sensitive topics.
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Tearing Down Barriers to Medical Error Reporting
Lack of time, complex systems prevent staff from reporting medical errors, near-misses more often.
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Intensive Monitoring for Asymptomatic Atrial Fibrillation Did Not Prevent Strokes
Screening with an implantable loop recorder resulted in dramatically higher rates of atrial fibrillation detection and ensuing anticoagulation, but without a significant decrease in risk of stroke or systemic embolism by six years of follow-up.