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Hospitals often lack the time needed to obtain accurate medication histories from newly admitted patients, and this leads to errors.
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Every pharmacy has a medication reconciliation plan and process, but how many of these are successful? The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations (JCAHO) of Oakbrook Terrace, IL has made medication reconciliation one of its priorities in 2008, partly because this is such a difficult process for hospitals.
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It has long been taught that lipid levels measured during hospitalization for an acute illness will be artificially low because of an acute-phase metabolic reaction. Consequently, many physicians wait weeks after hospitalization to measure lipids when they have returned to baseline levels and then start appropriate lipid lowering therapy. On the other hand, acute coronary syndrome (ACS) studies have suggested that the early administration of statins may improve outcomes in ACS.
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Guillain-Barré syndrome remains a common and serious cause of acute neuropathy in the elderly.
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Epidural blood patch is an effective treatment for post dural puncture headache.
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In this examination of blood C-reactive protein levels and clinical data in 570 patients hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia, initial CRP levels < 100 mg/L were associated with fewer complications, less use of mechanical ventilation and/or inotropes, and lower 30-day mortality. Whether these findings provide useful information beyond what is apparent on routine clinical assessment remains to be seen.
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Three recent reports yield different conclusions on the effectiveness of MRSA surveillance on the incidence of healthcare associated MRSA infection.
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One of the most appealing features in some of the newer, more powerful CT scanning devices is that they can do the job while exposing the patient to less radiation in some cases significantly less, according to vendors.
