Hospital Medicine Alert – October 1, 2014

October 1, 2014

• Pagers Versus Smartphones

  This is an eight-week, cluster-randomized, controlled trial at a single institution study (Stanford Hospital) comparing a traditional one-way paging system to the use of a HIPAA-compliant group messaging (HCGM) application for smartphones.

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• Reduced ICU Bed Availability is Associated with Worse Outcomes on the General Wards

  This observational cohort study found that reduced ICU bed availability is associated with increased rates of ICU readmission as well as ward cardiac arrest if medical ICU beds were on shortage.

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• Colchicine for Recurrent Pericarditis

  This study completes the Imazio et al trilogy on the treatment of pericarditis and suggests that colchicine is the drug of first choice for acute pericarditis, first recurrences, and multiple recurrences.

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• Tissue Plasminogen Activator and Acute Ischemic Stroke Reviewed

  The authors present an updated review of the use of tissue plasminogen activator in patients with acute ischemic stroke.

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• Should Patients with Acute Respiratory Failure be Extubated at Night?

  In this retrospective study of extubation outcomes in five ICUs at a single medical center, patients extubated at night had no increase in adverse events and their mortality rates and lengths of ICU stay were lower. However, these results were likely affected by the high proportion of post-cardiac-surgery patients in the nighttime extubation group.

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