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Risk Stratification Model Predicts Continued Stability in Patients with Pulmonary Embolism
Clinical question: Can right ventricular (RV) dysfunction and troponin levels be used to risk stratify hemodynamically stable patients with acute pulmonary embolism (PE)?
Background: PE can present with varying degrees of clinical severity, necessitating appropriate risk stratification for decision making and management. Observational studies have demonstrated that RV dysfunction and injury provide important prognostic information in patients with acute PE, but this has not been confirmed in large prospective studies.
Study design: Prospective, cohort study.
Setting: Multicenter registry of academic and community hospitals in Italy.
Synopsis: Using the Italian Pulmonary Embolism Registry database of 860 hemodynamically stable patients with PE who underwent troponin measurement and echocardiogram, this study demonstrated that a model including RV dysfunction and injury has an incremental prognostic value for risk stratification of in-hospital death or clinical deterioration. The negative predictive value of negative echocardiography with negative troponin was 100% for in-hospital death and 99% for in-hospital clinical deterioration.
This study was limited by its observational approach; in addition, it did not provide its metrics for defining hemodynamic stability and did not standardize or report treatment strategies for these patients.
The predictive value of this study is impressive and could lead to the identification of patients in whom early discharge or brief hospitalization is appropriate; however, its application could be challenging in clinical environments where timely echocardiography resources are not readily available to a hemodynamically stable patient population.
Bottom line: Negative troponin and absence of RV dysfunction predict clinically stable pulmonary embolism.
Citation: Becattini C, Casazza F, Forgione C, et al. Acute pulmonary embolism: external validation of an integrated risk stratification model. Chest. 2013;144(5):1539-1545.
Clinical question: Can right ventricular (RV) dysfunction and troponin levels be used to risk stratify hemodynamically stable patients with acute pulmonary embolism (PE)?
Background: PE can present with varying degrees of clinical severity, necessitating appropriate risk stratification for decision making and management. Observational studies have demonstrated that RV dysfunction and injury provide important prognostic information in patients with acute PE, but this has not been confirmed in large prospective studies.
Study design: Prospective, cohort study.
Setting: Multicenter registry of academic and community hospitals in Italy.
Synopsis: Using the Italian Pulmonary Embolism Registry database of 860 hemodynamically stable patients with PE who underwent troponin measurement and echocardiogram, this study demonstrated that a model including RV dysfunction and injury has an incremental prognostic value for risk stratification of in-hospital death or clinical deterioration. The negative predictive value of negative echocardiography with negative troponin was 100% for in-hospital death and 99% for in-hospital clinical deterioration.
This study was limited by its observational approach; in addition, it did not provide its metrics for defining hemodynamic stability and did not standardize or report treatment strategies for these patients.
The predictive value of this study is impressive and could lead to the identification of patients in whom early discharge or brief hospitalization is appropriate; however, its application could be challenging in clinical environments where timely echocardiography resources are not readily available to a hemodynamically stable patient population.
Bottom line: Negative troponin and absence of RV dysfunction predict clinically stable pulmonary embolism.
Citation: Becattini C, Casazza F, Forgione C, et al. Acute pulmonary embolism: external validation of an integrated risk stratification model. Chest. 2013;144(5):1539-1545.
Clinical question: Can right ventricular (RV) dysfunction and troponin levels be used to risk stratify hemodynamically stable patients with acute pulmonary embolism (PE)?
Background: PE can present with varying degrees of clinical severity, necessitating appropriate risk stratification for decision making and management. Observational studies have demonstrated that RV dysfunction and injury provide important prognostic information in patients with acute PE, but this has not been confirmed in large prospective studies.
Study design: Prospective, cohort study.
Setting: Multicenter registry of academic and community hospitals in Italy.
Synopsis: Using the Italian Pulmonary Embolism Registry database of 860 hemodynamically stable patients with PE who underwent troponin measurement and echocardiogram, this study demonstrated that a model including RV dysfunction and injury has an incremental prognostic value for risk stratification of in-hospital death or clinical deterioration. The negative predictive value of negative echocardiography with negative troponin was 100% for in-hospital death and 99% for in-hospital clinical deterioration.
This study was limited by its observational approach; in addition, it did not provide its metrics for defining hemodynamic stability and did not standardize or report treatment strategies for these patients.
The predictive value of this study is impressive and could lead to the identification of patients in whom early discharge or brief hospitalization is appropriate; however, its application could be challenging in clinical environments where timely echocardiography resources are not readily available to a hemodynamically stable patient population.
Bottom line: Negative troponin and absence of RV dysfunction predict clinically stable pulmonary embolism.
Citation: Becattini C, Casazza F, Forgione C, et al. Acute pulmonary embolism: external validation of an integrated risk stratification model. Chest. 2013;144(5):1539-1545.
Accelerated Diagnostic Protocol for Chest Pain Results in Earlier Discharge of Low-Risk Patients
Clinical question: In patients with possible cardiac chest pain, does an accelerated diagnostic protocol result in higher rates of successful early discharge when compared with the standard care pathway?
Background: An accelerated diagnostic pathway (ADP), which combines TIMI [thrombolysis in myocardial infarction] score, EKG, and zero- and two-hour troponin levels, can identify low-risk patients presenting with chest pain; however, little is known about its effect on the rates of early, successful discharge in a real-world population.
Study design: RCT.
Setting: An academic general and tertiary care hospital in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Synopsis: This study of 542 patients ages 18 years and older who presented with chest pain demonstrated that when compared with a conventional pathway, an ADP results in nearly twice the proportion of patients (19.3% vs. 11.0%; P=0.008) achieving safe, early discharge from the ED, defined as discharge within six hours and no major adverse cardiac events within 30 days. This was a single-center trial in New Zealand, which limits its sample size and its generalizability; however, if larger studies led to the implementation of ADP by ED physicians, there would likely be fewer low-risk patients admitted to hospitalist services for evaluation of chest pain.
Bottom line: An accelerated diagnostic chest pain protocol results in earlier discharge of low-risk patients.
Citation: Than M, Aldous S, Lord SJ, et al. A 2-hour diagnostic protocol for possible cardiac chest pain in the emergency department: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA Intern Med. 2014;174(1):51-58.
Clinical question: In patients with possible cardiac chest pain, does an accelerated diagnostic protocol result in higher rates of successful early discharge when compared with the standard care pathway?
Background: An accelerated diagnostic pathway (ADP), which combines TIMI [thrombolysis in myocardial infarction] score, EKG, and zero- and two-hour troponin levels, can identify low-risk patients presenting with chest pain; however, little is known about its effect on the rates of early, successful discharge in a real-world population.
Study design: RCT.
Setting: An academic general and tertiary care hospital in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Synopsis: This study of 542 patients ages 18 years and older who presented with chest pain demonstrated that when compared with a conventional pathway, an ADP results in nearly twice the proportion of patients (19.3% vs. 11.0%; P=0.008) achieving safe, early discharge from the ED, defined as discharge within six hours and no major adverse cardiac events within 30 days. This was a single-center trial in New Zealand, which limits its sample size and its generalizability; however, if larger studies led to the implementation of ADP by ED physicians, there would likely be fewer low-risk patients admitted to hospitalist services for evaluation of chest pain.
Bottom line: An accelerated diagnostic chest pain protocol results in earlier discharge of low-risk patients.
Citation: Than M, Aldous S, Lord SJ, et al. A 2-hour diagnostic protocol for possible cardiac chest pain in the emergency department: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA Intern Med. 2014;174(1):51-58.
Clinical question: In patients with possible cardiac chest pain, does an accelerated diagnostic protocol result in higher rates of successful early discharge when compared with the standard care pathway?
Background: An accelerated diagnostic pathway (ADP), which combines TIMI [thrombolysis in myocardial infarction] score, EKG, and zero- and two-hour troponin levels, can identify low-risk patients presenting with chest pain; however, little is known about its effect on the rates of early, successful discharge in a real-world population.
Study design: RCT.
Setting: An academic general and tertiary care hospital in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Synopsis: This study of 542 patients ages 18 years and older who presented with chest pain demonstrated that when compared with a conventional pathway, an ADP results in nearly twice the proportion of patients (19.3% vs. 11.0%; P=0.008) achieving safe, early discharge from the ED, defined as discharge within six hours and no major adverse cardiac events within 30 days. This was a single-center trial in New Zealand, which limits its sample size and its generalizability; however, if larger studies led to the implementation of ADP by ED physicians, there would likely be fewer low-risk patients admitted to hospitalist services for evaluation of chest pain.
Bottom line: An accelerated diagnostic chest pain protocol results in earlier discharge of low-risk patients.
Citation: Than M, Aldous S, Lord SJ, et al. A 2-hour diagnostic protocol for possible cardiac chest pain in the emergency department: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA Intern Med. 2014;174(1):51-58.
Restrictive Blood Transfusion Strategy with Trigger Hemoglobin
Clinical question: What effect does a restrictive hemoglobin transfusion trigger of <7 g/dL have on clinical outcomes compared to more liberal transfusion triggers?
Background: Blood transfusions are standard of care in managing anemia despite sparse evidence that they improve clinical outcomes. As more evidence mounts that blood transfusions are associated with worse outcomes, the threshold hemoglobin level for transfusion has decreased. The safest hemoglobin trigger for blood transfusion remains unknown.
Study design: Meta-analysis of randomized control trials (RCTs) and systematic review of observational studies.
Setting: Data from MEDLINE.
Synopsis: Pooled data from three RCTs, including 2364 patients, compared outcomes between a restrictive hemoglobin transfusion trigger of <7 g/dL with a more liberal trigger. The restrictive strategy resulted in decreased in-hospital mortality (RR 0.74, CI 0.6-0.92), total mortality (RR 0.8, CI 0.65-0.98), rebleeding (RR 0.64, CI 0.45-0.9), acute coronary syndrome (RR 0.44, CI 0.22-0.89), and pulmonary edema (RR 0.48, CI 0.33-0.72). Using the restrictive strategy, the number needed to treat to prevent one death was 33.
A second meta-analysis of 16 RCTs found that less restrictive transfusion strategies (triggers of 7.5 to 10 g/dL) were not effective in improving outcomes. A systematic review of observational studies suggested that normovolemic patients can tolerate hemoglobins of 5-6 g/dL without affecting oxygen delivery.
The primary meta-analysis was limited by the inclusion of adult and pediatric patients and different indications for transfusion (critical illness, gastrointestinal bleed), which could have introduced some bias. Although the safest transfusion trigger remains unknown, this study demonstrates that <7 g/dL is safer than more liberal triggers.
Bottom line: A restrictive blood transfusion strategy with hemoglobin trigger of <7 g/dL in patients with critical illness or bleeding significantly decreases rebleeding, cardiac events, and total mortality.
Citation: Salpeter SR, Buckley JS, Chatterjee S. Impact of more restrictive blood transfusion strategies on clinical outcomes: a meta-analysis and systematic review. Am J Med. 2014;127(2): 124-131.
Clinical question: What effect does a restrictive hemoglobin transfusion trigger of <7 g/dL have on clinical outcomes compared to more liberal transfusion triggers?
Background: Blood transfusions are standard of care in managing anemia despite sparse evidence that they improve clinical outcomes. As more evidence mounts that blood transfusions are associated with worse outcomes, the threshold hemoglobin level for transfusion has decreased. The safest hemoglobin trigger for blood transfusion remains unknown.
Study design: Meta-analysis of randomized control trials (RCTs) and systematic review of observational studies.
Setting: Data from MEDLINE.
Synopsis: Pooled data from three RCTs, including 2364 patients, compared outcomes between a restrictive hemoglobin transfusion trigger of <7 g/dL with a more liberal trigger. The restrictive strategy resulted in decreased in-hospital mortality (RR 0.74, CI 0.6-0.92), total mortality (RR 0.8, CI 0.65-0.98), rebleeding (RR 0.64, CI 0.45-0.9), acute coronary syndrome (RR 0.44, CI 0.22-0.89), and pulmonary edema (RR 0.48, CI 0.33-0.72). Using the restrictive strategy, the number needed to treat to prevent one death was 33.
A second meta-analysis of 16 RCTs found that less restrictive transfusion strategies (triggers of 7.5 to 10 g/dL) were not effective in improving outcomes. A systematic review of observational studies suggested that normovolemic patients can tolerate hemoglobins of 5-6 g/dL without affecting oxygen delivery.
The primary meta-analysis was limited by the inclusion of adult and pediatric patients and different indications for transfusion (critical illness, gastrointestinal bleed), which could have introduced some bias. Although the safest transfusion trigger remains unknown, this study demonstrates that <7 g/dL is safer than more liberal triggers.
Bottom line: A restrictive blood transfusion strategy with hemoglobin trigger of <7 g/dL in patients with critical illness or bleeding significantly decreases rebleeding, cardiac events, and total mortality.
Citation: Salpeter SR, Buckley JS, Chatterjee S. Impact of more restrictive blood transfusion strategies on clinical outcomes: a meta-analysis and systematic review. Am J Med. 2014;127(2): 124-131.
Clinical question: What effect does a restrictive hemoglobin transfusion trigger of <7 g/dL have on clinical outcomes compared to more liberal transfusion triggers?
Background: Blood transfusions are standard of care in managing anemia despite sparse evidence that they improve clinical outcomes. As more evidence mounts that blood transfusions are associated with worse outcomes, the threshold hemoglobin level for transfusion has decreased. The safest hemoglobin trigger for blood transfusion remains unknown.
Study design: Meta-analysis of randomized control trials (RCTs) and systematic review of observational studies.
Setting: Data from MEDLINE.
Synopsis: Pooled data from three RCTs, including 2364 patients, compared outcomes between a restrictive hemoglobin transfusion trigger of <7 g/dL with a more liberal trigger. The restrictive strategy resulted in decreased in-hospital mortality (RR 0.74, CI 0.6-0.92), total mortality (RR 0.8, CI 0.65-0.98), rebleeding (RR 0.64, CI 0.45-0.9), acute coronary syndrome (RR 0.44, CI 0.22-0.89), and pulmonary edema (RR 0.48, CI 0.33-0.72). Using the restrictive strategy, the number needed to treat to prevent one death was 33.
A second meta-analysis of 16 RCTs found that less restrictive transfusion strategies (triggers of 7.5 to 10 g/dL) were not effective in improving outcomes. A systematic review of observational studies suggested that normovolemic patients can tolerate hemoglobins of 5-6 g/dL without affecting oxygen delivery.
The primary meta-analysis was limited by the inclusion of adult and pediatric patients and different indications for transfusion (critical illness, gastrointestinal bleed), which could have introduced some bias. Although the safest transfusion trigger remains unknown, this study demonstrates that <7 g/dL is safer than more liberal triggers.
Bottom line: A restrictive blood transfusion strategy with hemoglobin trigger of <7 g/dL in patients with critical illness or bleeding significantly decreases rebleeding, cardiac events, and total mortality.
Citation: Salpeter SR, Buckley JS, Chatterjee S. Impact of more restrictive blood transfusion strategies on clinical outcomes: a meta-analysis and systematic review. Am J Med. 2014;127(2): 124-131.
ED Observation Syncope Protocol Reduces Resource Use Without Compromising Safety
Clinical question: Can an ED observation syncope protocol decrease resource utilization without adversely affecting outcomes?
Background: Syncope is a common complaint in EDs. Uncertainty in the best way to manage older adults at intermediate risk for adverse outcomes results in frequent, costly hospitalizations without clear improvement in outcomes. An observation syncope protocol may standardize care and reduce admissions without worsening safety.
Study design: Randomized, non-blinded, clinical trial.
Setting: Five EDs in the United States.
Synopsis: One hundred twenty-four intermediate-risk adults (≥50 years) presenting with syncope or near syncope were randomized to an ED observation syncope protocol vs. routine admission. The observation protocol resulted in a lower admission rate (15% vs. 92%), shorter stay (29 vs. 47 hours), and decreased index hospital costs ($629); however, there were no significant differences in serious outcomes after discharge at 30 days (3% vs. 0%) or six months (8% vs. 10%), 30-day quality of life scores, or patient satisfaction. Limitations include the small study size, the fact that half of eligible patients were excluded as high risk, higher number of abnormal ECGs in the control group, and a cost savings that was attenuated at 30 days.
This ED observation syncope protocol demonstrated an impressive decrease in admission rates and length of stay without compromising safety, but only a small fraction of patients met the inclusion criteria, and the cost savings were small and transient.
Bottom line: An ED observation syncope protocol for intermediate-risk patients decreased admission rates, length of stay, and index hospitalization costs without a difference in safety events, patient satisfaction, or quality of life.
Citation: Sun BC, McCreath H, Liang L, et al. Randomized clinical trial of an emergency department observation syncope protocol versus routine inpatient admission [published online ahead of print November 13, 2013]. Ann Emerg Med.
Clinical question: Can an ED observation syncope protocol decrease resource utilization without adversely affecting outcomes?
Background: Syncope is a common complaint in EDs. Uncertainty in the best way to manage older adults at intermediate risk for adverse outcomes results in frequent, costly hospitalizations without clear improvement in outcomes. An observation syncope protocol may standardize care and reduce admissions without worsening safety.
Study design: Randomized, non-blinded, clinical trial.
Setting: Five EDs in the United States.
Synopsis: One hundred twenty-four intermediate-risk adults (≥50 years) presenting with syncope or near syncope were randomized to an ED observation syncope protocol vs. routine admission. The observation protocol resulted in a lower admission rate (15% vs. 92%), shorter stay (29 vs. 47 hours), and decreased index hospital costs ($629); however, there were no significant differences in serious outcomes after discharge at 30 days (3% vs. 0%) or six months (8% vs. 10%), 30-day quality of life scores, or patient satisfaction. Limitations include the small study size, the fact that half of eligible patients were excluded as high risk, higher number of abnormal ECGs in the control group, and a cost savings that was attenuated at 30 days.
This ED observation syncope protocol demonstrated an impressive decrease in admission rates and length of stay without compromising safety, but only a small fraction of patients met the inclusion criteria, and the cost savings were small and transient.
Bottom line: An ED observation syncope protocol for intermediate-risk patients decreased admission rates, length of stay, and index hospitalization costs without a difference in safety events, patient satisfaction, or quality of life.
Citation: Sun BC, McCreath H, Liang L, et al. Randomized clinical trial of an emergency department observation syncope protocol versus routine inpatient admission [published online ahead of print November 13, 2013]. Ann Emerg Med.
Clinical question: Can an ED observation syncope protocol decrease resource utilization without adversely affecting outcomes?
Background: Syncope is a common complaint in EDs. Uncertainty in the best way to manage older adults at intermediate risk for adverse outcomes results in frequent, costly hospitalizations without clear improvement in outcomes. An observation syncope protocol may standardize care and reduce admissions without worsening safety.
Study design: Randomized, non-blinded, clinical trial.
Setting: Five EDs in the United States.
Synopsis: One hundred twenty-four intermediate-risk adults (≥50 years) presenting with syncope or near syncope were randomized to an ED observation syncope protocol vs. routine admission. The observation protocol resulted in a lower admission rate (15% vs. 92%), shorter stay (29 vs. 47 hours), and decreased index hospital costs ($629); however, there were no significant differences in serious outcomes after discharge at 30 days (3% vs. 0%) or six months (8% vs. 10%), 30-day quality of life scores, or patient satisfaction. Limitations include the small study size, the fact that half of eligible patients were excluded as high risk, higher number of abnormal ECGs in the control group, and a cost savings that was attenuated at 30 days.
This ED observation syncope protocol demonstrated an impressive decrease in admission rates and length of stay without compromising safety, but only a small fraction of patients met the inclusion criteria, and the cost savings were small and transient.
Bottom line: An ED observation syncope protocol for intermediate-risk patients decreased admission rates, length of stay, and index hospitalization costs without a difference in safety events, patient satisfaction, or quality of life.
Citation: Sun BC, McCreath H, Liang L, et al. Randomized clinical trial of an emergency department observation syncope protocol versus routine inpatient admission [published online ahead of print November 13, 2013]. Ann Emerg Med.
10 Choosing Wisely Recommendations by Specialists for Hospitalists
When diagnosing a patient, it can be tempting to run all types of tests to expedite the process—and protect yourself from litigation. Patients may push for more tests, too, thinking “the more the better.” But that may not be the best course of action. In fact, according to recommendations of the ABIM Foundations’ Choosing Wisely campaign, more tests can actually bring a host of negative consequences.
In an effort to help hospitalists decide which tests to perform and which to forgo, The Hospitalist asked medical societies that contributed to the Choosing Wisely campaign to tell us which one of their recommendations was the most applicable to hospitalists. Then, we asked some hospitalists to discuss how they might implement each recommendation.
1 American Gastroenterological Association (AGA)
Recommendation: For a patient with functional abdominal pain syndrome (as per Rome criteria), computed tomography (CT) scans should not be repeated unless there is a major change in clinical findings or symptoms.
When a patient first complains of abdominal pain, a CT scan usually is done prior to a gastroenterological consultation. Despite this initial scan, many patients with chronic abdominal pain receive unnecessary repeated CT scans to evaluate their pain even if they have previous negative studies.
“It is important for the hospitalist to know that functional abdominal pain can be managed without additional diagnostic studies,” says John M. Inadomi, MD, head of the division of gastroenterology at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle. “Some doctors are uncomfortable with the uncertainty of a diagnosis of chronic abdominal pain without evidence of biochemical or structural disease [functional abdominal pain syndrome] and fear litigation.”
An abdominal CT scan is one of the higher radiation exposure tests, equivalent to three years of natural background radiation.1
“Due to this risk and the high costs of this procedure, CT scans should be limited to situations in which they are likely to provide useful information that changes patient management,” Dr. Inadomi says.
According to Moises Auron, MD, FAAP, FACP, SFHM, assistant professor of medicine and pediatrics at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio, it should not be a difficult choice for hospitalists, “as the clinical context provides a safeguard to justify the rationale for a conservative approach. Hospitalists must be educated on the appropriate use of Rome criteria, as well as how to appropriately document it in the chart to justify a decision to avoid unnecessary testing.”
2 American College of Rheumatology (ACR)
Recommendation: Don’t test anti-nuclear antibody (ANA) sub-serologies without a positive ANA and clinical suspicion of immune-mediated disease.
“A fever of unknown origin is among the most common diagnoses the hospitalist encounters,” Dr. Auron says. “Nowadays, given the ease to order tests, as well as the increased awareness of patients with immune-mediated diseases, it may be tempting to order large panels of immunologic tests to minimize the risk of missing a diagnosis; however, because ANA has high sensitivity and poor specificity, it should only be ordered if the clinical context supports its use.”
Jinoos Yazdany, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine at the University of California at San Francisco and co-chair of the task force that developed the ACR’s Choosing Wisely list, points out that if you use ANAs as a broad screening test when the pretest probability of specific ANA-associated diseases is low, there is an increased chance of a false positive ANA result. This can lead to unnecessary further testing and additional costs. Furthermore, ANA sub-serologies are usually negative if the ANA (done by immunofluorescence) is negative.
“So it is recommended to order sub-serologies only once it is known that the ANA is positive,” she says. The exceptions to this are anti-SSA and anti-Jo-1 antibodies, which can sometimes be positive when the ANA is negative.
Mangla S. Gulati, MD, FACP, FHM, medical director for clinical effectiveness at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, says a positive ANA in conjunction with clinical information “will help to guide appropriate and cost-conscious testing. Hospitalists could implement this through a clinical decision support approach if using an electronic medical record.”
3 American College of Physicians (ACP)
Recommendation: In patients with low pretest probability of venous thromboembolism (VTE), obtain a high-sensitive D-dimer measurement as the initial diagnostic test; don’t obtain imaging studies as the initial diagnostic test.
VTE, a common problem in hospitalized patients, has high mortality rates. “However, recent statistics suggest that we may be overdiagnosing non-clinically significant disease and exposing large numbers of patients to high doses of radiation unnecessarily in an attempt to rule out VTE disease,” says Cynthia D. Smith, MD, FACP, ACP senior medical associate for content development and adjunct associate professor of medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia.
Instead, physicians should estimate pretest probability of disease using a validated risk assessment tool (i.e., Wells score). For patients with low clinical probability of VTE, hospitalists should use a negative high-sensitive D-dimer measurement as the initial diagnostic test.
Dr. Auron says the litigious environment of American medicine may trigger clinicians to order testing to minimize the risk of missing potential conditions; however, an adequate, evidence-based approach with appropriate documentation should be sufficient. In this case, that would entail using D-dimer testing to outline the low pretest probability of VTE and explaining to the patient the rationale for not pursuing further imaging.
Dr. Gulati adds that hospitalists should have little difficulty implementing this cost-effective approach.
—Moises Auron, MD, FAAP, FACP, SFHM, assistant professor of medicine and pediatrics, Cleveland Clinic
4 American Geriatrics Society (AGS)
Recommendation: Don’t use antimicrobials to treat bacteriuria in older adults unless specific urinary tract symptoms are present.
Older adults with asymptomatic bacteriuria who received antimicrobial treatment show no benefit, according to multiple studies.2 In fact, increased adverse antimicrobial effects occurred, such as greater resistance patterns and super-infections (e.g. Clostridium difficile).
The truth is that as many as 30% of frail elders (particularly women) have bacterial colonization of the urinary tract without infection, also known as asymptomatic bacteriuria, says Heidi Wald, MD, MSPH, associate professor of medicine and vice chair for quality in the department of medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora. Therefore, before being prescribed antimicrobials, a patient should exhibit symptoms of urinary tract infection such as fever, frequent urination, urgency to urinate, painful urination, or suprapubic tenderness.
“Without localizing symptoms, you can’t assume bacteriuria equals infection,” Dr. Wald adds. “Too often, we make the urine a scapegoat for unrelated presentations, such as mild confusion.”
If the patient is stable and doesn’t have UTI symptoms, Dr. Wald says hospitalists should consider hydration and monitor the patient without antibiotics.
“This should not be difficult to implement,” Dr. Auron says, “as hospitalists are on the front lines of antibiotic stewardship in hospitals.”
5 American Society of Echocardiography (ASE)
Recommendation: Avoid echocardiograms for pre-operative/peri-operative assessment of patients with no history or symptoms of heart disease.
Echocardiography can diagnose all types of heart disease while being completely safe, inexpensive, and available at the bedside.
“These features may logically lead hospitalists to think, ‘Why not?’ Maybe there’s something going on and an echo can’t hurt,” says James D. Thomas, MD, FASE, FACC, FAHA, FESC, Moore Chair of Cardiovascular Imaging at Cleveland Clinic and ASE past president. “Unfortunately, tests can have false positive findings that lead to other, potentially more hazardous and invasive, tests downstream, as well as unnecessary delays.”
If a patient has no history of heart disease, no positive physical findings, or no symptoms, then an echo probably won’t be helpful. Hospitalists need to be aware of the lack of value of a presumed normal study, Dr. Auron says.
“Having appropriate standards of care allows clinicians in pre-operative areas to use risk stratification tools in an adequate fashion,” he notes.
6 American Society of Nephrology (ASN)
Recommendation: Do not place peripherally inserted central venous catheters (PICC) in stage three to five chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients without consulting nephrology.
Given the increase in patients with CKD in the later stages, as well as end-stage renal disease, clinicians need to protect patients’ upper extremity veins in order to be able to have an adequate vascular substrate for subsequent creation of an arteriovenous fistula (AVF), Dr. Auron maintains.
PICCs, along with other central venous catheters, damage veins and destroy sites for future hemodialysis vascular access, explains Amy W. Williams, MD, medical director of hospital operations and consultant in the division of nephrology and hypertension at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. If there are no options for AVF or grafts, patients starting or being maintained on hemodialysis will need a tunneled central venous catheter for dialysis access.
Studies have shown that AVFs have better patency rates and fewer complications compared to catheters, and there is a direct correlation of increased mortality and inadequate dialysis with tunneled central catheters.3 In addition, dialysis patients with a tunneled central venous catheter have a five-fold increase of infection compared to those with an AVF.4 The incidence of central venous stenosis associated with PICC lines has been shown to be 42% and the incidence of thrombosis 38%.5,6 There is no significant difference in the rate of central venous complications based on the duration of catheter use or catheter size. In addition, prior PICC use has been shown to be an independent predictor of lack of a functioning AVF (odds ratio 2.8 [95 % CI, 1.5 to 5.5]).7
A better choice for extended venous access in patients with advanced CKD is a tunneled internal jugular vein catheter, which is associated with a lower risk of permanent vascular damage, says Dr. Williams, who is chair of the ASN’s Quality and Patient Safety Task Force.
—James J. O’Callaghan, MD, FAAP, FHM, clinical assistant professor of pediatrics, Seattle Children’s Hospital at the University of Washington, Team Hospitalist member
7 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS)
Recommendation: Patients who have no cardiac history and good functional status do not require pre-operative stress testing prior to non-cardiac thoracic surgery.
By eliminating routine stress testing prior to non-cardiac thoracic surgery for patients without a history of cardiac symptoms, hospitalists can reduce the burden of costs on patients and eliminate the possibility of adverse outcomes due to inappropriate testing.
“Functional status has been shown to be reliable to predict peri-operative and long-term cardiac events,” says Douglas E. Wood, MD, chief of the division of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Washington in Seattle and president of the STS. “In highly functional asymptomatic patients, management is rarely changed by pre-operative stress testing. Furthermore, abnormalities identified in testing often require additional investigation, with negative consequences related to the risks of more procedures or tests, delays in therapies, and additional costs.”
Pre-operative stress testing should be reserved for patients with low functional capacity or clinical risk factors for cardiac complications. It is important to identify patients pre-operatively who are at risk for these complications by doing a thorough history, physical examination, and resting electrocardiogram.
8 Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI)
Recommendation: Avoid using a CT angiogram to diagnose pulmonary embolism (PE) in young women with a normal chest radiograph; consider a radionuclide lung (V/Q) study instead.
Hospitalists should be knowledgeable of the diagnostic options that will result in the lowest radiation exposure when evaluating young women for PE.
“When a chest radiograph is normal or nearly normal, a computed tomography angiogram or a V/Q lung scan can be used to evaluate these patients. While both exams have low radiation exposure, the V/Q lung scan results in less radiation to the breast tissue,” says society president Gary L. Dillehay, MD, FACNM, FACR, professor of radiology at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. “Recent literature cites concerns over radiation exposure from mammography; therefore, reducing radiation exposure to breast tissue, when evaluating patients for suspected PE, is desirable.”
Hospitalists might have difficulty obtaining a V/Q lung scan when nuclear medicine departments are closed.
“The caveat is that CT scans are much more readily available,” Dr. Auron says. In addition, a CT scan provides additional information. But unless the differential diagnosis is much higher for PE than other possibilities, just having a V/Q scan should suffice.
Hospitalists could help implement protocols for chest pain evaluation in premenopausal women by having checklists for risk factors for coronary artery disease, connective tissue disease (essentially aortic dissection), and VTE (e.g. Wells and Geneva scores, use of oral contraceptives, smoking), Dr. Auron says. If the diagnostic branch supports the risk of PE, then nuclear imaging should be available.
“A reasonable way to justify the increased availability of the nuclear medicine department would be to document the number of CT chest scans done after hours in patients who would have instead had a V/Q scan,” he says.
LISTEN NOW to Rahul Shah, MD, FACS, FAAP, associate professor of otolaryngology and pediatrics at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C, and co-chair of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation’s Patient Safety Quality Improvement Committee, explain why hospitalists should avoid routine radiographic imaging for patients who meet diagnostic criteria for uncomplicated acute rhinosinusitis.
9 American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
Recommendation: Antibiotics should not be used for apparent viral respiratory illnesses (sinusitis, pharyngitis, bronchitis).
Respiratory illnesses are the most common reason for hospitalization in pediatrics. Recent studies and surveys continue to demonstrate antibiotic overuse in the pediatric population, especially when prescribed for apparent viral respiratory illnesses.8,9
“Hospitalists who care for pediatric patients have the potential to significantly impact antibiotic overuse, as hospitalizations for respiratory illnesses due to viruses such as bronchiolitis and croup remain a leading cause of admission,” says James J. O’Callaghan, MD, FAAP, FHM, clinical assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle.
Many respiratory problems, such as bronchiolitis, asthma, and even some pneumonias are caused or exacerbated by viruses, points out Ricardo Quiñonez, MD, FAAP, FHM, section head of pediatric hospital medicine at the Children’s Hospital of San Antonio and the Baylor College of Medicine, and chair of the AAP’s section on hospital medicine. In particular, there are national guidelines for bronchiolitis and asthma that recommend against the use of systemic antibiotics.
This recommendation may be difficult for hospitalists to implement, because antibiotics are frequently started by other providers (PCP or ED), Dr. O’Callaghan admits. It can be tricky to change or stop therapy without undermining patients’ or parents’ confidence in their medical decision-making. Hospitalists may need to collaborate with new partners, such as community-wide antibiotic reduction campaigns, in order to affect this culture change.
—James D. Thomas, MD, FASE, FACC, FAHA, FESC, Moore Chair of Cardiovascular Imaging at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio and past president of the American Society of Echocardiography.
10 American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOB)
Recommendation: Don’t schedule elective inductions prior to 39 weeks, and don’t schedule elective inductions of labor after 39 weeks without a favorable cervix.
Studies show an increased risk to newborns that are electively inducted between 37 and 39 weeks. Complications include increased admission to the neonatal intensive care unit, increased risk of respiratory distress and need for respiratory support, and increased incidence of infection and sepsis.
This recommendation may be difficult for hospitalists to implement, because obstetrical providers typically schedule elective inductions. Implementation of this recommendation would involve collaboration with obstetrical providers, with possible support from maternal-fetal and neonatal providers.
“Recent quality measures and initiatives from such organizations such as CMS and the National Quality Forum … may help to galvanize institutional support for its successful implementation,” says Dr. O’Callaghan, a Team Hospitalist member.
Elective surgeries should only be done in cases where there is a medical necessity, such as when the mother is diabetic or has hypertension, adds Rob Olson, MD, FACOG, an OB/GYN hospitalist for PeaceHealth at St. Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham, Wash. “Hospitalists should not give in to pressures from patients who are either tired of the discomforts of pregnancy or have family pressure to end the pregnancy early.”
Karen Appold is a freelance writer in Pennsylvania.
References
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Reducing radiation from medical X-rays. Available at: http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm095505.htm. Accessed May 12, 2014.
- Nicolle LE, Bradley S, Colgan R, et al. Infectious Diseases Society of America guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of asymptomatic bacteriuria in adults. Clin Infect Dis. 2005;40(5):643-654.
- Hoggard J, Saad T, Schon D, et al. Guidelines for venous access in patients with chronic kidney disease. A position statement from the American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology, Clinical Practice Committee and the Association for Vascular Access. Semin Dial. 2008;21(2):186-191.
- Rayner HC, Besarab A, Brown WW, Disney A, Saito A, Pisoni RL. Vascular access results from the dialysis outcomes and practice patterns study (DOPPS): Performance against kidney disease outcomes quality initiative (K/DOQI)clinical practice guidelines. Am J Kidney Dis. 2004;44(5 Suppl 2):22-26.
- Gonsalves CF, Eschelman DJ, Sullivan KL, DuBois N, Bonn J. Incidence of central vein stenosis and occlusion following upper extremity PICC and port placement. Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol. 2003;26(2):123-127.
- Allen AW, Megargell JL, Brown DB, et al. Venous thrombosis associated with the placement of peripherally inserted central catheters. J Vasc Interv Radiol. 2000;11(10):1309-1314.
- El Ters M, Schears GJ, Taler SJ, et al. Association between prior peripherally inserted central catheters and lack of functioning ateriovenous fistulas: A case control study in hemodialysis patients. Am J Kidney Dis. 2012;60(4):601-608.
- Hersh AL, Shapiro DJ, Pavia AT, Shah SS. Antibiotic prescribing in ambulatory pediatrics in the United States. Pediatrics. 2011;128(6):1053-1061.
- Knapp JF, Simon SD, Sharma V. Quality of care for common pediatric respiratory illnesses in United States emergency departments: Analysis of 2005 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey data. Pediatrics. 2008;122(6):1165-1170.
When diagnosing a patient, it can be tempting to run all types of tests to expedite the process—and protect yourself from litigation. Patients may push for more tests, too, thinking “the more the better.” But that may not be the best course of action. In fact, according to recommendations of the ABIM Foundations’ Choosing Wisely campaign, more tests can actually bring a host of negative consequences.
In an effort to help hospitalists decide which tests to perform and which to forgo, The Hospitalist asked medical societies that contributed to the Choosing Wisely campaign to tell us which one of their recommendations was the most applicable to hospitalists. Then, we asked some hospitalists to discuss how they might implement each recommendation.
1 American Gastroenterological Association (AGA)
Recommendation: For a patient with functional abdominal pain syndrome (as per Rome criteria), computed tomography (CT) scans should not be repeated unless there is a major change in clinical findings or symptoms.
When a patient first complains of abdominal pain, a CT scan usually is done prior to a gastroenterological consultation. Despite this initial scan, many patients with chronic abdominal pain receive unnecessary repeated CT scans to evaluate their pain even if they have previous negative studies.
“It is important for the hospitalist to know that functional abdominal pain can be managed without additional diagnostic studies,” says John M. Inadomi, MD, head of the division of gastroenterology at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle. “Some doctors are uncomfortable with the uncertainty of a diagnosis of chronic abdominal pain without evidence of biochemical or structural disease [functional abdominal pain syndrome] and fear litigation.”
An abdominal CT scan is one of the higher radiation exposure tests, equivalent to three years of natural background radiation.1
“Due to this risk and the high costs of this procedure, CT scans should be limited to situations in which they are likely to provide useful information that changes patient management,” Dr. Inadomi says.
According to Moises Auron, MD, FAAP, FACP, SFHM, assistant professor of medicine and pediatrics at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio, it should not be a difficult choice for hospitalists, “as the clinical context provides a safeguard to justify the rationale for a conservative approach. Hospitalists must be educated on the appropriate use of Rome criteria, as well as how to appropriately document it in the chart to justify a decision to avoid unnecessary testing.”
2 American College of Rheumatology (ACR)
Recommendation: Don’t test anti-nuclear antibody (ANA) sub-serologies without a positive ANA and clinical suspicion of immune-mediated disease.
“A fever of unknown origin is among the most common diagnoses the hospitalist encounters,” Dr. Auron says. “Nowadays, given the ease to order tests, as well as the increased awareness of patients with immune-mediated diseases, it may be tempting to order large panels of immunologic tests to minimize the risk of missing a diagnosis; however, because ANA has high sensitivity and poor specificity, it should only be ordered if the clinical context supports its use.”
Jinoos Yazdany, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine at the University of California at San Francisco and co-chair of the task force that developed the ACR’s Choosing Wisely list, points out that if you use ANAs as a broad screening test when the pretest probability of specific ANA-associated diseases is low, there is an increased chance of a false positive ANA result. This can lead to unnecessary further testing and additional costs. Furthermore, ANA sub-serologies are usually negative if the ANA (done by immunofluorescence) is negative.
“So it is recommended to order sub-serologies only once it is known that the ANA is positive,” she says. The exceptions to this are anti-SSA and anti-Jo-1 antibodies, which can sometimes be positive when the ANA is negative.
Mangla S. Gulati, MD, FACP, FHM, medical director for clinical effectiveness at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, says a positive ANA in conjunction with clinical information “will help to guide appropriate and cost-conscious testing. Hospitalists could implement this through a clinical decision support approach if using an electronic medical record.”
3 American College of Physicians (ACP)
Recommendation: In patients with low pretest probability of venous thromboembolism (VTE), obtain a high-sensitive D-dimer measurement as the initial diagnostic test; don’t obtain imaging studies as the initial diagnostic test.
VTE, a common problem in hospitalized patients, has high mortality rates. “However, recent statistics suggest that we may be overdiagnosing non-clinically significant disease and exposing large numbers of patients to high doses of radiation unnecessarily in an attempt to rule out VTE disease,” says Cynthia D. Smith, MD, FACP, ACP senior medical associate for content development and adjunct associate professor of medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia.
Instead, physicians should estimate pretest probability of disease using a validated risk assessment tool (i.e., Wells score). For patients with low clinical probability of VTE, hospitalists should use a negative high-sensitive D-dimer measurement as the initial diagnostic test.
Dr. Auron says the litigious environment of American medicine may trigger clinicians to order testing to minimize the risk of missing potential conditions; however, an adequate, evidence-based approach with appropriate documentation should be sufficient. In this case, that would entail using D-dimer testing to outline the low pretest probability of VTE and explaining to the patient the rationale for not pursuing further imaging.
Dr. Gulati adds that hospitalists should have little difficulty implementing this cost-effective approach.
—Moises Auron, MD, FAAP, FACP, SFHM, assistant professor of medicine and pediatrics, Cleveland Clinic
4 American Geriatrics Society (AGS)
Recommendation: Don’t use antimicrobials to treat bacteriuria in older adults unless specific urinary tract symptoms are present.
Older adults with asymptomatic bacteriuria who received antimicrobial treatment show no benefit, according to multiple studies.2 In fact, increased adverse antimicrobial effects occurred, such as greater resistance patterns and super-infections (e.g. Clostridium difficile).
The truth is that as many as 30% of frail elders (particularly women) have bacterial colonization of the urinary tract without infection, also known as asymptomatic bacteriuria, says Heidi Wald, MD, MSPH, associate professor of medicine and vice chair for quality in the department of medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora. Therefore, before being prescribed antimicrobials, a patient should exhibit symptoms of urinary tract infection such as fever, frequent urination, urgency to urinate, painful urination, or suprapubic tenderness.
“Without localizing symptoms, you can’t assume bacteriuria equals infection,” Dr. Wald adds. “Too often, we make the urine a scapegoat for unrelated presentations, such as mild confusion.”
If the patient is stable and doesn’t have UTI symptoms, Dr. Wald says hospitalists should consider hydration and monitor the patient without antibiotics.
“This should not be difficult to implement,” Dr. Auron says, “as hospitalists are on the front lines of antibiotic stewardship in hospitals.”
5 American Society of Echocardiography (ASE)
Recommendation: Avoid echocardiograms for pre-operative/peri-operative assessment of patients with no history or symptoms of heart disease.
Echocardiography can diagnose all types of heart disease while being completely safe, inexpensive, and available at the bedside.
“These features may logically lead hospitalists to think, ‘Why not?’ Maybe there’s something going on and an echo can’t hurt,” says James D. Thomas, MD, FASE, FACC, FAHA, FESC, Moore Chair of Cardiovascular Imaging at Cleveland Clinic and ASE past president. “Unfortunately, tests can have false positive findings that lead to other, potentially more hazardous and invasive, tests downstream, as well as unnecessary delays.”
If a patient has no history of heart disease, no positive physical findings, or no symptoms, then an echo probably won’t be helpful. Hospitalists need to be aware of the lack of value of a presumed normal study, Dr. Auron says.
“Having appropriate standards of care allows clinicians in pre-operative areas to use risk stratification tools in an adequate fashion,” he notes.
6 American Society of Nephrology (ASN)
Recommendation: Do not place peripherally inserted central venous catheters (PICC) in stage three to five chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients without consulting nephrology.
Given the increase in patients with CKD in the later stages, as well as end-stage renal disease, clinicians need to protect patients’ upper extremity veins in order to be able to have an adequate vascular substrate for subsequent creation of an arteriovenous fistula (AVF), Dr. Auron maintains.
PICCs, along with other central venous catheters, damage veins and destroy sites for future hemodialysis vascular access, explains Amy W. Williams, MD, medical director of hospital operations and consultant in the division of nephrology and hypertension at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. If there are no options for AVF or grafts, patients starting or being maintained on hemodialysis will need a tunneled central venous catheter for dialysis access.
Studies have shown that AVFs have better patency rates and fewer complications compared to catheters, and there is a direct correlation of increased mortality and inadequate dialysis with tunneled central catheters.3 In addition, dialysis patients with a tunneled central venous catheter have a five-fold increase of infection compared to those with an AVF.4 The incidence of central venous stenosis associated with PICC lines has been shown to be 42% and the incidence of thrombosis 38%.5,6 There is no significant difference in the rate of central venous complications based on the duration of catheter use or catheter size. In addition, prior PICC use has been shown to be an independent predictor of lack of a functioning AVF (odds ratio 2.8 [95 % CI, 1.5 to 5.5]).7
A better choice for extended venous access in patients with advanced CKD is a tunneled internal jugular vein catheter, which is associated with a lower risk of permanent vascular damage, says Dr. Williams, who is chair of the ASN’s Quality and Patient Safety Task Force.
—James J. O’Callaghan, MD, FAAP, FHM, clinical assistant professor of pediatrics, Seattle Children’s Hospital at the University of Washington, Team Hospitalist member
7 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS)
Recommendation: Patients who have no cardiac history and good functional status do not require pre-operative stress testing prior to non-cardiac thoracic surgery.
By eliminating routine stress testing prior to non-cardiac thoracic surgery for patients without a history of cardiac symptoms, hospitalists can reduce the burden of costs on patients and eliminate the possibility of adverse outcomes due to inappropriate testing.
“Functional status has been shown to be reliable to predict peri-operative and long-term cardiac events,” says Douglas E. Wood, MD, chief of the division of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Washington in Seattle and president of the STS. “In highly functional asymptomatic patients, management is rarely changed by pre-operative stress testing. Furthermore, abnormalities identified in testing often require additional investigation, with negative consequences related to the risks of more procedures or tests, delays in therapies, and additional costs.”
Pre-operative stress testing should be reserved for patients with low functional capacity or clinical risk factors for cardiac complications. It is important to identify patients pre-operatively who are at risk for these complications by doing a thorough history, physical examination, and resting electrocardiogram.
8 Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI)
Recommendation: Avoid using a CT angiogram to diagnose pulmonary embolism (PE) in young women with a normal chest radiograph; consider a radionuclide lung (V/Q) study instead.
Hospitalists should be knowledgeable of the diagnostic options that will result in the lowest radiation exposure when evaluating young women for PE.
“When a chest radiograph is normal or nearly normal, a computed tomography angiogram or a V/Q lung scan can be used to evaluate these patients. While both exams have low radiation exposure, the V/Q lung scan results in less radiation to the breast tissue,” says society president Gary L. Dillehay, MD, FACNM, FACR, professor of radiology at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. “Recent literature cites concerns over radiation exposure from mammography; therefore, reducing radiation exposure to breast tissue, when evaluating patients for suspected PE, is desirable.”
Hospitalists might have difficulty obtaining a V/Q lung scan when nuclear medicine departments are closed.
“The caveat is that CT scans are much more readily available,” Dr. Auron says. In addition, a CT scan provides additional information. But unless the differential diagnosis is much higher for PE than other possibilities, just having a V/Q scan should suffice.
Hospitalists could help implement protocols for chest pain evaluation in premenopausal women by having checklists for risk factors for coronary artery disease, connective tissue disease (essentially aortic dissection), and VTE (e.g. Wells and Geneva scores, use of oral contraceptives, smoking), Dr. Auron says. If the diagnostic branch supports the risk of PE, then nuclear imaging should be available.
“A reasonable way to justify the increased availability of the nuclear medicine department would be to document the number of CT chest scans done after hours in patients who would have instead had a V/Q scan,” he says.
LISTEN NOW to Rahul Shah, MD, FACS, FAAP, associate professor of otolaryngology and pediatrics at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C, and co-chair of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation’s Patient Safety Quality Improvement Committee, explain why hospitalists should avoid routine radiographic imaging for patients who meet diagnostic criteria for uncomplicated acute rhinosinusitis.
9 American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
Recommendation: Antibiotics should not be used for apparent viral respiratory illnesses (sinusitis, pharyngitis, bronchitis).
Respiratory illnesses are the most common reason for hospitalization in pediatrics. Recent studies and surveys continue to demonstrate antibiotic overuse in the pediatric population, especially when prescribed for apparent viral respiratory illnesses.8,9
“Hospitalists who care for pediatric patients have the potential to significantly impact antibiotic overuse, as hospitalizations for respiratory illnesses due to viruses such as bronchiolitis and croup remain a leading cause of admission,” says James J. O’Callaghan, MD, FAAP, FHM, clinical assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle.
Many respiratory problems, such as bronchiolitis, asthma, and even some pneumonias are caused or exacerbated by viruses, points out Ricardo Quiñonez, MD, FAAP, FHM, section head of pediatric hospital medicine at the Children’s Hospital of San Antonio and the Baylor College of Medicine, and chair of the AAP’s section on hospital medicine. In particular, there are national guidelines for bronchiolitis and asthma that recommend against the use of systemic antibiotics.
This recommendation may be difficult for hospitalists to implement, because antibiotics are frequently started by other providers (PCP or ED), Dr. O’Callaghan admits. It can be tricky to change or stop therapy without undermining patients’ or parents’ confidence in their medical decision-making. Hospitalists may need to collaborate with new partners, such as community-wide antibiotic reduction campaigns, in order to affect this culture change.
—James D. Thomas, MD, FASE, FACC, FAHA, FESC, Moore Chair of Cardiovascular Imaging at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio and past president of the American Society of Echocardiography.
10 American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOB)
Recommendation: Don’t schedule elective inductions prior to 39 weeks, and don’t schedule elective inductions of labor after 39 weeks without a favorable cervix.
Studies show an increased risk to newborns that are electively inducted between 37 and 39 weeks. Complications include increased admission to the neonatal intensive care unit, increased risk of respiratory distress and need for respiratory support, and increased incidence of infection and sepsis.
This recommendation may be difficult for hospitalists to implement, because obstetrical providers typically schedule elective inductions. Implementation of this recommendation would involve collaboration with obstetrical providers, with possible support from maternal-fetal and neonatal providers.
“Recent quality measures and initiatives from such organizations such as CMS and the National Quality Forum … may help to galvanize institutional support for its successful implementation,” says Dr. O’Callaghan, a Team Hospitalist member.
Elective surgeries should only be done in cases where there is a medical necessity, such as when the mother is diabetic or has hypertension, adds Rob Olson, MD, FACOG, an OB/GYN hospitalist for PeaceHealth at St. Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham, Wash. “Hospitalists should not give in to pressures from patients who are either tired of the discomforts of pregnancy or have family pressure to end the pregnancy early.”
Karen Appold is a freelance writer in Pennsylvania.
References
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Reducing radiation from medical X-rays. Available at: http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm095505.htm. Accessed May 12, 2014.
- Nicolle LE, Bradley S, Colgan R, et al. Infectious Diseases Society of America guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of asymptomatic bacteriuria in adults. Clin Infect Dis. 2005;40(5):643-654.
- Hoggard J, Saad T, Schon D, et al. Guidelines for venous access in patients with chronic kidney disease. A position statement from the American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology, Clinical Practice Committee and the Association for Vascular Access. Semin Dial. 2008;21(2):186-191.
- Rayner HC, Besarab A, Brown WW, Disney A, Saito A, Pisoni RL. Vascular access results from the dialysis outcomes and practice patterns study (DOPPS): Performance against kidney disease outcomes quality initiative (K/DOQI)clinical practice guidelines. Am J Kidney Dis. 2004;44(5 Suppl 2):22-26.
- Gonsalves CF, Eschelman DJ, Sullivan KL, DuBois N, Bonn J. Incidence of central vein stenosis and occlusion following upper extremity PICC and port placement. Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol. 2003;26(2):123-127.
- Allen AW, Megargell JL, Brown DB, et al. Venous thrombosis associated with the placement of peripherally inserted central catheters. J Vasc Interv Radiol. 2000;11(10):1309-1314.
- El Ters M, Schears GJ, Taler SJ, et al. Association between prior peripherally inserted central catheters and lack of functioning ateriovenous fistulas: A case control study in hemodialysis patients. Am J Kidney Dis. 2012;60(4):601-608.
- Hersh AL, Shapiro DJ, Pavia AT, Shah SS. Antibiotic prescribing in ambulatory pediatrics in the United States. Pediatrics. 2011;128(6):1053-1061.
- Knapp JF, Simon SD, Sharma V. Quality of care for common pediatric respiratory illnesses in United States emergency departments: Analysis of 2005 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey data. Pediatrics. 2008;122(6):1165-1170.
When diagnosing a patient, it can be tempting to run all types of tests to expedite the process—and protect yourself from litigation. Patients may push for more tests, too, thinking “the more the better.” But that may not be the best course of action. In fact, according to recommendations of the ABIM Foundations’ Choosing Wisely campaign, more tests can actually bring a host of negative consequences.
In an effort to help hospitalists decide which tests to perform and which to forgo, The Hospitalist asked medical societies that contributed to the Choosing Wisely campaign to tell us which one of their recommendations was the most applicable to hospitalists. Then, we asked some hospitalists to discuss how they might implement each recommendation.
1 American Gastroenterological Association (AGA)
Recommendation: For a patient with functional abdominal pain syndrome (as per Rome criteria), computed tomography (CT) scans should not be repeated unless there is a major change in clinical findings or symptoms.
When a patient first complains of abdominal pain, a CT scan usually is done prior to a gastroenterological consultation. Despite this initial scan, many patients with chronic abdominal pain receive unnecessary repeated CT scans to evaluate their pain even if they have previous negative studies.
“It is important for the hospitalist to know that functional abdominal pain can be managed without additional diagnostic studies,” says John M. Inadomi, MD, head of the division of gastroenterology at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle. “Some doctors are uncomfortable with the uncertainty of a diagnosis of chronic abdominal pain without evidence of biochemical or structural disease [functional abdominal pain syndrome] and fear litigation.”
An abdominal CT scan is one of the higher radiation exposure tests, equivalent to three years of natural background radiation.1
“Due to this risk and the high costs of this procedure, CT scans should be limited to situations in which they are likely to provide useful information that changes patient management,” Dr. Inadomi says.
According to Moises Auron, MD, FAAP, FACP, SFHM, assistant professor of medicine and pediatrics at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio, it should not be a difficult choice for hospitalists, “as the clinical context provides a safeguard to justify the rationale for a conservative approach. Hospitalists must be educated on the appropriate use of Rome criteria, as well as how to appropriately document it in the chart to justify a decision to avoid unnecessary testing.”
2 American College of Rheumatology (ACR)
Recommendation: Don’t test anti-nuclear antibody (ANA) sub-serologies without a positive ANA and clinical suspicion of immune-mediated disease.
“A fever of unknown origin is among the most common diagnoses the hospitalist encounters,” Dr. Auron says. “Nowadays, given the ease to order tests, as well as the increased awareness of patients with immune-mediated diseases, it may be tempting to order large panels of immunologic tests to minimize the risk of missing a diagnosis; however, because ANA has high sensitivity and poor specificity, it should only be ordered if the clinical context supports its use.”
Jinoos Yazdany, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine at the University of California at San Francisco and co-chair of the task force that developed the ACR’s Choosing Wisely list, points out that if you use ANAs as a broad screening test when the pretest probability of specific ANA-associated diseases is low, there is an increased chance of a false positive ANA result. This can lead to unnecessary further testing and additional costs. Furthermore, ANA sub-serologies are usually negative if the ANA (done by immunofluorescence) is negative.
“So it is recommended to order sub-serologies only once it is known that the ANA is positive,” she says. The exceptions to this are anti-SSA and anti-Jo-1 antibodies, which can sometimes be positive when the ANA is negative.
Mangla S. Gulati, MD, FACP, FHM, medical director for clinical effectiveness at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, says a positive ANA in conjunction with clinical information “will help to guide appropriate and cost-conscious testing. Hospitalists could implement this through a clinical decision support approach if using an electronic medical record.”
3 American College of Physicians (ACP)
Recommendation: In patients with low pretest probability of venous thromboembolism (VTE), obtain a high-sensitive D-dimer measurement as the initial diagnostic test; don’t obtain imaging studies as the initial diagnostic test.
VTE, a common problem in hospitalized patients, has high mortality rates. “However, recent statistics suggest that we may be overdiagnosing non-clinically significant disease and exposing large numbers of patients to high doses of radiation unnecessarily in an attempt to rule out VTE disease,” says Cynthia D. Smith, MD, FACP, ACP senior medical associate for content development and adjunct associate professor of medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia.
Instead, physicians should estimate pretest probability of disease using a validated risk assessment tool (i.e., Wells score). For patients with low clinical probability of VTE, hospitalists should use a negative high-sensitive D-dimer measurement as the initial diagnostic test.
Dr. Auron says the litigious environment of American medicine may trigger clinicians to order testing to minimize the risk of missing potential conditions; however, an adequate, evidence-based approach with appropriate documentation should be sufficient. In this case, that would entail using D-dimer testing to outline the low pretest probability of VTE and explaining to the patient the rationale for not pursuing further imaging.
Dr. Gulati adds that hospitalists should have little difficulty implementing this cost-effective approach.
—Moises Auron, MD, FAAP, FACP, SFHM, assistant professor of medicine and pediatrics, Cleveland Clinic
4 American Geriatrics Society (AGS)
Recommendation: Don’t use antimicrobials to treat bacteriuria in older adults unless specific urinary tract symptoms are present.
Older adults with asymptomatic bacteriuria who received antimicrobial treatment show no benefit, according to multiple studies.2 In fact, increased adverse antimicrobial effects occurred, such as greater resistance patterns and super-infections (e.g. Clostridium difficile).
The truth is that as many as 30% of frail elders (particularly women) have bacterial colonization of the urinary tract without infection, also known as asymptomatic bacteriuria, says Heidi Wald, MD, MSPH, associate professor of medicine and vice chair for quality in the department of medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora. Therefore, before being prescribed antimicrobials, a patient should exhibit symptoms of urinary tract infection such as fever, frequent urination, urgency to urinate, painful urination, or suprapubic tenderness.
“Without localizing symptoms, you can’t assume bacteriuria equals infection,” Dr. Wald adds. “Too often, we make the urine a scapegoat for unrelated presentations, such as mild confusion.”
If the patient is stable and doesn’t have UTI symptoms, Dr. Wald says hospitalists should consider hydration and monitor the patient without antibiotics.
“This should not be difficult to implement,” Dr. Auron says, “as hospitalists are on the front lines of antibiotic stewardship in hospitals.”
5 American Society of Echocardiography (ASE)
Recommendation: Avoid echocardiograms for pre-operative/peri-operative assessment of patients with no history or symptoms of heart disease.
Echocardiography can diagnose all types of heart disease while being completely safe, inexpensive, and available at the bedside.
“These features may logically lead hospitalists to think, ‘Why not?’ Maybe there’s something going on and an echo can’t hurt,” says James D. Thomas, MD, FASE, FACC, FAHA, FESC, Moore Chair of Cardiovascular Imaging at Cleveland Clinic and ASE past president. “Unfortunately, tests can have false positive findings that lead to other, potentially more hazardous and invasive, tests downstream, as well as unnecessary delays.”
If a patient has no history of heart disease, no positive physical findings, or no symptoms, then an echo probably won’t be helpful. Hospitalists need to be aware of the lack of value of a presumed normal study, Dr. Auron says.
“Having appropriate standards of care allows clinicians in pre-operative areas to use risk stratification tools in an adequate fashion,” he notes.
6 American Society of Nephrology (ASN)
Recommendation: Do not place peripherally inserted central venous catheters (PICC) in stage three to five chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients without consulting nephrology.
Given the increase in patients with CKD in the later stages, as well as end-stage renal disease, clinicians need to protect patients’ upper extremity veins in order to be able to have an adequate vascular substrate for subsequent creation of an arteriovenous fistula (AVF), Dr. Auron maintains.
PICCs, along with other central venous catheters, damage veins and destroy sites for future hemodialysis vascular access, explains Amy W. Williams, MD, medical director of hospital operations and consultant in the division of nephrology and hypertension at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. If there are no options for AVF or grafts, patients starting or being maintained on hemodialysis will need a tunneled central venous catheter for dialysis access.
Studies have shown that AVFs have better patency rates and fewer complications compared to catheters, and there is a direct correlation of increased mortality and inadequate dialysis with tunneled central catheters.3 In addition, dialysis patients with a tunneled central venous catheter have a five-fold increase of infection compared to those with an AVF.4 The incidence of central venous stenosis associated with PICC lines has been shown to be 42% and the incidence of thrombosis 38%.5,6 There is no significant difference in the rate of central venous complications based on the duration of catheter use or catheter size. In addition, prior PICC use has been shown to be an independent predictor of lack of a functioning AVF (odds ratio 2.8 [95 % CI, 1.5 to 5.5]).7
A better choice for extended venous access in patients with advanced CKD is a tunneled internal jugular vein catheter, which is associated with a lower risk of permanent vascular damage, says Dr. Williams, who is chair of the ASN’s Quality and Patient Safety Task Force.
—James J. O’Callaghan, MD, FAAP, FHM, clinical assistant professor of pediatrics, Seattle Children’s Hospital at the University of Washington, Team Hospitalist member
7 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS)
Recommendation: Patients who have no cardiac history and good functional status do not require pre-operative stress testing prior to non-cardiac thoracic surgery.
By eliminating routine stress testing prior to non-cardiac thoracic surgery for patients without a history of cardiac symptoms, hospitalists can reduce the burden of costs on patients and eliminate the possibility of adverse outcomes due to inappropriate testing.
“Functional status has been shown to be reliable to predict peri-operative and long-term cardiac events,” says Douglas E. Wood, MD, chief of the division of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Washington in Seattle and president of the STS. “In highly functional asymptomatic patients, management is rarely changed by pre-operative stress testing. Furthermore, abnormalities identified in testing often require additional investigation, with negative consequences related to the risks of more procedures or tests, delays in therapies, and additional costs.”
Pre-operative stress testing should be reserved for patients with low functional capacity or clinical risk factors for cardiac complications. It is important to identify patients pre-operatively who are at risk for these complications by doing a thorough history, physical examination, and resting electrocardiogram.
8 Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI)
Recommendation: Avoid using a CT angiogram to diagnose pulmonary embolism (PE) in young women with a normal chest radiograph; consider a radionuclide lung (V/Q) study instead.
Hospitalists should be knowledgeable of the diagnostic options that will result in the lowest radiation exposure when evaluating young women for PE.
“When a chest radiograph is normal or nearly normal, a computed tomography angiogram or a V/Q lung scan can be used to evaluate these patients. While both exams have low radiation exposure, the V/Q lung scan results in less radiation to the breast tissue,” says society president Gary L. Dillehay, MD, FACNM, FACR, professor of radiology at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. “Recent literature cites concerns over radiation exposure from mammography; therefore, reducing radiation exposure to breast tissue, when evaluating patients for suspected PE, is desirable.”
Hospitalists might have difficulty obtaining a V/Q lung scan when nuclear medicine departments are closed.
“The caveat is that CT scans are much more readily available,” Dr. Auron says. In addition, a CT scan provides additional information. But unless the differential diagnosis is much higher for PE than other possibilities, just having a V/Q scan should suffice.
Hospitalists could help implement protocols for chest pain evaluation in premenopausal women by having checklists for risk factors for coronary artery disease, connective tissue disease (essentially aortic dissection), and VTE (e.g. Wells and Geneva scores, use of oral contraceptives, smoking), Dr. Auron says. If the diagnostic branch supports the risk of PE, then nuclear imaging should be available.
“A reasonable way to justify the increased availability of the nuclear medicine department would be to document the number of CT chest scans done after hours in patients who would have instead had a V/Q scan,” he says.
LISTEN NOW to Rahul Shah, MD, FACS, FAAP, associate professor of otolaryngology and pediatrics at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C, and co-chair of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation’s Patient Safety Quality Improvement Committee, explain why hospitalists should avoid routine radiographic imaging for patients who meet diagnostic criteria for uncomplicated acute rhinosinusitis.
9 American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
Recommendation: Antibiotics should not be used for apparent viral respiratory illnesses (sinusitis, pharyngitis, bronchitis).
Respiratory illnesses are the most common reason for hospitalization in pediatrics. Recent studies and surveys continue to demonstrate antibiotic overuse in the pediatric population, especially when prescribed for apparent viral respiratory illnesses.8,9
“Hospitalists who care for pediatric patients have the potential to significantly impact antibiotic overuse, as hospitalizations for respiratory illnesses due to viruses such as bronchiolitis and croup remain a leading cause of admission,” says James J. O’Callaghan, MD, FAAP, FHM, clinical assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle.
Many respiratory problems, such as bronchiolitis, asthma, and even some pneumonias are caused or exacerbated by viruses, points out Ricardo Quiñonez, MD, FAAP, FHM, section head of pediatric hospital medicine at the Children’s Hospital of San Antonio and the Baylor College of Medicine, and chair of the AAP’s section on hospital medicine. In particular, there are national guidelines for bronchiolitis and asthma that recommend against the use of systemic antibiotics.
This recommendation may be difficult for hospitalists to implement, because antibiotics are frequently started by other providers (PCP or ED), Dr. O’Callaghan admits. It can be tricky to change or stop therapy without undermining patients’ or parents’ confidence in their medical decision-making. Hospitalists may need to collaborate with new partners, such as community-wide antibiotic reduction campaigns, in order to affect this culture change.
—James D. Thomas, MD, FASE, FACC, FAHA, FESC, Moore Chair of Cardiovascular Imaging at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio and past president of the American Society of Echocardiography.
10 American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOB)
Recommendation: Don’t schedule elective inductions prior to 39 weeks, and don’t schedule elective inductions of labor after 39 weeks without a favorable cervix.
Studies show an increased risk to newborns that are electively inducted between 37 and 39 weeks. Complications include increased admission to the neonatal intensive care unit, increased risk of respiratory distress and need for respiratory support, and increased incidence of infection and sepsis.
This recommendation may be difficult for hospitalists to implement, because obstetrical providers typically schedule elective inductions. Implementation of this recommendation would involve collaboration with obstetrical providers, with possible support from maternal-fetal and neonatal providers.
“Recent quality measures and initiatives from such organizations such as CMS and the National Quality Forum … may help to galvanize institutional support for its successful implementation,” says Dr. O’Callaghan, a Team Hospitalist member.
Elective surgeries should only be done in cases where there is a medical necessity, such as when the mother is diabetic or has hypertension, adds Rob Olson, MD, FACOG, an OB/GYN hospitalist for PeaceHealth at St. Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham, Wash. “Hospitalists should not give in to pressures from patients who are either tired of the discomforts of pregnancy or have family pressure to end the pregnancy early.”
Karen Appold is a freelance writer in Pennsylvania.
References
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Reducing radiation from medical X-rays. Available at: http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm095505.htm. Accessed May 12, 2014.
- Nicolle LE, Bradley S, Colgan R, et al. Infectious Diseases Society of America guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of asymptomatic bacteriuria in adults. Clin Infect Dis. 2005;40(5):643-654.
- Hoggard J, Saad T, Schon D, et al. Guidelines for venous access in patients with chronic kidney disease. A position statement from the American Society of Diagnostic and Interventional Nephrology, Clinical Practice Committee and the Association for Vascular Access. Semin Dial. 2008;21(2):186-191.
- Rayner HC, Besarab A, Brown WW, Disney A, Saito A, Pisoni RL. Vascular access results from the dialysis outcomes and practice patterns study (DOPPS): Performance against kidney disease outcomes quality initiative (K/DOQI)clinical practice guidelines. Am J Kidney Dis. 2004;44(5 Suppl 2):22-26.
- Gonsalves CF, Eschelman DJ, Sullivan KL, DuBois N, Bonn J. Incidence of central vein stenosis and occlusion following upper extremity PICC and port placement. Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol. 2003;26(2):123-127.
- Allen AW, Megargell JL, Brown DB, et al. Venous thrombosis associated with the placement of peripherally inserted central catheters. J Vasc Interv Radiol. 2000;11(10):1309-1314.
- El Ters M, Schears GJ, Taler SJ, et al. Association between prior peripherally inserted central catheters and lack of functioning ateriovenous fistulas: A case control study in hemodialysis patients. Am J Kidney Dis. 2012;60(4):601-608.
- Hersh AL, Shapiro DJ, Pavia AT, Shah SS. Antibiotic prescribing in ambulatory pediatrics in the United States. Pediatrics. 2011;128(6):1053-1061.
- Knapp JF, Simon SD, Sharma V. Quality of care for common pediatric respiratory illnesses in United States emergency departments: Analysis of 2005 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey data. Pediatrics. 2008;122(6):1165-1170.
LISTEN NOW! Two Additional Choosing Wisely Recommendations from Specialty Societies
Listen to Dr. Cox, owner of Allergy and Asthma Center in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., discuss why it's important for hospitalists to avoid diagnosing or managing asthma without spirometry.
Click here to listen to Dr. Shah, associate professor of otolaryngology and pediatrics at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C, tell hospitalists why they should avoid routine radiographic imaging for patients who meet diagnostic criteria for uncomplicated acute rhinosinusitis.
Listen to Dr. Cox, owner of Allergy and Asthma Center in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., discuss why it's important for hospitalists to avoid diagnosing or managing asthma without spirometry.
Click here to listen to Dr. Shah, associate professor of otolaryngology and pediatrics at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C, tell hospitalists why they should avoid routine radiographic imaging for patients who meet diagnostic criteria for uncomplicated acute rhinosinusitis.
Listen to Dr. Cox, owner of Allergy and Asthma Center in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., discuss why it's important for hospitalists to avoid diagnosing or managing asthma without spirometry.
Click here to listen to Dr. Shah, associate professor of otolaryngology and pediatrics at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C, tell hospitalists why they should avoid routine radiographic imaging for patients who meet diagnostic criteria for uncomplicated acute rhinosinusitis.
Guideline updates for non-Hodgkin lymphomas
At the 2014 National Comprehensive Cancer Network annual conference in Hollywood, Florida, Dr Andrew D Zelenetz, chair of the NCCN Non-Hodgkin Lymphomas Guidelines panel, presented guideline updates for non-Hodgkin lymphomas.
Click on the PDF icon at the top of this introduction to read the full article.
At the 2014 National Comprehensive Cancer Network annual conference in Hollywood, Florida, Dr Andrew D Zelenetz, chair of the NCCN Non-Hodgkin Lymphomas Guidelines panel, presented guideline updates for non-Hodgkin lymphomas.
Click on the PDF icon at the top of this introduction to read the full article.
At the 2014 National Comprehensive Cancer Network annual conference in Hollywood, Florida, Dr Andrew D Zelenetz, chair of the NCCN Non-Hodgkin Lymphomas Guidelines panel, presented guideline updates for non-Hodgkin lymphomas.
Click on the PDF icon at the top of this introduction to read the full article.
State of the Art
It has been a couple of years since Jason Stein, MD, SFHM, a hospitalist at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, first reported on his experience with accountable care units (ACUs) and structured interdisciplinary bedside rounds (SIBR). With ACUs, Jason and his team undertook an “extreme makeover” of care on the hospital ward. Because most hospitalist groups are endeavoring to address team-based care, I took the opportunity to catch up with and learn from Jason, who has created an exciting and compelling approach to multidisciplinary, collaborative care in the hospital.
In 2012, Jason’s team won SHM’s Excellence in Teamwork in Quality Improvement Award, and Jason was selected as an innovation advisor to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. Since then, ACUs and SIBR have been implemented at a number of sites in the U.S. and abroad, and the work has been referenced by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Harvard Business Review. Jason has created Centripital, a nonprofit that trains members of the hospital team to collaborate optimally around the patient and family, the central focus of care.
Here are some excerpts from my interview with Jason:
Question: What is an accountable care unit (ACU)?
Answer: We defined an ACU as a geographic inpatient care area consistently responsible for the clinical, service, and cost outcomes it produces. There are four essential design features of ACUs: 1) unit-based physician teams; 2) structured interdisciplinary bedside rounds, or SIBR; 3) unit-level performance reports; and 4) unit co-management by nurse and physician directors.
Q: What were you observing in the care of the hospitalized patient that led you to create ACUs?
A: We saw fragmentation. We saw weak cohesiveness and poor communication among doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals. HM physicians who travel all over the hospital seeing patients are living with an illusion of teamwork. In reality, to be a high-functioning team, physicians have to share time, space, and a standard way to work together with nurses, patients, and families. When we embraced this way of thinking, we realized we could be so much better than we were. The key was to re-engineer a way to really work together.
Q: What makes an ACU successful?
A: In a word, control. An ACU creates new control levers for all of the key players to have greater influence on other members of the team—nurses with doctors, doctors with nurses, patients with everyone, and vice versa. It’s actually quite simple how this happens. The ACU clinical team spends the day together, caring for the same group of patients. Everyone communicates face to face, rather than by page, text, or phone. Stronger relationships are built, and clinicians are more respectful of one another. A different level of responsiveness and accountability is created. The feeling that every person is accountable to the patient and to the other team members allows the team to gain greater control over what happens on the unit. That’s a very powerful dynamic.
SIBR further reinforces the mutual accountability on an ACU. During SIBR, each person has a chance to hear and be heard, to share their perspective, and to contribute to the care plan. Day after day, SIBR creates a positive, collaborative culture of patient care. Once clinicians realize how much control and how much self-actualization they gain on an ACU, it seems impossible to go back to the old way.
—Jason Stein, MD, SFHM
Q: What is the biggest challenge in implementing and sustaining an ACU?
A: The first challenge, of course, is that this is change. And up front—before they realize they will actually gain greater control from the ACU-SIBR model—nurses and, particularly, doctors can perceive this change as a loss of control. “You’re telling me I have to SIBR every morning? At what time? And I have to do all my primary data gathering, including a patient interview and physical exam, before SIBR? Let me stop you right there. I’m way too busy for that.”
Naturally, not everyone immediately sees that they can gain rather than lose efficiency.
Another challenge is the logistics of implementing and then maintaining unit-based physician teams. There are multiple forces that can make geographic units a challenge to create and sustain, but all the logistics are manageable.
Q: How have you helped hospitals transition from a physician-centric model to the geographic-based model?
A: The most important factor in transitioning to an ACU model is for physicians to come to terms with the reality that geography must be the primary driver of physician assignments to patients. Nurses figured this out a long time ago. Do any of us know, bedside nurses who care for patients on multiple different units? As physicians, we’re due for the same realization.
But this means sacrificing long-practiced physician-centric methods of assigning ourselves to patients: call schedules, load balancing across practice partners—even the cherished concept of continuity is a force that can be at odds with geography as the driver. The way to approach the transition to unit-based teams is to have an honest dialogue. Why do we come to work in the hospital every day? If it’s to serve physician needs first, the old model deserves our loyalty. But if the needs of our patients and families are our focus, then we should embrace models that enable us to work effectively together, to become a great team.
Q: How have ACUs performed so far?
A: In the highest-acuity ACUs, we’ve seen mortality reductions of nearly 50%. In addition, there is a wide range of anecdotal outcomes reported. Most ACUs appear to be seeing reductions in length of stay and improvements in patient satisfaction and employee engagement. One ACU reports significant reductions in average cost per patient per day. Another ACU in a geriatric unit has seen dramatic reductions in falls. Some ACUs have seen improvements in glycemic control and VTE prophylaxis, and reductions in catheter utilization.
The benefits of the model seem to be many and probably depend on the patient population, severity of illness, baseline level of performance, and the focus and ability of the unit leadership team to get the most out of the model.
Q: Will ACUs or ACU features become de rigueur in a transformed healthcare landscape?
A: It’s hard to imagine a reality where features of ACUs do not become the standard of care. Once patients and professionals experience the impact of the ACU model, there’ll be no going back. It feels like exactly what we should be doing together. Several ACU design features are reinforced pretty cogently by Richard Bohmer in a New England Journal of Medicine perspective called “The Four Habits of High-Value Health Care Organizations.”1
Q: Any final thoughts?
A: I did not imagine my career as a QI practitioner at Emory becoming so immersed in social and industrial engineering. Of course, it’s obvious to me now that it’s happened, but six years ago when I first started directing SHM’s quality course, I thought the future in HM was health IT and real-time dashboards. Now I know those things will be important, but only if we first figure out how to get our frontline interdisciplinary clinicians to work as an effective team.
Dr. Whitcomb is Chief Medical Officer of Remedy Partners. He is co-founder and past president of SHM. Email him at [email protected].
Reference
It has been a couple of years since Jason Stein, MD, SFHM, a hospitalist at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, first reported on his experience with accountable care units (ACUs) and structured interdisciplinary bedside rounds (SIBR). With ACUs, Jason and his team undertook an “extreme makeover” of care on the hospital ward. Because most hospitalist groups are endeavoring to address team-based care, I took the opportunity to catch up with and learn from Jason, who has created an exciting and compelling approach to multidisciplinary, collaborative care in the hospital.
In 2012, Jason’s team won SHM’s Excellence in Teamwork in Quality Improvement Award, and Jason was selected as an innovation advisor to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. Since then, ACUs and SIBR have been implemented at a number of sites in the U.S. and abroad, and the work has been referenced by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Harvard Business Review. Jason has created Centripital, a nonprofit that trains members of the hospital team to collaborate optimally around the patient and family, the central focus of care.
Here are some excerpts from my interview with Jason:
Question: What is an accountable care unit (ACU)?
Answer: We defined an ACU as a geographic inpatient care area consistently responsible for the clinical, service, and cost outcomes it produces. There are four essential design features of ACUs: 1) unit-based physician teams; 2) structured interdisciplinary bedside rounds, or SIBR; 3) unit-level performance reports; and 4) unit co-management by nurse and physician directors.
Q: What were you observing in the care of the hospitalized patient that led you to create ACUs?
A: We saw fragmentation. We saw weak cohesiveness and poor communication among doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals. HM physicians who travel all over the hospital seeing patients are living with an illusion of teamwork. In reality, to be a high-functioning team, physicians have to share time, space, and a standard way to work together with nurses, patients, and families. When we embraced this way of thinking, we realized we could be so much better than we were. The key was to re-engineer a way to really work together.
Q: What makes an ACU successful?
A: In a word, control. An ACU creates new control levers for all of the key players to have greater influence on other members of the team—nurses with doctors, doctors with nurses, patients with everyone, and vice versa. It’s actually quite simple how this happens. The ACU clinical team spends the day together, caring for the same group of patients. Everyone communicates face to face, rather than by page, text, or phone. Stronger relationships are built, and clinicians are more respectful of one another. A different level of responsiveness and accountability is created. The feeling that every person is accountable to the patient and to the other team members allows the team to gain greater control over what happens on the unit. That’s a very powerful dynamic.
SIBR further reinforces the mutual accountability on an ACU. During SIBR, each person has a chance to hear and be heard, to share their perspective, and to contribute to the care plan. Day after day, SIBR creates a positive, collaborative culture of patient care. Once clinicians realize how much control and how much self-actualization they gain on an ACU, it seems impossible to go back to the old way.
—Jason Stein, MD, SFHM
Q: What is the biggest challenge in implementing and sustaining an ACU?
A: The first challenge, of course, is that this is change. And up front—before they realize they will actually gain greater control from the ACU-SIBR model—nurses and, particularly, doctors can perceive this change as a loss of control. “You’re telling me I have to SIBR every morning? At what time? And I have to do all my primary data gathering, including a patient interview and physical exam, before SIBR? Let me stop you right there. I’m way too busy for that.”
Naturally, not everyone immediately sees that they can gain rather than lose efficiency.
Another challenge is the logistics of implementing and then maintaining unit-based physician teams. There are multiple forces that can make geographic units a challenge to create and sustain, but all the logistics are manageable.
Q: How have you helped hospitals transition from a physician-centric model to the geographic-based model?
A: The most important factor in transitioning to an ACU model is for physicians to come to terms with the reality that geography must be the primary driver of physician assignments to patients. Nurses figured this out a long time ago. Do any of us know, bedside nurses who care for patients on multiple different units? As physicians, we’re due for the same realization.
But this means sacrificing long-practiced physician-centric methods of assigning ourselves to patients: call schedules, load balancing across practice partners—even the cherished concept of continuity is a force that can be at odds with geography as the driver. The way to approach the transition to unit-based teams is to have an honest dialogue. Why do we come to work in the hospital every day? If it’s to serve physician needs first, the old model deserves our loyalty. But if the needs of our patients and families are our focus, then we should embrace models that enable us to work effectively together, to become a great team.
Q: How have ACUs performed so far?
A: In the highest-acuity ACUs, we’ve seen mortality reductions of nearly 50%. In addition, there is a wide range of anecdotal outcomes reported. Most ACUs appear to be seeing reductions in length of stay and improvements in patient satisfaction and employee engagement. One ACU reports significant reductions in average cost per patient per day. Another ACU in a geriatric unit has seen dramatic reductions in falls. Some ACUs have seen improvements in glycemic control and VTE prophylaxis, and reductions in catheter utilization.
The benefits of the model seem to be many and probably depend on the patient population, severity of illness, baseline level of performance, and the focus and ability of the unit leadership team to get the most out of the model.
Q: Will ACUs or ACU features become de rigueur in a transformed healthcare landscape?
A: It’s hard to imagine a reality where features of ACUs do not become the standard of care. Once patients and professionals experience the impact of the ACU model, there’ll be no going back. It feels like exactly what we should be doing together. Several ACU design features are reinforced pretty cogently by Richard Bohmer in a New England Journal of Medicine perspective called “The Four Habits of High-Value Health Care Organizations.”1
Q: Any final thoughts?
A: I did not imagine my career as a QI practitioner at Emory becoming so immersed in social and industrial engineering. Of course, it’s obvious to me now that it’s happened, but six years ago when I first started directing SHM’s quality course, I thought the future in HM was health IT and real-time dashboards. Now I know those things will be important, but only if we first figure out how to get our frontline interdisciplinary clinicians to work as an effective team.
Dr. Whitcomb is Chief Medical Officer of Remedy Partners. He is co-founder and past president of SHM. Email him at [email protected].
Reference
It has been a couple of years since Jason Stein, MD, SFHM, a hospitalist at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, first reported on his experience with accountable care units (ACUs) and structured interdisciplinary bedside rounds (SIBR). With ACUs, Jason and his team undertook an “extreme makeover” of care on the hospital ward. Because most hospitalist groups are endeavoring to address team-based care, I took the opportunity to catch up with and learn from Jason, who has created an exciting and compelling approach to multidisciplinary, collaborative care in the hospital.
In 2012, Jason’s team won SHM’s Excellence in Teamwork in Quality Improvement Award, and Jason was selected as an innovation advisor to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. Since then, ACUs and SIBR have been implemented at a number of sites in the U.S. and abroad, and the work has been referenced by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Harvard Business Review. Jason has created Centripital, a nonprofit that trains members of the hospital team to collaborate optimally around the patient and family, the central focus of care.
Here are some excerpts from my interview with Jason:
Question: What is an accountable care unit (ACU)?
Answer: We defined an ACU as a geographic inpatient care area consistently responsible for the clinical, service, and cost outcomes it produces. There are four essential design features of ACUs: 1) unit-based physician teams; 2) structured interdisciplinary bedside rounds, or SIBR; 3) unit-level performance reports; and 4) unit co-management by nurse and physician directors.
Q: What were you observing in the care of the hospitalized patient that led you to create ACUs?
A: We saw fragmentation. We saw weak cohesiveness and poor communication among doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals. HM physicians who travel all over the hospital seeing patients are living with an illusion of teamwork. In reality, to be a high-functioning team, physicians have to share time, space, and a standard way to work together with nurses, patients, and families. When we embraced this way of thinking, we realized we could be so much better than we were. The key was to re-engineer a way to really work together.
Q: What makes an ACU successful?
A: In a word, control. An ACU creates new control levers for all of the key players to have greater influence on other members of the team—nurses with doctors, doctors with nurses, patients with everyone, and vice versa. It’s actually quite simple how this happens. The ACU clinical team spends the day together, caring for the same group of patients. Everyone communicates face to face, rather than by page, text, or phone. Stronger relationships are built, and clinicians are more respectful of one another. A different level of responsiveness and accountability is created. The feeling that every person is accountable to the patient and to the other team members allows the team to gain greater control over what happens on the unit. That’s a very powerful dynamic.
SIBR further reinforces the mutual accountability on an ACU. During SIBR, each person has a chance to hear and be heard, to share their perspective, and to contribute to the care plan. Day after day, SIBR creates a positive, collaborative culture of patient care. Once clinicians realize how much control and how much self-actualization they gain on an ACU, it seems impossible to go back to the old way.
—Jason Stein, MD, SFHM
Q: What is the biggest challenge in implementing and sustaining an ACU?
A: The first challenge, of course, is that this is change. And up front—before they realize they will actually gain greater control from the ACU-SIBR model—nurses and, particularly, doctors can perceive this change as a loss of control. “You’re telling me I have to SIBR every morning? At what time? And I have to do all my primary data gathering, including a patient interview and physical exam, before SIBR? Let me stop you right there. I’m way too busy for that.”
Naturally, not everyone immediately sees that they can gain rather than lose efficiency.
Another challenge is the logistics of implementing and then maintaining unit-based physician teams. There are multiple forces that can make geographic units a challenge to create and sustain, but all the logistics are manageable.
Q: How have you helped hospitals transition from a physician-centric model to the geographic-based model?
A: The most important factor in transitioning to an ACU model is for physicians to come to terms with the reality that geography must be the primary driver of physician assignments to patients. Nurses figured this out a long time ago. Do any of us know, bedside nurses who care for patients on multiple different units? As physicians, we’re due for the same realization.
But this means sacrificing long-practiced physician-centric methods of assigning ourselves to patients: call schedules, load balancing across practice partners—even the cherished concept of continuity is a force that can be at odds with geography as the driver. The way to approach the transition to unit-based teams is to have an honest dialogue. Why do we come to work in the hospital every day? If it’s to serve physician needs first, the old model deserves our loyalty. But if the needs of our patients and families are our focus, then we should embrace models that enable us to work effectively together, to become a great team.
Q: How have ACUs performed so far?
A: In the highest-acuity ACUs, we’ve seen mortality reductions of nearly 50%. In addition, there is a wide range of anecdotal outcomes reported. Most ACUs appear to be seeing reductions in length of stay and improvements in patient satisfaction and employee engagement. One ACU reports significant reductions in average cost per patient per day. Another ACU in a geriatric unit has seen dramatic reductions in falls. Some ACUs have seen improvements in glycemic control and VTE prophylaxis, and reductions in catheter utilization.
The benefits of the model seem to be many and probably depend on the patient population, severity of illness, baseline level of performance, and the focus and ability of the unit leadership team to get the most out of the model.
Q: Will ACUs or ACU features become de rigueur in a transformed healthcare landscape?
A: It’s hard to imagine a reality where features of ACUs do not become the standard of care. Once patients and professionals experience the impact of the ACU model, there’ll be no going back. It feels like exactly what we should be doing together. Several ACU design features are reinforced pretty cogently by Richard Bohmer in a New England Journal of Medicine perspective called “The Four Habits of High-Value Health Care Organizations.”1
Q: Any final thoughts?
A: I did not imagine my career as a QI practitioner at Emory becoming so immersed in social and industrial engineering. Of course, it’s obvious to me now that it’s happened, but six years ago when I first started directing SHM’s quality course, I thought the future in HM was health IT and real-time dashboards. Now I know those things will be important, but only if we first figure out how to get our frontline interdisciplinary clinicians to work as an effective team.
Dr. Whitcomb is Chief Medical Officer of Remedy Partners. He is co-founder and past president of SHM. Email him at [email protected].
Reference
Hospitalist Reviews on Healthcare-associated Infections, Mortality Benefit with Single Peripheral Pulmonary Emboli, Oral Anticoagulants to Treat Atrial Fibrillation
In This Edition
Literature At A Glance
A guide to this month’s studies
- Healthcare-associated infections financially impact the U.S. system
- No mortality benefit with treatment of single peripheral pulmonary emboli
- Modified (shorter) IV acetylcysteine infusion reduces adverse effects
- Comorbidities contribute to potentially avoidable hospital readmissions
- Resident handoff bundle reduces medical errors and adverse events, improves handoff quality
- Uncomplicated skin infections in the ambulatory setting commonly involve avoidable antibiotic exposure
- Warfarin initiation in atrial fibrillation associated with increased short-term risk of stroke
- Multifaceted discharge interventions reduce rates of pediatric readmission and post-hospital ED utilization
- Sepsis diagnoses are common, but many septic patients in ED do not receive antibiotics
- New oral anticoagulants safe, effective for atrial fibrillation treatment
Healthcare-Associated Infections Continue to Impact the U.S. Healthcare System Financially
Clinical question: What is the estimated cost of healthcare-associated infections (HAI) to the U.S. healthcare system?
Background: In spite of education efforts, HAIs occur frequently and contribute to high healthcare costs in the U.S. This study sought to estimate the costs of HAIs to the U.S. system using statistical analyses of published data.
Study design: Simulations of published data.
Setting: Published studies on five major HAIs.
Synopsis: Monte Carlo simulations based upon published point estimates were used to estimate per-case cost and confidence intervals, with extrapolation to total costs to the U.S. healthcare system. Overall, five major HAIs occur approximately 440,000 times annually and cost the healthcare system an estimated $9.78 billion (range $8.28 to $11.5 billion) in 2009.
Surgical site infections (36.0%) were the most common of the studied HAIs, with increased per-case cost of $20,785, equating to an estimated $3.30 billion annually (33.7% of total HAI costs). Clostridium difficile infection accounted for 30.3% of HAI but only 15.4% of costs ($1.51 billion). Central line-associated bloodstream infections were most costly per case ($45,814), with total costs of $1.85 billion (18.9% of costs). Ventilator-associated pneumonia accounted for $3.09 billion, or 31.7% of total costs. Catheter-associated urinary tract infection only represented 0.3% of total costs, or $27.9 million annually.
The authors suggest that changes in payment reform likely will drive hospitals to further invest in HAI reduction efforts.
Bottom line: HAIs remain frequent and expensive complications of hospitalization, in spite of improvement efforts to date.
Citation: Zimlichman E, Henderson D, Tamir O, et al. Health care-associated infections: a meta-analysis of costs and financial impact on the US health care system. JAMA Intern Med. 2013;173(22):2039-2046.
No Mortality Benefit with Treatment of Single Peripheral Pulmonary Emboli
Clinical question: Does treatment of single peripheral pulmonary emboli impact mortality and rates of post-discharge venous thromboembolism (VTE)?
Background: With the increase in CT pulmonary angiography (CTPA) use the past decade, there has been an increased rate of detection of peripheral filling defects. When confronted with a single peripheral filling defect (SPFD), clinicians face the dilemma of whether treatment is necessary, given the risks associated with anticoagulation.
Study design: Retrospective cohort.
Setting: Community teaching hospital in Norwalk, Conn.
Synopsis: A total of 4,906 CTPAs were screened, revealing 153 scans with an SPFD. Primary analysis included 134 patients 18 years or older. Of these patients, 61 (45.5%) received treatment with anticoagulation (n=51) or IVC filter alone (n=10).
This study revealed no difference in adjusted 90-day mortality between treated and untreated groups. No statistically significant difference was found in the rate of post-discharge VTE within 90 days.
Characteristics associated with treatment for SPFD were patient immobility, previous VTE, and radiology labeling the filling defect as a pulmonary embolus. It is important to note that none of the patients who had a normal second imaging study (e.g. V/Q scan or ultrasound) were treated; therefore, the use of secondary studies could mitigate some of the uncertainty around SPFD management, though this is not recommended in current diagnostic algorithms. Because this is a single-center study with a modest sample size, the comparability of findings to other centers might be limited. Larger studies are needed to help clarify these findings.
Bottom line: Treatment of SPFD was not associated with a difference in mortality or post-discharge VTE within 90 days.
Citation: Green O, Lempel J, Kolodziej A, et al. Treatment of single peripheral pulmonary emboli: patient outcomes and factors associated with decision to treat. J Hosp Med. 2014;9(1):42-47.
Modified IV Acetylcysteine Infusion Reduces Adverse Effects
Clinical question: Does a shorter regimen of IV acetylcysteine reduce adverse effects compared to the standard regimen?
Background: Acetaminophen poisoning is common, and recommended treatment is IV acetylcysteine; however, the standard regimen has many adverse effects, including vomiting and anaphylactoid reactions. Although studies have outlined these side effects, no published trials have compared their frequency to that of a shorter protocol.
Study design: Double-blinded, randomized controlled trial.
Setting: Three acute care hospitals in the United Kingdom.
Synopsis: Of 3,311 patients who presented with acetaminophen overdose, 222 underwent randomization to the standard (duration 20-25 hours) or modified (12 hours) acetylcysteine regimen, with or without pre-treatment with IV ondansetron 4 mg. The primary outcome of vomiting, retching, or need for rescue antiemetic treatment within two hours of acetylcysteine initiation was significantly less frequent in patients who received the shorter regimen, compared to those allocated to the standard regimen.
Specifically, the adjusted odds ratio was 0.26 with the modified regimen (97.5% CI, 0.13-0.52; P<0.0001). The primary outcome was significantly less in patients pre-treated with ondansetron compared to placebo (OR 0.41, 97.5% CI 0.2-0.8; P=0.003). Anaphylactic reactions were significantly reduced with the shorter protocol; no significant difference in hepatotoxicity was noted.
It is reasonable to infer that the shorter acetylcysteine regimen substantially reduces the frequency of vomiting and serious anaphylactoid reactions when compared with the standard schedule; however, hospitalists should note that this study was not powered to assess for non-inferiority of the shorter regimen with regard to prevention of acetaminophen’s hepatotoxic effects. Further studies are needed to confirm the efficacy and safety of the modified regimen before widespread adoption into clinical practice.
Bottom line: A shorter acetylcysteine regimen is associated with decreased occurrence of vomiting and anaphylactoid reactions compared to the standard protocol for treating acetaminophen toxicity. Additional research is needed to assess non-inferiority of this modified regimen for prevention of hepatotoxic effects.
Citation: Bateman DN, Dear JW, Thanacoody HK, et al. Reduction of adverse effects from intravenous acetylcysteine treatment for paracetamol poisoning: a randomized controlled trial. Lancet. 2014;383(9918):697-704.
Comorbidities Contribute to Potentially Avoidable Hospital Readmissions
Clinical question: What is the role of comorbidities in 30-day potentially avoidable readmissions?
Background: Higher comorbidity burden has been associated with 30-day readmissions. This study evaluated the role of comorbidities in the 30-day rate of potentially avoidable readmissions from a tertiary-care medical center.
Study design: Retrospective cohort.
Setting: Tertiary-care teaching hospital and affiliated network.
Synopsis: Investigators tested the hypothesis that comorbidities significantly contribute to 30-day, potentially avoidable readmissions in a cohort of consecutively discharged medical patients at an academic medical center over a 12-month period. Out of a total of 10,731 discharges, there were 2,398 readmissions to hospitals in the same health system. Of those 2,398 readmissions, 858 (35.8%) were judged potentially avoidable using a validated algorithm. Frequently, the reason for readmission was not related to the index discharge diagnosis but to a complication of known comorbidities.
The authors identified the top five diagnoses for readmission as infection, neoplasm, heart failure, gastrointestinal disorder, and liver disorder. Among those patients who had a readmission diagnosis different from the index-case discharge diagnosis, the comorbidities of neoplastic disease, heart failure, and chronic kidney disease significantly contributed to readmission as compared to those without similar comorbidities.
Bottom line: The reason for readmission often is not related to the index hospitalization diagnosis but, rather, to comorbidities present at the index episode of care; thus, attention to management of comorbidities in the post-discharge period is important in circumventing potentially avoidable readmissions.
Citation: Donzé J, Lipsitz S, Bates DW, Schnipper JL. Causes and patterns of readmissions in patients with common comorbidities: retrospective cohort study. BMJ. 2013;347:F7171.
Resident Handoff Bundle Reduces Medical Errors and Adverse Events, Improves Handoff Quality
Clinical question: In a pediatric inpatient setting, is the use of a handoff program associated with improved patient safety measures and handoff quality?
Background: Sentinel events related to errors in communication are a significant patient safety dilemma and an impetus for ongoing efforts to improve handoffs in postgraduate medical education. Various strategies to be incorporated into the handoff process have been suggested in the literature, but research is limited with regard to the relationship between handoffs and patient safety.
Study design: Prospective, pre-post study.
Setting: Academic, pediatric hospital in an urban setting.
Synopsis: Overall, 1,255 patient admissions (642 pre-/613 post-handoff intervention) were evaluated on two inpatient units during the periods of July 2009-September 2009 (pre-intervention) and November 2009-January 2010 (post-intervention). The intervention was a handoff “bundle” consisting of a standardized communication and handoff training session, a verbal mnemonic to standardize handoffs, and a new unified resident-intern handoff structure in a private, quiet setting. A computerized handoff tool was also added in one unit. Primary outcomes were a comparison of the rate of medical errors per 100 admissions and rates of preventable adverse events before and after the intervention.
Implementation of the bundle resulted in a significant decrease in medical errors (18.3 from 33.8 per 100 admissions, P<0.001) and preventable adverse events (1.5 from 3.3 per 100 admissions, P=0.04). Secondary outcomes included reductions in omissions of key data in the written handoff (even greater in the group using the computerized tool) and increased percentage of time spent in direct patient care, with no change in handoff duration. Additionally, handoffs were more likely to occur in a quiet, private location.
Limitations included the potential for confounding in a pre-post intervention design, the difficulty in ascertaining the value of the individual components of the bundle, and the potential lack of generalizability.
Bottom line: In a pediatric hospital setting, a multifaceted handoff bundle is associated with improved handoff quality and reductions in medical errors and preventable adverse events.
Citation: Starmer AJ, Sectish TC, Simon DW, et al. Rates of medical errors and preventable adverse events among hospitalized children following implementation of a resident handoff bundle. JAMA. 2013;310(21):2262-2270.
Uncomplicated Skin Infections in Ambulatory Setting Commonly Involve Avoidable Antibiotic Exposure
Clinical question: What are the current prescribing practices for antibiotics used to treat skin and soft tissue infections in the outpatient setting?
Background: Uncomplicated skin and soft tissue infections are among the most frequent indications for outpatient antibiotic use. Because antibiotic use is associated with bacterial resistance and adverse events, understanding antibiotic prescribing practices is necessary to minimize these types of complications.
Study design: Retrospective cohort.
Setting: Ambulatory care setting in the Denver Health System.
Synopsis: Data from 364 adults and children who presented to an ambulatory setting with a primary diagnosis of skin and soft tissue infection were analyzed using a stepwise multivariate logistic regression in order to determine factors associated with avoidable antibiotic exposure. Among cellulitis cases, 61% of patients were prescribed antibiotics to treat methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Avoidable antibiotic exposure occurred in 46% of cases, including use of antibiotics with broad Gram-negative activity (4%), combination therapy (12%), and treatment for ≥10 days (42%). Use of short-course, single-antibiotic treatment approaches consistent with national guidelines would have reduced prescribed antibiotic days by 19%, to 55%.
Bottom line: Avoidable antibiotic exposure frequently occurs in the treatment of uncomplicated skin infections; using short-course, single-antibiotic treatment strategies could significantly reduce total antibiotic use.
Citation: Hurley HJ, Knepper BC, Price CS, Mehler PS, Burman WJ, Jenkins TC. Avoidable antibiotic exposure for uncomplicated skin and soft tissue infections in the ambulatory care setting. Am J Med. 2013;126(12):1099-1106.
Warfarin Initiation in Atrial Fibrillation Associated with Increased Short-Term Risk of Stroke
Clinical question: Is the initiation of warfarin associated with an increased risk of ischemic stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation (Afib)?
Background: Two Afib trials of oral factor Xa inhibitors showed an increased risk of stroke when patients were transitioned to open label warfarin at the end of the study. Warfarin can, theoretically, lead to a transient hypercoagulable state upon treatment initiation, so further study is indicated to determine if the initiation of warfarin is associated with increased stroke risk among Afib patients.
Study design: Population-based, nested case-control.
Setting: UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink.
Synopsis: A cohort of 70,766 patients with newly diagnosed Afib was identified from a large primary care database. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate adjusted rate ratios (RR) of stroke associated with warfarin monotherapy, classified according to time since initiation of treatment when compared to patients not on antithrombotic therapy.
Warfarin was associated with a 71% increased risk of stroke in the first 30 days of use (RR 1.71, 95% CI 1.39-2.12). Risk was highest in the first week of warfarin treatment, which is consistent with the known transient pro-coagulant effect of warfarin. Decreased risks were observed with warfarin initiation >30 days before the ischemic event (31-90 days: RR 0.50, 95% CI 0.34-0.75; >90 days: RR 0.55, 95% CI 0.50-0.61).
Limitations included the extraction of data from a database, which could lead to misclassification of diagnosis or therapy, and the observational nature of the study.
Bottom line: There may be an increased risk of ischemic stroke during the first 30 days of treatment with warfarin in patients with Afib.
Citation: Azoulay L, Dell-Aniello S, Simon T, Renoux C, Suissa S. Initiation of warfarin in patients with atrial fibrillation: early effects on ischaemic strokes [published online ahead of print December 18, 2013]. Eur Heart J.
Multifaceted Discharge Interventions Reduce Rates of Pediatric Readmission and Post-Hospital ED Utilization
Clinical question: Do interventions at discharge reduce the rate of readmissions and post-hospitalization ED visits among pediatric patients?
Background: Readmissions are a high-priority quality measure in both the adult and pediatric settings. Although a broadening body of literature is evaluating the impact of interventions on readmissions in adult populations, the literature does not contain a similar breadth of assessments of interventions in the pediatric setting.
Study design: Systematic review.
Setting: English-language articles studying pediatric inpatient discharge interventions.
Synopsis: A total of 1,296 unique articles were identified from PubMed and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature. Additional articles were identified on review of references, yielding 14 articles that met inclusion criteria. Included studies evaluated the effect of pediatric discharge interventions on the primary outcomes of hospital readmission or post-hospitalization ED visits. Interventions focused on three main patient populations: asthma, cancer, and prematurity.
Six studies demonstrated statistically significant reductions in readmissions and/or ED visits, while two studies actually demonstrated an increase in post-discharge utilization. All successful interventions began in the inpatient setting and were multifaceted, with four of six studies including an educational component and a post-discharge follow-up component.
While all of the studies evaluated sought to enhance the transitional care from the inpatient to outpatient setting, only the interventions that included one responsible party (individual or team) with expertise in the medical condition providing oversight and support were successful in reducing the specified outcomes. A significant limitation was that many of the studies identified were not sufficiently powered to detect either outcome of interest.
Bottom line: A multifaceted intervention involving educational and post-discharge follow-up components with an experienced individual or team supporting the transition is associated with a reduction in hospital readmissions and post-discharge ED utilization.
Citation: Auger KA, Kenyon CC, Feudtner C, Davis MM. Pediatric hospital discharge interventions to reduce subsequent utilization: a systematic review [published online ahead of print December 20, 2013]. J Hosp Med.
Sepsis Diagnoses Are Common in ED, but Many Septic Patients in the ED Do Not Receive Antibiotics
Clinical question: Has the frequency of sepsis rates, along with administration of antibiotics in U.S. emergency departments (EDs), changed over time?
Background: Prior studies reviewing discharge data from hospitals suggest an increase of sepsis over time; however, little epidemiological research has evaluated the diagnosis of sepsis and antibiotic use in ED settings.
Study design: Retrospective, four-stage probability sample.
Setting: National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS).
Synopsis: The NHAMCS includes a sample of all U.S. ED visits, except federal, military, and VA hospitals. According to NHAMCS data, an estimated 1.3 billion visits by adults to U.S. EDs occurred from 1994-2009, or approximately 81 million visits per year. Explicit sepsis was defined by the presence of the following, with ICD-9 codes: septicemia (038), sepsis (995.91), severe sepsis (995.92), or septic shock (785.52). Implicit sepsis was defined as a code indicating infection plus a code indicting organ dysfunction.
In U.S. EDs, explicit sepsis did not become more prevalent from 1994-2009; however, implicitly diagnosed sepsis increased by 7% every two years. There were 260,000 explicit sepsis-related ED visits per year, or 1.23 visits per 1,000 U.S. population. In-hospital mortality was 17% and 9% for the explicit and implicit diagnosis groups, respectively. On review of the explicit sepsis group, only 61% of the patients were found to have received antibiotics in the ED. The rate did increase over the time studied, from 52% in 1994-1997 to 69% in 2006-2009.
The study was limited by the retrospective analysis of data not designed to track sepsis or antibiotic use.
Bottom Line: Explicitly recognized sepsis remained stable in the ED setting from 1994-2009, and early antibiotic use has improved during this time, but there is still much opportunity for improvement.
Citation: Filbin MR, Arias SA, Camargo CA Jr, Barche A, Pallin DJ. Sepsis visits and antibiotic utilization in the U.S. emergency departments. Crit Care Med. 2014;42(3):528-535.
New Oral Anticoagulants Safe and Effective for Atrial Fibrillation Treatment
Clinical question: Is there a difference in efficacy and safety among new oral anticoagulants compared to warfarin in subgroups of patients with atrial fibrillation (Afib)?
Background: Studies of new oral anticoagulants have demonstrated that these agents are at least as safe and effective as warfarin for prevention of stroke and systemic embolism in Afib. This study was designed to look at available phase 3 randomized trials, with the goal of subgroup analysis for both efficacy and bleeding risks.
Study design: Meta-analysis.
Setting: Phase 3 randomized controlled trials of patients with Afib.
Synopsis: The analysis included four trials of Afib patients randomized to receive warfarin or a novel oral anticoagulant (NOAC), including dabigatran, rivaroxaban, apixaban, and edoxaban. In total, 42,411 patients received an NOAC and 29,272 patients received warfarin. Separate analyses were performed for high-dose and low-dose NOACs.
The high-dose NOAC demonstrated a 19% reduction in stroke and systemic embolic events as compared to warfarin, largely due to the reduction of hemorrhagic strokes by the NOAC. The low-dose NOAC showed similar efficacy to warfarin for reduction of stroke and systemic embolic events, with an increase noted in the subset of ischemic stroke in low-dose NOAC. Both doses of NOAC demonstrated a significant reduction in all-cause mortality. NOAC showed a non-significant reduction in bleeding compared to warfarin; however, subset analysis demonstrated an increase in gastrointestinal bleeding with high-dose NOAC and a significant reduction in intracranial hemorrhage with low-dose NOAC.
A notable limitation of the study is that it only included clinical trials in the analysis.
Bottom line: In relation to stroke, systemic embolic events, and all-cause mortality, new oral anticoagulants showed a favorable efficacy and safety profile as compared to warfarin in Afib patients.
Citation: Ruff CT, Giugliano RP, Braunwald E, et al. Comparison of the efficacy and safety of new oral anticoagulants with warfarin in patients with atrial fibrillation: a meta-analysis of randomised trials. Lancet. 2014;383(9921):955-962.
In This Edition
Literature At A Glance
A guide to this month’s studies
- Healthcare-associated infections financially impact the U.S. system
- No mortality benefit with treatment of single peripheral pulmonary emboli
- Modified (shorter) IV acetylcysteine infusion reduces adverse effects
- Comorbidities contribute to potentially avoidable hospital readmissions
- Resident handoff bundle reduces medical errors and adverse events, improves handoff quality
- Uncomplicated skin infections in the ambulatory setting commonly involve avoidable antibiotic exposure
- Warfarin initiation in atrial fibrillation associated with increased short-term risk of stroke
- Multifaceted discharge interventions reduce rates of pediatric readmission and post-hospital ED utilization
- Sepsis diagnoses are common, but many septic patients in ED do not receive antibiotics
- New oral anticoagulants safe, effective for atrial fibrillation treatment
Healthcare-Associated Infections Continue to Impact the U.S. Healthcare System Financially
Clinical question: What is the estimated cost of healthcare-associated infections (HAI) to the U.S. healthcare system?
Background: In spite of education efforts, HAIs occur frequently and contribute to high healthcare costs in the U.S. This study sought to estimate the costs of HAIs to the U.S. system using statistical analyses of published data.
Study design: Simulations of published data.
Setting: Published studies on five major HAIs.
Synopsis: Monte Carlo simulations based upon published point estimates were used to estimate per-case cost and confidence intervals, with extrapolation to total costs to the U.S. healthcare system. Overall, five major HAIs occur approximately 440,000 times annually and cost the healthcare system an estimated $9.78 billion (range $8.28 to $11.5 billion) in 2009.
Surgical site infections (36.0%) were the most common of the studied HAIs, with increased per-case cost of $20,785, equating to an estimated $3.30 billion annually (33.7% of total HAI costs). Clostridium difficile infection accounted for 30.3% of HAI but only 15.4% of costs ($1.51 billion). Central line-associated bloodstream infections were most costly per case ($45,814), with total costs of $1.85 billion (18.9% of costs). Ventilator-associated pneumonia accounted for $3.09 billion, or 31.7% of total costs. Catheter-associated urinary tract infection only represented 0.3% of total costs, or $27.9 million annually.
The authors suggest that changes in payment reform likely will drive hospitals to further invest in HAI reduction efforts.
Bottom line: HAIs remain frequent and expensive complications of hospitalization, in spite of improvement efforts to date.
Citation: Zimlichman E, Henderson D, Tamir O, et al. Health care-associated infections: a meta-analysis of costs and financial impact on the US health care system. JAMA Intern Med. 2013;173(22):2039-2046.
No Mortality Benefit with Treatment of Single Peripheral Pulmonary Emboli
Clinical question: Does treatment of single peripheral pulmonary emboli impact mortality and rates of post-discharge venous thromboembolism (VTE)?
Background: With the increase in CT pulmonary angiography (CTPA) use the past decade, there has been an increased rate of detection of peripheral filling defects. When confronted with a single peripheral filling defect (SPFD), clinicians face the dilemma of whether treatment is necessary, given the risks associated with anticoagulation.
Study design: Retrospective cohort.
Setting: Community teaching hospital in Norwalk, Conn.
Synopsis: A total of 4,906 CTPAs were screened, revealing 153 scans with an SPFD. Primary analysis included 134 patients 18 years or older. Of these patients, 61 (45.5%) received treatment with anticoagulation (n=51) or IVC filter alone (n=10).
This study revealed no difference in adjusted 90-day mortality between treated and untreated groups. No statistically significant difference was found in the rate of post-discharge VTE within 90 days.
Characteristics associated with treatment for SPFD were patient immobility, previous VTE, and radiology labeling the filling defect as a pulmonary embolus. It is important to note that none of the patients who had a normal second imaging study (e.g. V/Q scan or ultrasound) were treated; therefore, the use of secondary studies could mitigate some of the uncertainty around SPFD management, though this is not recommended in current diagnostic algorithms. Because this is a single-center study with a modest sample size, the comparability of findings to other centers might be limited. Larger studies are needed to help clarify these findings.
Bottom line: Treatment of SPFD was not associated with a difference in mortality or post-discharge VTE within 90 days.
Citation: Green O, Lempel J, Kolodziej A, et al. Treatment of single peripheral pulmonary emboli: patient outcomes and factors associated with decision to treat. J Hosp Med. 2014;9(1):42-47.
Modified IV Acetylcysteine Infusion Reduces Adverse Effects
Clinical question: Does a shorter regimen of IV acetylcysteine reduce adverse effects compared to the standard regimen?
Background: Acetaminophen poisoning is common, and recommended treatment is IV acetylcysteine; however, the standard regimen has many adverse effects, including vomiting and anaphylactoid reactions. Although studies have outlined these side effects, no published trials have compared their frequency to that of a shorter protocol.
Study design: Double-blinded, randomized controlled trial.
Setting: Three acute care hospitals in the United Kingdom.
Synopsis: Of 3,311 patients who presented with acetaminophen overdose, 222 underwent randomization to the standard (duration 20-25 hours) or modified (12 hours) acetylcysteine regimen, with or without pre-treatment with IV ondansetron 4 mg. The primary outcome of vomiting, retching, or need for rescue antiemetic treatment within two hours of acetylcysteine initiation was significantly less frequent in patients who received the shorter regimen, compared to those allocated to the standard regimen.
Specifically, the adjusted odds ratio was 0.26 with the modified regimen (97.5% CI, 0.13-0.52; P<0.0001). The primary outcome was significantly less in patients pre-treated with ondansetron compared to placebo (OR 0.41, 97.5% CI 0.2-0.8; P=0.003). Anaphylactic reactions were significantly reduced with the shorter protocol; no significant difference in hepatotoxicity was noted.
It is reasonable to infer that the shorter acetylcysteine regimen substantially reduces the frequency of vomiting and serious anaphylactoid reactions when compared with the standard schedule; however, hospitalists should note that this study was not powered to assess for non-inferiority of the shorter regimen with regard to prevention of acetaminophen’s hepatotoxic effects. Further studies are needed to confirm the efficacy and safety of the modified regimen before widespread adoption into clinical practice.
Bottom line: A shorter acetylcysteine regimen is associated with decreased occurrence of vomiting and anaphylactoid reactions compared to the standard protocol for treating acetaminophen toxicity. Additional research is needed to assess non-inferiority of this modified regimen for prevention of hepatotoxic effects.
Citation: Bateman DN, Dear JW, Thanacoody HK, et al. Reduction of adverse effects from intravenous acetylcysteine treatment for paracetamol poisoning: a randomized controlled trial. Lancet. 2014;383(9918):697-704.
Comorbidities Contribute to Potentially Avoidable Hospital Readmissions
Clinical question: What is the role of comorbidities in 30-day potentially avoidable readmissions?
Background: Higher comorbidity burden has been associated with 30-day readmissions. This study evaluated the role of comorbidities in the 30-day rate of potentially avoidable readmissions from a tertiary-care medical center.
Study design: Retrospective cohort.
Setting: Tertiary-care teaching hospital and affiliated network.
Synopsis: Investigators tested the hypothesis that comorbidities significantly contribute to 30-day, potentially avoidable readmissions in a cohort of consecutively discharged medical patients at an academic medical center over a 12-month period. Out of a total of 10,731 discharges, there were 2,398 readmissions to hospitals in the same health system. Of those 2,398 readmissions, 858 (35.8%) were judged potentially avoidable using a validated algorithm. Frequently, the reason for readmission was not related to the index discharge diagnosis but to a complication of known comorbidities.
The authors identified the top five diagnoses for readmission as infection, neoplasm, heart failure, gastrointestinal disorder, and liver disorder. Among those patients who had a readmission diagnosis different from the index-case discharge diagnosis, the comorbidities of neoplastic disease, heart failure, and chronic kidney disease significantly contributed to readmission as compared to those without similar comorbidities.
Bottom line: The reason for readmission often is not related to the index hospitalization diagnosis but, rather, to comorbidities present at the index episode of care; thus, attention to management of comorbidities in the post-discharge period is important in circumventing potentially avoidable readmissions.
Citation: Donzé J, Lipsitz S, Bates DW, Schnipper JL. Causes and patterns of readmissions in patients with common comorbidities: retrospective cohort study. BMJ. 2013;347:F7171.
Resident Handoff Bundle Reduces Medical Errors and Adverse Events, Improves Handoff Quality
Clinical question: In a pediatric inpatient setting, is the use of a handoff program associated with improved patient safety measures and handoff quality?
Background: Sentinel events related to errors in communication are a significant patient safety dilemma and an impetus for ongoing efforts to improve handoffs in postgraduate medical education. Various strategies to be incorporated into the handoff process have been suggested in the literature, but research is limited with regard to the relationship between handoffs and patient safety.
Study design: Prospective, pre-post study.
Setting: Academic, pediatric hospital in an urban setting.
Synopsis: Overall, 1,255 patient admissions (642 pre-/613 post-handoff intervention) were evaluated on two inpatient units during the periods of July 2009-September 2009 (pre-intervention) and November 2009-January 2010 (post-intervention). The intervention was a handoff “bundle” consisting of a standardized communication and handoff training session, a verbal mnemonic to standardize handoffs, and a new unified resident-intern handoff structure in a private, quiet setting. A computerized handoff tool was also added in one unit. Primary outcomes were a comparison of the rate of medical errors per 100 admissions and rates of preventable adverse events before and after the intervention.
Implementation of the bundle resulted in a significant decrease in medical errors (18.3 from 33.8 per 100 admissions, P<0.001) and preventable adverse events (1.5 from 3.3 per 100 admissions, P=0.04). Secondary outcomes included reductions in omissions of key data in the written handoff (even greater in the group using the computerized tool) and increased percentage of time spent in direct patient care, with no change in handoff duration. Additionally, handoffs were more likely to occur in a quiet, private location.
Limitations included the potential for confounding in a pre-post intervention design, the difficulty in ascertaining the value of the individual components of the bundle, and the potential lack of generalizability.
Bottom line: In a pediatric hospital setting, a multifaceted handoff bundle is associated with improved handoff quality and reductions in medical errors and preventable adverse events.
Citation: Starmer AJ, Sectish TC, Simon DW, et al. Rates of medical errors and preventable adverse events among hospitalized children following implementation of a resident handoff bundle. JAMA. 2013;310(21):2262-2270.
Uncomplicated Skin Infections in Ambulatory Setting Commonly Involve Avoidable Antibiotic Exposure
Clinical question: What are the current prescribing practices for antibiotics used to treat skin and soft tissue infections in the outpatient setting?
Background: Uncomplicated skin and soft tissue infections are among the most frequent indications for outpatient antibiotic use. Because antibiotic use is associated with bacterial resistance and adverse events, understanding antibiotic prescribing practices is necessary to minimize these types of complications.
Study design: Retrospective cohort.
Setting: Ambulatory care setting in the Denver Health System.
Synopsis: Data from 364 adults and children who presented to an ambulatory setting with a primary diagnosis of skin and soft tissue infection were analyzed using a stepwise multivariate logistic regression in order to determine factors associated with avoidable antibiotic exposure. Among cellulitis cases, 61% of patients were prescribed antibiotics to treat methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Avoidable antibiotic exposure occurred in 46% of cases, including use of antibiotics with broad Gram-negative activity (4%), combination therapy (12%), and treatment for ≥10 days (42%). Use of short-course, single-antibiotic treatment approaches consistent with national guidelines would have reduced prescribed antibiotic days by 19%, to 55%.
Bottom line: Avoidable antibiotic exposure frequently occurs in the treatment of uncomplicated skin infections; using short-course, single-antibiotic treatment strategies could significantly reduce total antibiotic use.
Citation: Hurley HJ, Knepper BC, Price CS, Mehler PS, Burman WJ, Jenkins TC. Avoidable antibiotic exposure for uncomplicated skin and soft tissue infections in the ambulatory care setting. Am J Med. 2013;126(12):1099-1106.
Warfarin Initiation in Atrial Fibrillation Associated with Increased Short-Term Risk of Stroke
Clinical question: Is the initiation of warfarin associated with an increased risk of ischemic stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation (Afib)?
Background: Two Afib trials of oral factor Xa inhibitors showed an increased risk of stroke when patients were transitioned to open label warfarin at the end of the study. Warfarin can, theoretically, lead to a transient hypercoagulable state upon treatment initiation, so further study is indicated to determine if the initiation of warfarin is associated with increased stroke risk among Afib patients.
Study design: Population-based, nested case-control.
Setting: UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink.
Synopsis: A cohort of 70,766 patients with newly diagnosed Afib was identified from a large primary care database. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate adjusted rate ratios (RR) of stroke associated with warfarin monotherapy, classified according to time since initiation of treatment when compared to patients not on antithrombotic therapy.
Warfarin was associated with a 71% increased risk of stroke in the first 30 days of use (RR 1.71, 95% CI 1.39-2.12). Risk was highest in the first week of warfarin treatment, which is consistent with the known transient pro-coagulant effect of warfarin. Decreased risks were observed with warfarin initiation >30 days before the ischemic event (31-90 days: RR 0.50, 95% CI 0.34-0.75; >90 days: RR 0.55, 95% CI 0.50-0.61).
Limitations included the extraction of data from a database, which could lead to misclassification of diagnosis or therapy, and the observational nature of the study.
Bottom line: There may be an increased risk of ischemic stroke during the first 30 days of treatment with warfarin in patients with Afib.
Citation: Azoulay L, Dell-Aniello S, Simon T, Renoux C, Suissa S. Initiation of warfarin in patients with atrial fibrillation: early effects on ischaemic strokes [published online ahead of print December 18, 2013]. Eur Heart J.
Multifaceted Discharge Interventions Reduce Rates of Pediatric Readmission and Post-Hospital ED Utilization
Clinical question: Do interventions at discharge reduce the rate of readmissions and post-hospitalization ED visits among pediatric patients?
Background: Readmissions are a high-priority quality measure in both the adult and pediatric settings. Although a broadening body of literature is evaluating the impact of interventions on readmissions in adult populations, the literature does not contain a similar breadth of assessments of interventions in the pediatric setting.
Study design: Systematic review.
Setting: English-language articles studying pediatric inpatient discharge interventions.
Synopsis: A total of 1,296 unique articles were identified from PubMed and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature. Additional articles were identified on review of references, yielding 14 articles that met inclusion criteria. Included studies evaluated the effect of pediatric discharge interventions on the primary outcomes of hospital readmission or post-hospitalization ED visits. Interventions focused on three main patient populations: asthma, cancer, and prematurity.
Six studies demonstrated statistically significant reductions in readmissions and/or ED visits, while two studies actually demonstrated an increase in post-discharge utilization. All successful interventions began in the inpatient setting and were multifaceted, with four of six studies including an educational component and a post-discharge follow-up component.
While all of the studies evaluated sought to enhance the transitional care from the inpatient to outpatient setting, only the interventions that included one responsible party (individual or team) with expertise in the medical condition providing oversight and support were successful in reducing the specified outcomes. A significant limitation was that many of the studies identified were not sufficiently powered to detect either outcome of interest.
Bottom line: A multifaceted intervention involving educational and post-discharge follow-up components with an experienced individual or team supporting the transition is associated with a reduction in hospital readmissions and post-discharge ED utilization.
Citation: Auger KA, Kenyon CC, Feudtner C, Davis MM. Pediatric hospital discharge interventions to reduce subsequent utilization: a systematic review [published online ahead of print December 20, 2013]. J Hosp Med.
Sepsis Diagnoses Are Common in ED, but Many Septic Patients in the ED Do Not Receive Antibiotics
Clinical question: Has the frequency of sepsis rates, along with administration of antibiotics in U.S. emergency departments (EDs), changed over time?
Background: Prior studies reviewing discharge data from hospitals suggest an increase of sepsis over time; however, little epidemiological research has evaluated the diagnosis of sepsis and antibiotic use in ED settings.
Study design: Retrospective, four-stage probability sample.
Setting: National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS).
Synopsis: The NHAMCS includes a sample of all U.S. ED visits, except federal, military, and VA hospitals. According to NHAMCS data, an estimated 1.3 billion visits by adults to U.S. EDs occurred from 1994-2009, or approximately 81 million visits per year. Explicit sepsis was defined by the presence of the following, with ICD-9 codes: septicemia (038), sepsis (995.91), severe sepsis (995.92), or septic shock (785.52). Implicit sepsis was defined as a code indicating infection plus a code indicting organ dysfunction.
In U.S. EDs, explicit sepsis did not become more prevalent from 1994-2009; however, implicitly diagnosed sepsis increased by 7% every two years. There were 260,000 explicit sepsis-related ED visits per year, or 1.23 visits per 1,000 U.S. population. In-hospital mortality was 17% and 9% for the explicit and implicit diagnosis groups, respectively. On review of the explicit sepsis group, only 61% of the patients were found to have received antibiotics in the ED. The rate did increase over the time studied, from 52% in 1994-1997 to 69% in 2006-2009.
The study was limited by the retrospective analysis of data not designed to track sepsis or antibiotic use.
Bottom Line: Explicitly recognized sepsis remained stable in the ED setting from 1994-2009, and early antibiotic use has improved during this time, but there is still much opportunity for improvement.
Citation: Filbin MR, Arias SA, Camargo CA Jr, Barche A, Pallin DJ. Sepsis visits and antibiotic utilization in the U.S. emergency departments. Crit Care Med. 2014;42(3):528-535.
New Oral Anticoagulants Safe and Effective for Atrial Fibrillation Treatment
Clinical question: Is there a difference in efficacy and safety among new oral anticoagulants compared to warfarin in subgroups of patients with atrial fibrillation (Afib)?
Background: Studies of new oral anticoagulants have demonstrated that these agents are at least as safe and effective as warfarin for prevention of stroke and systemic embolism in Afib. This study was designed to look at available phase 3 randomized trials, with the goal of subgroup analysis for both efficacy and bleeding risks.
Study design: Meta-analysis.
Setting: Phase 3 randomized controlled trials of patients with Afib.
Synopsis: The analysis included four trials of Afib patients randomized to receive warfarin or a novel oral anticoagulant (NOAC), including dabigatran, rivaroxaban, apixaban, and edoxaban. In total, 42,411 patients received an NOAC and 29,272 patients received warfarin. Separate analyses were performed for high-dose and low-dose NOACs.
The high-dose NOAC demonstrated a 19% reduction in stroke and systemic embolic events as compared to warfarin, largely due to the reduction of hemorrhagic strokes by the NOAC. The low-dose NOAC showed similar efficacy to warfarin for reduction of stroke and systemic embolic events, with an increase noted in the subset of ischemic stroke in low-dose NOAC. Both doses of NOAC demonstrated a significant reduction in all-cause mortality. NOAC showed a non-significant reduction in bleeding compared to warfarin; however, subset analysis demonstrated an increase in gastrointestinal bleeding with high-dose NOAC and a significant reduction in intracranial hemorrhage with low-dose NOAC.
A notable limitation of the study is that it only included clinical trials in the analysis.
Bottom line: In relation to stroke, systemic embolic events, and all-cause mortality, new oral anticoagulants showed a favorable efficacy and safety profile as compared to warfarin in Afib patients.
Citation: Ruff CT, Giugliano RP, Braunwald E, et al. Comparison of the efficacy and safety of new oral anticoagulants with warfarin in patients with atrial fibrillation: a meta-analysis of randomised trials. Lancet. 2014;383(9921):955-962.
In This Edition
Literature At A Glance
A guide to this month’s studies
- Healthcare-associated infections financially impact the U.S. system
- No mortality benefit with treatment of single peripheral pulmonary emboli
- Modified (shorter) IV acetylcysteine infusion reduces adverse effects
- Comorbidities contribute to potentially avoidable hospital readmissions
- Resident handoff bundle reduces medical errors and adverse events, improves handoff quality
- Uncomplicated skin infections in the ambulatory setting commonly involve avoidable antibiotic exposure
- Warfarin initiation in atrial fibrillation associated with increased short-term risk of stroke
- Multifaceted discharge interventions reduce rates of pediatric readmission and post-hospital ED utilization
- Sepsis diagnoses are common, but many septic patients in ED do not receive antibiotics
- New oral anticoagulants safe, effective for atrial fibrillation treatment
Healthcare-Associated Infections Continue to Impact the U.S. Healthcare System Financially
Clinical question: What is the estimated cost of healthcare-associated infections (HAI) to the U.S. healthcare system?
Background: In spite of education efforts, HAIs occur frequently and contribute to high healthcare costs in the U.S. This study sought to estimate the costs of HAIs to the U.S. system using statistical analyses of published data.
Study design: Simulations of published data.
Setting: Published studies on five major HAIs.
Synopsis: Monte Carlo simulations based upon published point estimates were used to estimate per-case cost and confidence intervals, with extrapolation to total costs to the U.S. healthcare system. Overall, five major HAIs occur approximately 440,000 times annually and cost the healthcare system an estimated $9.78 billion (range $8.28 to $11.5 billion) in 2009.
Surgical site infections (36.0%) were the most common of the studied HAIs, with increased per-case cost of $20,785, equating to an estimated $3.30 billion annually (33.7% of total HAI costs). Clostridium difficile infection accounted for 30.3% of HAI but only 15.4% of costs ($1.51 billion). Central line-associated bloodstream infections were most costly per case ($45,814), with total costs of $1.85 billion (18.9% of costs). Ventilator-associated pneumonia accounted for $3.09 billion, or 31.7% of total costs. Catheter-associated urinary tract infection only represented 0.3% of total costs, or $27.9 million annually.
The authors suggest that changes in payment reform likely will drive hospitals to further invest in HAI reduction efforts.
Bottom line: HAIs remain frequent and expensive complications of hospitalization, in spite of improvement efforts to date.
Citation: Zimlichman E, Henderson D, Tamir O, et al. Health care-associated infections: a meta-analysis of costs and financial impact on the US health care system. JAMA Intern Med. 2013;173(22):2039-2046.
No Mortality Benefit with Treatment of Single Peripheral Pulmonary Emboli
Clinical question: Does treatment of single peripheral pulmonary emboli impact mortality and rates of post-discharge venous thromboembolism (VTE)?
Background: With the increase in CT pulmonary angiography (CTPA) use the past decade, there has been an increased rate of detection of peripheral filling defects. When confronted with a single peripheral filling defect (SPFD), clinicians face the dilemma of whether treatment is necessary, given the risks associated with anticoagulation.
Study design: Retrospective cohort.
Setting: Community teaching hospital in Norwalk, Conn.
Synopsis: A total of 4,906 CTPAs were screened, revealing 153 scans with an SPFD. Primary analysis included 134 patients 18 years or older. Of these patients, 61 (45.5%) received treatment with anticoagulation (n=51) or IVC filter alone (n=10).
This study revealed no difference in adjusted 90-day mortality between treated and untreated groups. No statistically significant difference was found in the rate of post-discharge VTE within 90 days.
Characteristics associated with treatment for SPFD were patient immobility, previous VTE, and radiology labeling the filling defect as a pulmonary embolus. It is important to note that none of the patients who had a normal second imaging study (e.g. V/Q scan or ultrasound) were treated; therefore, the use of secondary studies could mitigate some of the uncertainty around SPFD management, though this is not recommended in current diagnostic algorithms. Because this is a single-center study with a modest sample size, the comparability of findings to other centers might be limited. Larger studies are needed to help clarify these findings.
Bottom line: Treatment of SPFD was not associated with a difference in mortality or post-discharge VTE within 90 days.
Citation: Green O, Lempel J, Kolodziej A, et al. Treatment of single peripheral pulmonary emboli: patient outcomes and factors associated with decision to treat. J Hosp Med. 2014;9(1):42-47.
Modified IV Acetylcysteine Infusion Reduces Adverse Effects
Clinical question: Does a shorter regimen of IV acetylcysteine reduce adverse effects compared to the standard regimen?
Background: Acetaminophen poisoning is common, and recommended treatment is IV acetylcysteine; however, the standard regimen has many adverse effects, including vomiting and anaphylactoid reactions. Although studies have outlined these side effects, no published trials have compared their frequency to that of a shorter protocol.
Study design: Double-blinded, randomized controlled trial.
Setting: Three acute care hospitals in the United Kingdom.
Synopsis: Of 3,311 patients who presented with acetaminophen overdose, 222 underwent randomization to the standard (duration 20-25 hours) or modified (12 hours) acetylcysteine regimen, with or without pre-treatment with IV ondansetron 4 mg. The primary outcome of vomiting, retching, or need for rescue antiemetic treatment within two hours of acetylcysteine initiation was significantly less frequent in patients who received the shorter regimen, compared to those allocated to the standard regimen.
Specifically, the adjusted odds ratio was 0.26 with the modified regimen (97.5% CI, 0.13-0.52; P<0.0001). The primary outcome was significantly less in patients pre-treated with ondansetron compared to placebo (OR 0.41, 97.5% CI 0.2-0.8; P=0.003). Anaphylactic reactions were significantly reduced with the shorter protocol; no significant difference in hepatotoxicity was noted.
It is reasonable to infer that the shorter acetylcysteine regimen substantially reduces the frequency of vomiting and serious anaphylactoid reactions when compared with the standard schedule; however, hospitalists should note that this study was not powered to assess for non-inferiority of the shorter regimen with regard to prevention of acetaminophen’s hepatotoxic effects. Further studies are needed to confirm the efficacy and safety of the modified regimen before widespread adoption into clinical practice.
Bottom line: A shorter acetylcysteine regimen is associated with decreased occurrence of vomiting and anaphylactoid reactions compared to the standard protocol for treating acetaminophen toxicity. Additional research is needed to assess non-inferiority of this modified regimen for prevention of hepatotoxic effects.
Citation: Bateman DN, Dear JW, Thanacoody HK, et al. Reduction of adverse effects from intravenous acetylcysteine treatment for paracetamol poisoning: a randomized controlled trial. Lancet. 2014;383(9918):697-704.
Comorbidities Contribute to Potentially Avoidable Hospital Readmissions
Clinical question: What is the role of comorbidities in 30-day potentially avoidable readmissions?
Background: Higher comorbidity burden has been associated with 30-day readmissions. This study evaluated the role of comorbidities in the 30-day rate of potentially avoidable readmissions from a tertiary-care medical center.
Study design: Retrospective cohort.
Setting: Tertiary-care teaching hospital and affiliated network.
Synopsis: Investigators tested the hypothesis that comorbidities significantly contribute to 30-day, potentially avoidable readmissions in a cohort of consecutively discharged medical patients at an academic medical center over a 12-month period. Out of a total of 10,731 discharges, there were 2,398 readmissions to hospitals in the same health system. Of those 2,398 readmissions, 858 (35.8%) were judged potentially avoidable using a validated algorithm. Frequently, the reason for readmission was not related to the index discharge diagnosis but to a complication of known comorbidities.
The authors identified the top five diagnoses for readmission as infection, neoplasm, heart failure, gastrointestinal disorder, and liver disorder. Among those patients who had a readmission diagnosis different from the index-case discharge diagnosis, the comorbidities of neoplastic disease, heart failure, and chronic kidney disease significantly contributed to readmission as compared to those without similar comorbidities.
Bottom line: The reason for readmission often is not related to the index hospitalization diagnosis but, rather, to comorbidities present at the index episode of care; thus, attention to management of comorbidities in the post-discharge period is important in circumventing potentially avoidable readmissions.
Citation: Donzé J, Lipsitz S, Bates DW, Schnipper JL. Causes and patterns of readmissions in patients with common comorbidities: retrospective cohort study. BMJ. 2013;347:F7171.
Resident Handoff Bundle Reduces Medical Errors and Adverse Events, Improves Handoff Quality
Clinical question: In a pediatric inpatient setting, is the use of a handoff program associated with improved patient safety measures and handoff quality?
Background: Sentinel events related to errors in communication are a significant patient safety dilemma and an impetus for ongoing efforts to improve handoffs in postgraduate medical education. Various strategies to be incorporated into the handoff process have been suggested in the literature, but research is limited with regard to the relationship between handoffs and patient safety.
Study design: Prospective, pre-post study.
Setting: Academic, pediatric hospital in an urban setting.
Synopsis: Overall, 1,255 patient admissions (642 pre-/613 post-handoff intervention) were evaluated on two inpatient units during the periods of July 2009-September 2009 (pre-intervention) and November 2009-January 2010 (post-intervention). The intervention was a handoff “bundle” consisting of a standardized communication and handoff training session, a verbal mnemonic to standardize handoffs, and a new unified resident-intern handoff structure in a private, quiet setting. A computerized handoff tool was also added in one unit. Primary outcomes were a comparison of the rate of medical errors per 100 admissions and rates of preventable adverse events before and after the intervention.
Implementation of the bundle resulted in a significant decrease in medical errors (18.3 from 33.8 per 100 admissions, P<0.001) and preventable adverse events (1.5 from 3.3 per 100 admissions, P=0.04). Secondary outcomes included reductions in omissions of key data in the written handoff (even greater in the group using the computerized tool) and increased percentage of time spent in direct patient care, with no change in handoff duration. Additionally, handoffs were more likely to occur in a quiet, private location.
Limitations included the potential for confounding in a pre-post intervention design, the difficulty in ascertaining the value of the individual components of the bundle, and the potential lack of generalizability.
Bottom line: In a pediatric hospital setting, a multifaceted handoff bundle is associated with improved handoff quality and reductions in medical errors and preventable adverse events.
Citation: Starmer AJ, Sectish TC, Simon DW, et al. Rates of medical errors and preventable adverse events among hospitalized children following implementation of a resident handoff bundle. JAMA. 2013;310(21):2262-2270.
Uncomplicated Skin Infections in Ambulatory Setting Commonly Involve Avoidable Antibiotic Exposure
Clinical question: What are the current prescribing practices for antibiotics used to treat skin and soft tissue infections in the outpatient setting?
Background: Uncomplicated skin and soft tissue infections are among the most frequent indications for outpatient antibiotic use. Because antibiotic use is associated with bacterial resistance and adverse events, understanding antibiotic prescribing practices is necessary to minimize these types of complications.
Study design: Retrospective cohort.
Setting: Ambulatory care setting in the Denver Health System.
Synopsis: Data from 364 adults and children who presented to an ambulatory setting with a primary diagnosis of skin and soft tissue infection were analyzed using a stepwise multivariate logistic regression in order to determine factors associated with avoidable antibiotic exposure. Among cellulitis cases, 61% of patients were prescribed antibiotics to treat methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Avoidable antibiotic exposure occurred in 46% of cases, including use of antibiotics with broad Gram-negative activity (4%), combination therapy (12%), and treatment for ≥10 days (42%). Use of short-course, single-antibiotic treatment approaches consistent with national guidelines would have reduced prescribed antibiotic days by 19%, to 55%.
Bottom line: Avoidable antibiotic exposure frequently occurs in the treatment of uncomplicated skin infections; using short-course, single-antibiotic treatment strategies could significantly reduce total antibiotic use.
Citation: Hurley HJ, Knepper BC, Price CS, Mehler PS, Burman WJ, Jenkins TC. Avoidable antibiotic exposure for uncomplicated skin and soft tissue infections in the ambulatory care setting. Am J Med. 2013;126(12):1099-1106.
Warfarin Initiation in Atrial Fibrillation Associated with Increased Short-Term Risk of Stroke
Clinical question: Is the initiation of warfarin associated with an increased risk of ischemic stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation (Afib)?
Background: Two Afib trials of oral factor Xa inhibitors showed an increased risk of stroke when patients were transitioned to open label warfarin at the end of the study. Warfarin can, theoretically, lead to a transient hypercoagulable state upon treatment initiation, so further study is indicated to determine if the initiation of warfarin is associated with increased stroke risk among Afib patients.
Study design: Population-based, nested case-control.
Setting: UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink.
Synopsis: A cohort of 70,766 patients with newly diagnosed Afib was identified from a large primary care database. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate adjusted rate ratios (RR) of stroke associated with warfarin monotherapy, classified according to time since initiation of treatment when compared to patients not on antithrombotic therapy.
Warfarin was associated with a 71% increased risk of stroke in the first 30 days of use (RR 1.71, 95% CI 1.39-2.12). Risk was highest in the first week of warfarin treatment, which is consistent with the known transient pro-coagulant effect of warfarin. Decreased risks were observed with warfarin initiation >30 days before the ischemic event (31-90 days: RR 0.50, 95% CI 0.34-0.75; >90 days: RR 0.55, 95% CI 0.50-0.61).
Limitations included the extraction of data from a database, which could lead to misclassification of diagnosis or therapy, and the observational nature of the study.
Bottom line: There may be an increased risk of ischemic stroke during the first 30 days of treatment with warfarin in patients with Afib.
Citation: Azoulay L, Dell-Aniello S, Simon T, Renoux C, Suissa S. Initiation of warfarin in patients with atrial fibrillation: early effects on ischaemic strokes [published online ahead of print December 18, 2013]. Eur Heart J.
Multifaceted Discharge Interventions Reduce Rates of Pediatric Readmission and Post-Hospital ED Utilization
Clinical question: Do interventions at discharge reduce the rate of readmissions and post-hospitalization ED visits among pediatric patients?
Background: Readmissions are a high-priority quality measure in both the adult and pediatric settings. Although a broadening body of literature is evaluating the impact of interventions on readmissions in adult populations, the literature does not contain a similar breadth of assessments of interventions in the pediatric setting.
Study design: Systematic review.
Setting: English-language articles studying pediatric inpatient discharge interventions.
Synopsis: A total of 1,296 unique articles were identified from PubMed and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature. Additional articles were identified on review of references, yielding 14 articles that met inclusion criteria. Included studies evaluated the effect of pediatric discharge interventions on the primary outcomes of hospital readmission or post-hospitalization ED visits. Interventions focused on three main patient populations: asthma, cancer, and prematurity.
Six studies demonstrated statistically significant reductions in readmissions and/or ED visits, while two studies actually demonstrated an increase in post-discharge utilization. All successful interventions began in the inpatient setting and were multifaceted, with four of six studies including an educational component and a post-discharge follow-up component.
While all of the studies evaluated sought to enhance the transitional care from the inpatient to outpatient setting, only the interventions that included one responsible party (individual or team) with expertise in the medical condition providing oversight and support were successful in reducing the specified outcomes. A significant limitation was that many of the studies identified were not sufficiently powered to detect either outcome of interest.
Bottom line: A multifaceted intervention involving educational and post-discharge follow-up components with an experienced individual or team supporting the transition is associated with a reduction in hospital readmissions and post-discharge ED utilization.
Citation: Auger KA, Kenyon CC, Feudtner C, Davis MM. Pediatric hospital discharge interventions to reduce subsequent utilization: a systematic review [published online ahead of print December 20, 2013]. J Hosp Med.
Sepsis Diagnoses Are Common in ED, but Many Septic Patients in the ED Do Not Receive Antibiotics
Clinical question: Has the frequency of sepsis rates, along with administration of antibiotics in U.S. emergency departments (EDs), changed over time?
Background: Prior studies reviewing discharge data from hospitals suggest an increase of sepsis over time; however, little epidemiological research has evaluated the diagnosis of sepsis and antibiotic use in ED settings.
Study design: Retrospective, four-stage probability sample.
Setting: National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS).
Synopsis: The NHAMCS includes a sample of all U.S. ED visits, except federal, military, and VA hospitals. According to NHAMCS data, an estimated 1.3 billion visits by adults to U.S. EDs occurred from 1994-2009, or approximately 81 million visits per year. Explicit sepsis was defined by the presence of the following, with ICD-9 codes: septicemia (038), sepsis (995.91), severe sepsis (995.92), or septic shock (785.52). Implicit sepsis was defined as a code indicating infection plus a code indicting organ dysfunction.
In U.S. EDs, explicit sepsis did not become more prevalent from 1994-2009; however, implicitly diagnosed sepsis increased by 7% every two years. There were 260,000 explicit sepsis-related ED visits per year, or 1.23 visits per 1,000 U.S. population. In-hospital mortality was 17% and 9% for the explicit and implicit diagnosis groups, respectively. On review of the explicit sepsis group, only 61% of the patients were found to have received antibiotics in the ED. The rate did increase over the time studied, from 52% in 1994-1997 to 69% in 2006-2009.
The study was limited by the retrospective analysis of data not designed to track sepsis or antibiotic use.
Bottom Line: Explicitly recognized sepsis remained stable in the ED setting from 1994-2009, and early antibiotic use has improved during this time, but there is still much opportunity for improvement.
Citation: Filbin MR, Arias SA, Camargo CA Jr, Barche A, Pallin DJ. Sepsis visits and antibiotic utilization in the U.S. emergency departments. Crit Care Med. 2014;42(3):528-535.
New Oral Anticoagulants Safe and Effective for Atrial Fibrillation Treatment
Clinical question: Is there a difference in efficacy and safety among new oral anticoagulants compared to warfarin in subgroups of patients with atrial fibrillation (Afib)?
Background: Studies of new oral anticoagulants have demonstrated that these agents are at least as safe and effective as warfarin for prevention of stroke and systemic embolism in Afib. This study was designed to look at available phase 3 randomized trials, with the goal of subgroup analysis for both efficacy and bleeding risks.
Study design: Meta-analysis.
Setting: Phase 3 randomized controlled trials of patients with Afib.
Synopsis: The analysis included four trials of Afib patients randomized to receive warfarin or a novel oral anticoagulant (NOAC), including dabigatran, rivaroxaban, apixaban, and edoxaban. In total, 42,411 patients received an NOAC and 29,272 patients received warfarin. Separate analyses were performed for high-dose and low-dose NOACs.
The high-dose NOAC demonstrated a 19% reduction in stroke and systemic embolic events as compared to warfarin, largely due to the reduction of hemorrhagic strokes by the NOAC. The low-dose NOAC showed similar efficacy to warfarin for reduction of stroke and systemic embolic events, with an increase noted in the subset of ischemic stroke in low-dose NOAC. Both doses of NOAC demonstrated a significant reduction in all-cause mortality. NOAC showed a non-significant reduction in bleeding compared to warfarin; however, subset analysis demonstrated an increase in gastrointestinal bleeding with high-dose NOAC and a significant reduction in intracranial hemorrhage with low-dose NOAC.
A notable limitation of the study is that it only included clinical trials in the analysis.
Bottom line: In relation to stroke, systemic embolic events, and all-cause mortality, new oral anticoagulants showed a favorable efficacy and safety profile as compared to warfarin in Afib patients.
Citation: Ruff CT, Giugliano RP, Braunwald E, et al. Comparison of the efficacy and safety of new oral anticoagulants with warfarin in patients with atrial fibrillation: a meta-analysis of randomised trials. Lancet. 2014;383(9921):955-962.
Research, Innovation, Clinical Vignette Poster Winners Recognized at HM14
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