Short Takes
Condition Help: A patient- and family-initiated rapid response system
Implementation of a patient/family-initiated rapid response system at an academic, urban medical center resulted in 367 calls over 3½ years with 83.4% of them being for “nonsafety” issues and 11.4% being for “safety” issues.
Citation: Elizabeth L. Eden, MD, Laurie L. Rack, DNP, RN, Ling-Wan Chen, MS, Bump GM, Condition Help: A patient- and family-initiated rapid response system. J Hosp Med. 2017;3;157-161. doi: 10.12788/jhm.2697.
Association between U.S. norepinephrine shortage and mortality among patients with septic shock
Dr. Jacob Imber
A retrospective cohort study of 26 U.S. hospitals affected by the 2011 norepinephrine shortage demonstrated that phenylephrine was the most frequently used alternative and in-hospital mortality for patients admitted with septic shock rose from 35.9% to 39.6%.
Citation: Vail E, Gershengorn HB, Hua M, Walkey AJ, Rubenfeld G, Wunsch H. Association Between US Norepinephrine Shortage and Mortality Among Patients With Septic Shock. JAMA. 2017;317(14):1433-1442. doi: 10.1001/jama.2017.2841
Patient mortality during unannounced accreditation surveys at U.S. hospitals
An evaluation of quasi-randomized Medicare admissions at 1,984 hospitals demonstrated that 30-day mortality decreased by 0.18% in all hospitals and 0.48% at major teaching hospitals during The Joint Commission survey periods; both changes were greater than could be attributed to chance alone when compared to other, similar time periods.
Citation: Barnett ML, Olenski AR, Jena AB. Patient Mortality During Unannounced Accreditation Surveys at US Hospitals. JAMA Intern Med. 2017;177(5):693-700. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.9685
Association between a virtual glucose management service and glycemic control in hospitalized adult patients
Institution of a virtual glucose management system resulted in a 39% decrease in hyperglycemic patients and a 36% decrease in hypoglycemic patients per 100 patient-days at three major teaching hospitals.
Citation: Rushakoff RJ, Sullivan MM, MacMaster HW, Shah AD, Rajkomar A, Glidden DV, et al. Association Between a Virtual Glucose Management Service and Glycemic Control in Hospitalized Adult Patients: An Observational Study. Ann Intern Med. 2017;166:621-627. doi: 10.7326/M16-1413
Dr. Imber is assistant professor in the division of hospital medicine at the University of New Mexico.
