Patient Safety & Quality
Systematic Analysis: Mortality Due to Low-quality Health Systems in 137 countries
14 Sep, 2018 | 01:25h | UTCHigh-quality health systems in the Sustainable Development Goals era: time for a revolution – The Lancet Global Health (free articles)
Related Article: Mortality due to low-quality health systems in the universal health coverage era: a systematic analysis of amenable deaths in 137 countries – The Lancet (free)
Editorial: Putting quality and people at the centre of health systems – The Lancet (free)
Commentaries: Political and technical barriers to improving quality of health care – The Lancet (free) AND What Kills 5 Million People A Year? It’s Not Just Disease – NPR (free)
Related Report: Crossing the Global Quality Chasm: Improving Health Care Worldwide (free report and commentaries)
Guidance: Use Plain English to Write to Patients
6 Sep, 2018 | 03:09h | UTCWriting Outpatient Clinic Letters to Patients – Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (free PDF)
Commentaries: Doctors told to ditch Latin and use ‘plain English’ – BBC News (free) AND New drive to encourage doctors to write to patients in plain English – The Guardian (free) AND Rx for British Doctors: Use Plain English Instead of Latin – The New York Times (free)
“Guidance suggests specialists should avoid Latin terms, acronyms and convoluted language” (from The Guardian)
Perspective: Good Documentation
6 Sep, 2018 | 02:52h | UTCGood Documentation – JAMA (free for a limited period)
“In this narrative medicine essay, the author, who transitioned from paper and pen to computer-generated electronic health record keeping wonders whether the self-select menu items ultimately dehumanizes both the patient and the physician.” (via @JAMA_current see Tweet)
Meta-Analysis: Association Between Physician Burnout and Patient Safety, Professionalism, and Patient Satisfaction
6 Sep, 2018 | 02:43h | UTCAssociation Between Physician Burnout and Patient Safety, Professionalism, and Patient Satisfaction: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis – JAMA Internal Medicine (link to abstract – $ for full-text)
Commentaries: Physician Burnout Poses Risks to Patient Safety – Psychiatric News Alert (free) AND Burnout in doctors doubles risk of patient safety incidents, study finds – Pulse (free)
Study: Prediction Rules to Detect Delirium at Hospital Admission
6 Sep, 2018 | 02:29h | UTCCommentary: New prediction rule may help detect delirium at hospital admission – ACP Hospitalist (free)
Perspective: Changing the Way We Communicate About Patients
2 Sep, 2018 | 02:31h | UTCAbraar Karan: Changing the way we communicate about patients – The BMJ Opinion (free) (via @NUNESDOC)
“Father of 2, retired car salesman and keen on football NOT the colon cancer in Bed 4 – social history brings humanity back to the bedside” (via @hospicedoctor see Tweet)
Study: Performance of Electronic Prediction Rules for Prevalent Delirium at Hospital Admission
2 Sep, 2018 | 02:23h | UTCCommentary: New prediction rule may help detect delirium at hospital admission – ACP Hospitalist (free)
Emergency Department Crowding: A Systematic Review of Causes, Consequences and Solutions
2 Sep, 2018 | 01:56h | UTCEmergency department crowding: A systematic review of causes, consequences and solutions – PLOS One (free)
Report: Improving Health Care Worldwide
31 Aug, 2018 | 02:09h | UTCVideos: The Scope of the Problem (free) AND Health Systems of the Future (free)
See also: Report Highlights (free PDF) AND Recommendations (free PDF)
Randomized Trial: Telemedicine in Heart Failure Patients
31 Aug, 2018 | 02:04h | UTCEfficacy of telemedical interventional management in patients with heart failure (TIM-HF2): a randomised, controlled, parallel-group, unmasked trial – The Lancet (link to abstract – $ for full-text)
Commentaries: Telemedicine in Heart Failure Patients (TIM-HF2) – American College of Cardiology (free) AND ESC: Telemonitoring of HF Cuts Admissions, Mortality MedPage Today (free registration required)
Perspective: Using a New EHR System to Increase Patient Engagement, Improve Efficiency, and Decrease Cost
31 Aug, 2018 | 01:49h | UTC“Another solution might be to capitalize on patients’ vested interest in their own health care by actively engaging them in the entry of their own medical history information into the EHR.”
Randomized Trial: Letters with Peer Comparison May Reduce Overprescribing
17 Aug, 2018 | 02:34h | UTCEffect of Peer Comparison Letters for High-Volume Primary Care Prescribers of Quetiapine in Older and Disabled Adults: A Randomized Clinical Trial – JAMA Psychiatry (link to abstract – $ for full-text)
Commentaries: Behavioral nudges lead to striking drop in prescriptions of potent antipsychotic – Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, via ScienceDaily (free) AND Study Reduces Over-prescription of Antipsychotics in Older Adults – Mad in America (free) AND ‘Dear Doctor’ Letters Use Peer Pressure, Government Warning To Stop Overprescribing – NPR (free) AND Peer Pressure Tactic Successfully Curbs Overprescribing – Medscape (free registration required)
Lessons for Physicians from ‘The Bleeding Edge’: If You See Something, Say Something
17 Aug, 2018 | 02:04h | UTCOpinion: Lessons for physicians from ‘The Bleeding Edge’: If you see something, say something – STAT (free)
“…physicians must act decisively when they identify the rare outlier in their midst. To do anything less would risk our credibility. Worse still, it could risk the lives of the people we took an oath not to harm.”
Study: Mortality Effects of Timing Alternatives for Hip Fracture Surgery
11 Aug, 2018 | 02:38h | UTCCommentaries: Lower death rate when senior hip fractures are repaired quickly – Reuters (free) AND Delayed surgery for hip fractures cause of preventable deaths, study finds – The Globe and Mail (free) AND The sun should not set twice before hip fracture repair – CMAJ, via ScienceDaily (free)
AAP Clinical Report: Physician’s Role in Coordinating Care of Hospitalized Children
3 Aug, 2018 | 11:43h | UTCPhysician’s Role in Coordinating Care of Hospitalized Children – American Academy of Pediatrics (free)
News Release: Report guides pediatricians in improving care coordination of hospitalized children – AAP News (free)
Study: Quick Treatment May Improve Outcomes in Pediatric Sepsis
26 Jul, 2018 | 18:30h | UTCAssociation Between the New York Sepsis Care Mandate and In-Hospital Mortality for Pediatric Sepsis – JAMA (link to abstract – $ for full-text)
Commentaries: Pediatric sepsis care within an hour increases chances of survival, shows study – News Medical (free) AND “Rory’s Regulations” Improves Pediatric Sepsis Care – MedicalResearch.com (free) AND Sepsis Survival Higher in Kids With Quick Bundle Completion – Medscape (free registration required)
Systematic Review: Association Between Nurse Staffing and Omissions in Nursing Care
20 Jul, 2018 | 03:05h | UTCCommentary: Nurse staffing levels linked to reports of missed care in adult wards – NIHR Signal (free)
Position Statement: Reducing Inappropriate Medication Use & Polypharmacy
20 Jul, 2018 | 02:21h | UTCRelated: Polypharmacy Guidance, Realistic Prescribing 3 rd Edition, 2018 – Scottish Government Polypharmacy Model of Care Group (free PDF) AND The Challenge of Polypharmacy: From Rhetoric to Reality – Royal Pharmaceutical Society and Royal College of General Practitioners Partnership (free PDF) AND Common ED Medication Errors: Polypharmacy – emDocs (free) AND Current and future perspectives on the management of polypharmacy – BMC Family Practice (free) AND The other big drug problem: Older people taking too many pills – The Whashington Post (free) AND Routine deprescribing of chronic medications to combat polypharmacy – Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety (free) AND Polypharmacy—an Upward Trend with Unpredictable Effects – Deutsches Ärzteblatt international (free) AND Clinical Consequences of Polypharmacy in Elderly – Expert Opinion on Drug Safety (free)Too Many Meds? America’s Love Affair With Prescription Medication – Consumer Reports (free) AND CaDeN Deprescribing Guidelines and Algorithms (free)
Review: Update on Infection Control Practices in Cancer Hospitals
13 Jul, 2018 | 02:43h | UTCUpdate on infection control practices in cancer hospitals – CA: A Cancer Journal of Clinicians (free)
Study: Physician Burnout Can Lead to Major Medical Errors
13 Jul, 2018 | 02:30h | UTCPhysician Burnout, Well-being, and Work Unit Safety Grades in Relationship to Reported Medical Errors – Mayo Clinic Proceedings (link to abstract – $ for full-text)
Commentaries: Medical errors may stem more from physician burnout than unsafe health care settings – Stanford Medicine, via ScienceDaily (free) AND Physician burnout, depression can lead to major medical errors: Study – ABC News (free) AND Burnout Tied to Twofold Higher Risk for Medical Errors – Medscape (free registration required)
Related: Perspective: The Burnout Crisis in American Medicine (free commentaries on the subject)
WHO Report: Low Quality Healthcare is Increasing the Burden of Illness and Health Costs Globally
6 Jul, 2018 | 09:57h | UTCNews Release: Low quality healthcare is increasing the burden of illness and health costs globally (free)
Commentary: Universal quality healthcare coverage—a commitment to building a healthier and more productive society – The BMJ Opinion (free)
Cohort Study: Infectious and Noninfectious Complications Associated with Indwelling Urethral Catheters
6 Jul, 2018 | 09:25h | UTCCommentary: Foleys Aren’t Fun: Patient Study Shows Catheter Risks – University of Michigan, via NewsWise (free)
“More than half of patients surveyed while they had a urinary catheter, and again weeks later, reported a complication – and infections were only part of the problem” (from NewsWise)
Meta-Analysis: Out-Of-Hours Discharge from the ICU, In-Hospital Mortality and Intensive Care Readmission Rates
6 Jul, 2018 | 09:24h | UTCSource: Critical Care Reviews Newsletter
“Out-of-hours discharge from an ICU is strongly associated with both in-hospital death and ICU readmission. Whether these increases in mortality and readmission result from patient differences, differences in care, or a combination remains unclear”.
Randomized Trial: Impact of Intensive Care Management on High-Risk Patients’ Costs and Utilization
18 Jun, 2018 | 11:23h | UTCImpact of Primary Care Intensive Management on High-Risk Veterans’ Costs and Utilization: A Randomized Quality Improvement Trial – Annals of Internal Medicine (link to abstract – $ for full-text)
Commentaries: Intensive care management for high-risk VA patients didn’t affect overall costs – ACP Hospitalist (free) AND Intensive management for sicker patients increases outpatient care but not costs – 2 Minute Medicine (free)
Randomized Trial: Increased Supervision of Medical Residents Not Associated with Reduced Medical Errors
15 Jun, 2018 | 02:23h | UTCEffect of Increased Inpatient Attending Physician Supervision on Medical Errors, Patient Safety, and Resident Education: A Randomized Clinical Trial – JAMA Internal Medicine (link to abstract – $ for full-text)
Commentaries: Effect of increased inpatient attending physician supervision on medical errors, patient safety, and resident education: a randomized clinical trial – PSNet (free) AND Increased attending supervision on rounds didn’t significantly reduce medical errors – ACP Hospitalist (free) AND Additional physician resident supervision doesn’t improve patient safety – Modern Healthcare (free) AND Closer Resident Supervision Does Not Reduce Medical Errors – Medscape (free registration required) AND Is More Supervision of Medical Residents Always Better for Patient Care? – MedicalResearch.com (free)