Implementation of a closed-loop reporting system for critical values and clinical communication in compliance with goals of the joint commission.

BACKGROUND: Current practices of reporting critical laboratory values make it challenging to measure and assess the timeliness of receipt by the treating physician as required by The Joint Commission's 2008 National Patient Safety Goals. METHODS: A multidisciplinary team of laboratorians, clinicians, and information technology experts developed an electronic ALERTS system that reports critical values via the laboratory and hospital information systems to alphanumeric pagers of clinicians and ensures failsafe notification, instant documentation, automatic tracking, escalation, and reporting of critical value alerts. A method for automated acknowledgment of message receipt was incorporated into the system design. RESULTS: The ALERTS system has been applied to inpatients and eliminated approximately 9000 phone calls a year made by medical technologists. Although a small number of phone calls were still made as a result of pages not acknowledged by clinicians within 10 min, they were made by telephone operators, who either contacted the same physician who was initially paged by the automated system or identified and contacted alternate physicians or the patient's nurse. Overall, documentation of physician acknowledgment of receipt in the electronic medical record increased to 95% of critical values over 9 months, while the median time decreased to <3 min. CONCLUSIONS: We improved laboratory efficiency and physician communication by developing an electronic system for reporting of critical values that is in compliance with The Joint Commission's goals.

Steroids in the treatment of group A streptococcal necrotizing soft tissue infection.

BACKGROUND: Group A streptococcal necrotizing soft-tissue infection with toxic shock is a life-threatening disease. Corticosteroid use in the treatment of this process has been reported rarely. METHOD: Case reports and review of pertinent literature. RESULTS: Two infections caused by the same clonal strain of Streptococcus pyogenes are presented. CONCLUSION: The cases illustrate the possible utility of high-dose steroids in the treatment of this process.

Experience with ConsultWiz--the simultaneous electronic notification, documentation, and tracking of inpatient consult requests.

ConsultWiz is a component of Vanderbilt's electronic order-entry system that facilitates and documents requests for medical and surgical consult services in the adult and children's hospitals. Piloted in the Dept of Medicine in Spring, 2005, ConsultWiz was expanded to include all remaining adult services in July, 2005 and all pediatric consult services in October, 2005. By February, 2006, over 10,000 consult requests were placed. Details and issues in the development and implementation of ConsultWiz are discussed.

Inhibition of staphylococcal wound infection and potentiation of antibiotic prophylaxis by a recombinant fragment of the fibronectin-binding protein of Staphylococcus aureus.

Adherence of Staphylococcus aureus to host tissues is a critical step for colonization and initiation of infection. The fibronectin-binding proteins (FnBPs) of S. aureus have been implicated in adherence and internalization in nonprofessional phagocytes. A recombinant fragment of the fibronectin-binding domains (rFnBF) that potently inhibits S. aureus entry into host cells was generated. To test the hypothesis that rFnBF may attenuate the establishment of infection, the ability of intermuscularly administered rFnBF to prevent abscess formation was determined in a guinea pig model of wound infection. rFnBF exhibited dose-dependent inhibition of abscess formation and, at a 100-microg dose, raised the median infective dose approximately 170-fold, compared with the control. In addition, rFnBF potentiated the benefit of prophylaxis with cefazolin. Thus, exogenous administration of the fibronectin-binding domain of FnBP reduces the risk of staphylococcal abscess formation and should be investigated further as a novel agent for prevention of wound infection.