Experience of establishing an acute geriatric outreach service versus subacute service to nursing homes.

To share our experience of establishing an acute outreach service to nursing homes and to evaluate the impact of such service on emergency department presentations, data were drawn from a pre-existing database from 2013 to 2017. Of the 986 acute patients treated in 12 nursing homes over a 23-month period, the acute geriatric outreach service was shown to be safe, with few adverse events (one allergic reaction) and 5.3% of patients required transfer to hospital. The acute service decreased emergency department presentation of nursing home patients by 10% compared to the subacute service (incidence rate ratio = 0.90; 95% confidence interval: 0.84-0.96; P = 0.001). Cost-benefit analysis showed for every $1 spent, a saving of $5 was realised.

Autoimmune hepatitis following infliximab therapy for ankylosing spondylitis.

Autoimmune hepatitis is a rare but increasingly recognised serious complication of treatment with the tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) blocking agent, infliximab. This report adds to the small but growing number of articles describing this significant adverse effect. Baseline liver function should be routinely tested in all patients receiving anti-TNF-alpha agents, and periodic monitoring for the development of hepatitis is important.