Variation in Triage to Pediatric vs Adult ICUs Among Adolescents and Young Adults With Asthma Exacerbations.

BACKGROUND: More than 90,000 children and adults in the United States are hospitalized with an asthma exacerbation annually, and between 5% and 34% of these hospitalizations include admission to an ICU. It is unclear how adolescent and young adults with severe asthma exacerbations are triaged in the inpatient setting between PICUs and adult ICUs. Using a large multicenter US cohort, we characterized how hospitals triage adolescents and young adults with asthma exacerbations between PICUs and adult ICUs. RESEARCH QUESTION: How do hospitals across the United States triage adolescents and young adults with asthma exacerbations between PICUs and adult ICUs? STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study carried out from 2016 through 2022 using the enhanced-claims PINC AI database. Participants were patients aged 12 to 26 years who were hospitalized with an asthma exacerbation and admitted to a PICU or adult ICU. We used nested hierarchical multivariable regression models to quantify changes in the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC; a measure of variation in triage decisions attributable to hospital of admission after accounting for covariables). RESULTS: Analyses included 3,946 admissions from 93 hospitals. Stratified by age, the percent of patients admitted to PICUs dropped by 26.9% between 17 and 18 years of age. In the nested models, the ICC showed a large decrease going from the empty model (28.7%) to the age-adjusted model (4.5%), but was similar between the age-adjusted and fully adjusted model (3.4%). INTERPRETATION: Our results showed that among adolescents and young adults with asthma exacerbations, age of 18 years or younger was a strong determinant of PICU triage. Further research is needed to understand differences in asthma care and outcomes between PICUs and adult ICUs, as well as how intermediate care units affect triage decision-making from wards and the ED.

Evaluation of Etomidate Use and Association with Mortality Compared with Ketamine Among Critically Ill Patients.

RATIONALE: Uncertainty remains regarding the risks associated with single dose use of etomidate. OBJECTIVES: To assess use of etomidate in critically ill patients and compare outcomes for patients who received etomidate versus ketamine. METHODS: We assessed patients who received invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV), admitted to an ICU in the Premier Healthcare Database, 2008-2021. The exposure was receipt of etomidate on the day of IMV initiation and the main outcome was hospital mortality. Using multivariable regression we compared patients who received IMV within the first two days of hospitalization who received etomidate with propensity-score matched patients who received ketamine. We also assessed whether receipt of corticosteroids in the days after intubation modified the association between etomidate and mortality. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Of 1,689,945 patients who received IMV, nearly half (738,855; 43.7%) received etomidate. Among those who received IMV in the first two days of hospitalization, we established 22,273 matched pairs given either etomidate or ketamine. In the primary analysis, receipt of etomidate was associated with greater hospital mortality relative to ketamine (21.6% vs 18.7%; absolute risk difference: 2.8%, 95% CI 2.1%, 3.6%; adjusted odds ratio: 1.28, 95% CI 1.21,1.34). This was consistent across subgroups and sensitivity analyses. We found no attenuation of the association with mortality with receipt of corticosteroids in the days following etomidate use. CONCLUSIONS: Use of etomidate on the day of IMV initiation is common and associated with a higher odds of hospital mortality compared with ketamine. This finding is independent of subsequent treatment with corticosteroids.

Practice Patterns for Acute Asthma Exacerbation in Adult Patients Admitted to U.S. Intensive Care Units.

Rationale: Guidelines recommend systemic corticosteroids and inhaled ß-agonists for patients with severe asthma exacerbation who are admitted to intensive care units. The benefits and utilization of adjunct treatments after guideline-recommended first-line treatments have been initiated are unclear. Objectives: Examine practice patterns of adjunct interventions in US intensive care units (ICUs) and their associations with outcomes for adults with severe asthma exacerbations. Methods: Using the multicenter PINC AI Healthcare Database of Premier Inc. (2016-2022), we sought to explore the use of adjunct interventions (medications [e.g., magnesium, leukotriene inhibitors, terbutaline, heliox] and procedures [e.g., invasive and noninvasive mechanical ventilation]) for adult patients admitted to U.S. ICUs with acute asthma exacerbations. We used hierarchical generalized linear models to calculate risk-adjusted rates of adjunct interventions and quantified between-hospital variation in adjunct interventions using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC; higher values correspond to higher between-hospital variation). We then used K-means clustering to identify groups of hospitals with similar risk-adjusted practice profiles of all adjunct treatments and examined associations between identified hospital clusters and patient outcomes. Results: We identified 62,392 patients from 961 hospitals for inclusion. Adjunct interventions with the highest between-hospital variation after risk adjustment were heliox (ICC, 91%), inhaled steroids (ICC, 23%), invasive mechanical ventilation (ICC, 21%), terbutaline (ICC, 22%), paralytics (ICC, 16%), and noninvasive ventilation (ICC, 15%). K-means clustering identified two distinct hospital clusters: Patients who were admitted to Cluster 1 hospitals (399 hospitals) had higher risk-adjusted rates of noninvasive ventilation (51% vs. 33%), compared with patients who were admitted to Cluster 2 hospitals (234 hospitals), which had higher risk-adjusted rates of invasive mechanical ventilation (63% vs. 30%). Cluster 2 was associated with fewer hospital-free days (ß = -0.75 d; 95% confidence interval [CI] = -0.95, -0.55) and increased in-hospital mortality (adjusted odds ratio, 1.28; 95% CI = 1.17, 1.40). Conclusions: The use of adjunct interventions for patients with severe asthma exacerbations vary widely across U.S. hospitals; however, hospitals generally fall into two clusters differentiated primarily by the use of invasive or noninvasive mechanical ventilation. The cluster favoring noninvasive mechanical ventilation was associated with improved outcomes. Our results help to inform usual-care arms of future comparative effectiveness studies and efforts to standardize asthma practice.

Impact of sleep deficiency on surgical performance: a prospective assessment.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: Sleep deficiency can adversely affect the performance of resident physicians, resulting in greater medical errors. However, the impact of sleep deficiency on surgical outcomes, particularly among attending surgeons, is less clear. METHODS: Sixty attending surgeons from academic and community departments of surgery or obstetrics and gynecology were studied prospectively using direct observation and self-report to explore the effect of sleep deprivation on patient safety, operating room communication, medical errors, and adverse events while operating under 2 conditions, post-call (defined as > 2 hours of nighttime clinical duties) and non-post-call. RESULTS: Each surgeon contributed up to 5 surgical procedures post-call and non-post-call, yielding 362 cases total (150 post-call and 210 non-post-call). Most common were caesarian section and herniorrhaphy. Hours of sleep on the night before the operative procedure were significantly less post-call (4.98 ± 1.41) vs non-post-call (6.68 ± 0.88, P < .01). Errors were infrequent and not related to hours of sleep or post-call status. However, Non-Technical Skills for Surgeons ratings demonstrated poorer performance while post-call for situational awareness, decision-making, and communication/teamwork. Fewer hours of sleep also were related to lower ratings for situational awareness and decision-making. Decreased self-reported alertness was observed to be associated with increased procedure time. CONCLUSIONS: Sleep deficiency in attending surgeons was not associated with greater errors during procedures performed during the next day. However, procedure time was increased, suggesting that surgeons were able to compensate for sleep loss by working more slowly. Ratings on nontechnical surgical skills were adversely affected by sleep deficiency. CITATION: Quan SF, Landrigan CP, Barger LK, et al. Impact of sleep deficiency on surgical performance: a prospective assessment. J Clin Sleep Med. 2023;19(4):673-683.

Inpatient albuterol spacing as an indicator of discharge readiness.

INTRODUCTION: In children admitted for asthma exacerbation, multiple evidence-based, clinical practice guidelines exist to identify readiness for discharge. At many institutions, weaning of albuterol is part of the discharge process, though presently there is limited evidence to guide best practice. We sought to determine how many children required escalation of care once placed on every 4-h dosing of albuterol. METHODS: We performed a consecutive case series of pediatric patients between 5 and 18 years of age admitted to a single tertiary care center's pediatric hospitalist service between April 2015 and April 2018 with a discharge diagnosis of asthma. Patients admitted to the intensive care unit (PICU) or a subspecialty service were excluded, as has been done previously. Time between albuterol administrations was tracked. "Treatment escalation" was defined as when a patient required more frequent albuterol more dosing after previously tolerating albuterol doses separated by more than 3.5 h. RESULTS: A total of 331 patients met inclusion criteria; 136 were female (41.1%), and the average age was 8.8 years. Twenty-six of the 331 patients (7.8%) required escalation of albuterol therapy. Eleven patients returned to the emergency department (ED) following discharge, 2 of which had experienced treatment escalation while admitted. CONCLUSIONS: Our case series showed that most patients were safe to discharge after spacing albuterol treatments to 4 h, with few returns to the ED and readmissions. Albuterol spacing to every 4 h once appears to be a reasonable discharge criterion, but future studies are needed to determine if this is a safe and efficient.

Risk factors for early PICC removal: A retrospective study of adult inpatients at an academic medical center.

BACKGROUND: Use of PICCs has been rising since 2001. They are used when long-term intravenous access is needed and for blood draws in patients with difficult venous access. OBJECTIVE: To determine which risk factors contribute to inappropriate PICC line insertion defined as removal of a PICC within five days of insertion for reasons other than a PICC complication. DESIGN: Retrospective, observational study. SETTING: Tertiary-care, Level 1 trauma center. PATIENTS: Adult patients with a PICC removed 1/1/2017 to 5/4/2020. MEASUREMENTS: Frequency of PICC removal within five days of insertion and associated risk factors for early removal. RESULTS: Between 1/1/2017 and 5/4/2020, 995 of 5348 PICCs inserted by the IV nursing team were removed within five days (19%). In 2017, 5 of 429 PICCs developed a central line-associated infection (1.2%) and 29 of 429 PICCs developed symptomatic venous thromboembolism (6.7%). Patients with PICCs whose primary service was in an ICU were independently at higher risk of early removal (OR 1.44, 95% CI 1.14, 1.83); weekday insertion was independently associated with a lower likelihood of early removal compared to weekend insertion (OR 0.60; 95% CI 0.49, 0.75). LIMITATION: PICC removal after discharge was not assessed and paper records were likely incomplete and biased. CONCLUSION: Nearly one in five PICCs were removed within five days. Patients whose primary team was in an ICU and PICCs ordered on weekends were at independently higher risk of early removal.

Combined Medicine-Pediatrics Fellowships: A Guide for Fellowship Directors and Residents.

Dual training in Internal Medicine-Pediatrics (MedPeds) was recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties in 1967. Residents complete 24 months each in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics and are board-eligible for both at the conclusion of training. Graduates are eligible for fellowships in either or both fields. Many graduates pursue fellowship training. A small absolute number of graduates apply for dual training in adult and pediatric subspecialties, but those that do bring direct, in-depth clinical experience across the lifespan, and familiarity with care in both pediatric and adult settings. As such, they contribute unique perspectives and capabilities to their fellowship and future practice. This includes the ability to provide subspecialty care in settings with limited resources, where they are able to address needs without age restrictions, and in the transition of subspecialty care for emerging adults with childhood-onset conditions. Due to the small number of applicants pursuing joint adult and pediatric fellowships, many fellowship directors may have limited experience with dual fellowships but may want to create opportunities for these unique trainees. This summary was developed jointly by residents, fellows, MedPeds program directors, and fellowship directors in Pediatrics and Internal Medicine subspecialties, and approved by their respective leadership councils to offer some key points on common questions, suggest additional resources, and share best practices, with a goal of facilitating this process for fellowship programs and residents alike.