Current assessment of thromboembolic disease and pregnancy.

This study was undertaken to assess incidence of deep venous thrombosis and pulmonary emboli in an inner-city pregnant population. Thromboembolic disease is believed to occur in 0.05 to 0.1 per cent of all pregnancies. Historically, postpartum thromboembolic disease was more common; decreased hospital stay may shift the thromboembolic disease to the antepartum period. A 5-year retrospective review of 4910 births assessed for incidence of thromboembolic disease, methods of diagnosis and treatment, and risk factors. A total of 4910 deliveries with 3978 transvaginal resulted in 30 episodes of deep venous thrombosis and five pulmonary emboli. All incidences of deep venous thrombosis but one were left-sided; four of five pulmonary emboli were postpartum. Of the epidsodes of deep venous thrombosis 17 per cent were first trimester, 50 per cent second trimester, 27 per cent third trimester, and 6 per cent postpartum. The diagnosis was confirmed by duplex scan in 24 of 30 patients. Heparin was the standard treatment. Deep venous thrombosis in pregnancy is most common in the second trimester; pulmonary emboli remain most common postpartum.

Outcomes of venous ulcer care: results of a longitudinal study.

A longitudinal study involving 81 patients with venous ulcers was conducted to explore the outcomes and cost of wound care in a home healthcare (HHC) setting and an outpatient care setting. Ulcers were managed with a saline gauze or hydrocolloid dressing and compression hosiery, or covered with an Unna's boot. Outcomes did not vary between physician's office and home care. Patients preferred home care, but costs and charges were much higher for HHC than for patients managed in the physician's office. Recurrence rates and costs varied greatly. Eighty-eight percent of ulcers in the saline dressing group did not heal or recurred compared to 21% of ulcers in the Unna's boot and 13% of ulcers in the hydrocolloid dressing group. The data also suggest hydrocolloid dressings are more cost-effective than Unna's boot or saline-gauze dressings. Controlled clinical studies to ascertain the cost-effectiveness of venous ulcer care in different patient care settings and the use of different treatment modalities, as well as care system oriented toward outcome for the patient rather than service, design, and distribution, are needed.

Use of venous duplex scans to evaluate symptoms of deep vein thrombosis: an analysis of ultrasound usage by various medical specialties.

In today's environment of cost-containment and utilization management, duplex ultrasound is often overused to evaluate symptoms of deep venous thrombosis/thrombophlebitis (DVT), reflecting the low diagnostic yield of such studies. We investigated the use of venous duplex scans by various medical specialties to determine whether a tendency exists to overuse this diagnostic tool by one specialty compared with others and to assess the cost-effectiveness of ordering this test for acute venous disease changes. We retrospectively reviewed the results of venous duplex ultrasound studies for 330 consecutive patients with suspected DVT for a 1-year period. Our analysis showed that 51 of 330 (16%) of all duplex scans ordered in our institution were positive for DVT. Internists, as a group, ordered 185 studies of which 26 were positive (14%). The surgeons' requests for duplex studies resulted in 23 of 137 (17%) confirmed positive studies. The overall positive examination rate was 16 per cent, which is not only suboptimal as a diagnostic tool, but also cumbersome with regard to health care cost-containment.

What is the paradigm: hospital or home health care for pressure ulcers?

A home health care (HHC) referral should link the patient in a cost-effective fashion to the physician, home care, and instructions regarding ulcer management. Twenty-one patients (mean age, 74.6 years) had stage III pressure ulcers (<100 cm2) and an involved family member at home. Risk and contributing factors included cardiac disease (n = 9), hypertension (n = 14), end-stage renal disease (n = 7), smoking (n = 11), diabetes (n = 8), chronic brain syndrome (n = 14), cerebrovascular accident (n = 5), and above-the-knee amputation (n = 2). Treatment regimens included standard wound care, pressure relief and, where appropriate, culture-specific antibiotics, as well as a rehabilitation program. Home care progressively decreased the frequency of the nurse HHC and physician office visits. Resolution of the pressure ulcer varied from 6 to 32 weeks. Only two patients had progression of their wound and required hospital readmission. The billable fees included: 1) an office visit, $30.00 (medicare reimbursement, $14.00); 2) the HHC nurse visit, $159.00 (medicare reimbursement, $105.00); 3) supplies, $75.00 to $150.00/week (variable reimbursement); 4) hospitalization, $400.00 to $900.00/day; and 5) a chronic-care bed, $400.00 to $750.00/day. HHC, given a responsible support team and an involved family member, was more socially and financially acceptable than an inpatient facility. Intermittent physician visits with HHC proved safe and reliable, with 90 per cent successfully healing their wounds.

Epidemiology, risk factors, and management of peripheral vascular disease.

Peripheral vascular occlusive disease is initiated with a genetic risk factor component compounded by patient-controlled contributions including obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and smoking. Medical management of these factors may delay or obviate surgical intervention. Angiography may be used to perform angioplasty (+/- stents) or to guide various interventional procedures. The major contribution to pre- and post-operative assessment is the noninvasive laboratory.

Leg ulceration in the sickle cell patient.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to determine cost of care for leg ulcers in sickle cell patients and suggest an improved modality in ulcer care. STUDY DESIGN: We performed a retrospective study of a group of sickle cell disease patients with leg ulcers. RESULTS: Eighteen patients with a leg ulcer (duration: mean, 53.7 months), sickle cell disease, and a mean of 20.7 years of age had various modalities of treatment with the only consistency in healing being a commercial moist-wound dressing. CONCLUSIONS: There is no consistency in the treatment of the sickle cell patient with a leg ulcer. Treatment with a moist dressing had the best results.

Improved coordination: the wound care specialist.

Optimal, cost-effective patient care requires the integration of research findings into practice and a continuing assessment of outcomes attained, which cannot be achieved unless care is continuous and multidisciplinary. Well-defined requirements for the education of an advanced practice nurse results in quality and effective wound-care delivery in a cost-effective fashion. The concerns of business and health must be blended to achieve optimal patient care.

Cause of temporary closure of an inner-city trauma center.

The number of trauma admissions, types of injury, and reasons for temporary closure were studied. Trauma patients admitted numbered 1120 in 1991, 989 in 1992, and 1164 in 1993; blunt trauma accounted for 77 percent, 74 percent, and 80 percent, whereas penetrating trauma accounted for 23 percent, 26 percent, and 20 percent of the admissions by year, respectively. A mean of 81 percent of the blunt trauma studies were for head injuries. The trauma center closed for a total of 260 hours in 1991, 211 hours in 1992, and 240 hours during 1993. Of the total hours closed, the unavailability of computed tomography (CT) scanning due to mechanical reasons was the leading cause for closure, accounting for 59 percent of hours closed. Other reasons for closure included operating (OR) unavailability (33%), acute care beds full (3.4%), blood bank stock shortage (1.4%), insufficient OR nursing teams (0.6%), unavailability of anesthesiologists (0.5%), unavailability of surgical team (1.4%), and hospital water problems (1.4%). It is concluded that designated major trauma centers may need two available CT scanners if they have a greater than 75 percent blunt trauma admission rate, or greater than 500 blunt trauma patient admissions.

A more cost-effective use of medical air evacuation personnel.

Air transport of severely traumatized patients has evolved from novel pilot programs into integral services provided by tertiary care health centers. Medical air evacuation (MedEvac) effectiveness is mainly due to the rapid transport of critically injured (90% blunt trauma) patients to the hospital by highly trained medical personnel. A recent self-study of a University-based MedEvac crew showed that 67 per cent of their on-duty time was "available." Only 33 per cent of duty time was flying or related patient care. In this era of cost containment, the optimal use of materials and services must be reassessed. The most cost-effective use of the crew may require expanding the role of the MedEvac to include Emergency Department responsibilities as part of the job description. This represents change and stressful group dynamics. However, by coordinating the Emergency Department and MedEvac schedules, the hospital is able to make more efficient use of resources. No flight was delayed by this work proposal.

Moonlighting in a university surgical training program.

The impact of house officer moonlighting on training performance was assessed through a faculty questionnaire and house officer survey distributed in the Department of Surgery at Tulane University School of Medicine. Responses were obtained from 30 house officers and 15 faculty members. Most house officers who moonlighted did so one or two times each month; most were employed in emergency departments. Yearly earnings from moonlighting averaged approximately $10,000. Although many house officers were in debt from medical school, debt was not the primary reason for moonlighting. Many faculty members disapproved of moonlighting, but agreed to monitoring by clinical performance and American Board of Surgery In-Training Examination. A statistically significant relationship was found between yearly income from moonlighting and decreasing scores on the American Board of Surgery In-Training Examination.

Cost effectiveness of regional anesthesia in carotid endarterectomy.

The purpose of this prospective study was to assess safety, efficacy, and hospital costs (excluding medications) and laboratory tests related to general (GA) and regional anesthesia (RA) for carotid endarterectomy (CEA). One hundred patients underwent CEA; 50 received GA and 50 received RA. Thirty-eight men (eight diabetic) and 12 women (two diabetic), with an average age of 62.4 (47 to 79) years comprised the GA group; 35 men (six diabetic) and 15 women (one diabetic), with an average age of 64.1 (51 to 74) years comprised the RA group. Twenty-one patients (17 men, 4 women) in the GA and 24 patients (19 men, 5 women) in the RA group had hypertension. Every patient had some stigmata of cardiac disease. Patients receiving GA for CEA spent an average of 1.2 days in the surgical Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and 6.1 days in a regular hospital bed, for an average cost of $4547. The patients who underwent CEA under RA had an average of 0.1 ICU days and 4.1 regular hospital days, for a cost of $2067. RA saved $2480 per patient and $124,000 in our study group, with no increase in mortality or morbidity rates (P less than 0.001). RA is superior to GA in cost-effectiveness for patients undergoing CEA.

High cost of trauma care in the elderly.

Trauma in the elderly is a significant public health problem in terms of morbidity, mortality, and expenditure of health care resources. We compared injury severity score, length of stay, hospital charges, and mortality rate in a group of 60 elderly patients and a group of 60 younger patients admitted to our hospital. The older group had an average hospital stay that was more than four days longer, at an average hospital charge of $15,769.55, and their mortality rate was 15% versus 0% among the younger group. Despite early and aggressive care, the elderly continue to pose an important problem for trauma centers in terms of both length of stay and cost.

Assessment of the use of transfusion therapy perioperatively in patients with sickle cell hemoglobinopathies.

During the period of 1978 to 1986, 66 patients (31 men, 35 women) with a mean age of 28.4 years and various sickle cell hemoglobinopathies underwent 82 surgical procedures; 28 were emergencies. Fifty of the 66 patients had HbSS, 13/66 had HbSC, and 3/66 had HbS-thalassemia. All 66 patients received transfusions, although not for all procedures. In 48 patients, transfusion therapy was only administered preoperatively. Simple transfusions (1 to 10 units) were administered in 31 of 48 procedures. Exchange transfusions (1 to 6 units) were performed in nine of 48 procedures. Preoperative hematocrit ranged from 7.0% to 54.2%; of those receiving transfusions the hematocrit ranged from 22.6% to 53.7%. Intraoperative transfusions (1 to 10 units) were performed in 14 of 82 procedures; postoperative transfusions (1 to 6 units) were performed in 13 of 82 procedures. No advantage was noted in preoperative exchange transfusion as measured by a decrease in postoperative complications; a slight increase was seen in atelectasis in this group of patients with preoperative transfusions. An increase was reported in the complication rate of patients with an hematocrit of less than 30%. The type of transfusion (preoperative, intraoperative, or postoperative) administered did not appear to be related to postoperative morbidity rates. The complication rate for simple transfusions was 51.6% and for multiple transfusions, 55.6%. HbSS hemoglobinopathy had the higher complication rate. The hepatitis B surface antigen was demonstrated in four of 66 (6.1%) patients; ten of 66 (15.2%) developed alloantibodies. The benefits of transfusion therapy should be judged according to clinical needs; not all sickle cell patients need exchange or preoperative transfusion.

Financing residency training in urology.

Five educators concerned with changes occurring in the financing of medical education and care reviewed the present status of residency programs and their financing. Future support depends on political decisions as well as demonstrable needs. The effects of anticipated reductions in funding for residents and their programs may be countered by the development of alternative sources and the restructuring of present programs for more efficient operation. The need for leadership is clear.

Hemodynamic assessment of high-compression hosiery in chronic venous disease.

Graded high-compression support hosiery have long been recognized as a physiologically significant mode of therapy for chronic venous disease because of their effects on the hemodynamics of venous return. Photoplethysmography (PPG) in the noninvasive vascular laboratory is now recognized as a quick, simple, and noninvasive measurement technique, which correlates well with ambulatory venous pressure in the postphlebitic limb with chronic venous insufficiency. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the hemodynamic effects, as measured by PPG, of 40 mm Hg graded compression support hosiery in the treatment of patients with a documented history of hospital-treated thrombophlebitis. Fifty lower extremities among 38 patients with a documented history of deep vein thrombosis and chronic venous insufficiency were matched against 50 control extremities among patients without disease. All 50 lower extremities in the study group had abnormal noninvasive venous studies, including Doppler ultrasound examination, phleborheography, and PPG (mean, 5.9. seconds). Thus these patients were ascertained to have incompetent deep venous systems, but with normal arterial flow as documented by ankle:brachial ratios. After application of 40 mm Hg gradient compression stockings to the study group, PPG measurements in all 50 limbs initially converted to normal (20.6 seconds). Abnormal PPG measurements were converted to normal in postphlebitic limbs with the application of graded compression stockings in the 29 patients who wore the prescribed hosiery; 21 patients did not wear the gradient stockings after the initial evaluation(s) and were not found to have improved PPG measurements. It can be concluded that such gradient stockings should be associated with a reduction in ambulatory venous pressure, which may, in turn, lead to clinical prevention or improvement of the various sequelae associated with chronic venous hypertension.

Cost effectiveness of early digit amputation in the patient with diabetes.

Osteomyelitis in the digit of the diabetic patient is best managed by antibiotics and amputation. Antibiotics alone are not effective or cost-effective as demonstrated in a retrospective study of 22 such patients diagnosed clinically and confirmed roentgenographically. Definitive operation allows the patient to return to work within two weeks of amputation.