A Comparison of SARS-COV-2 Neutralizing Antibody Therapies in High-Risk Patients with Mild to Moderate COVID-19 Disease at a Single Academic Hospital.

BACKGROUND: Bamlanivimab and casirivimab/imdevimab are recombinant neutralizing monoclonal antibodies that decrease viral load in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and can decrease hospitalizations. Few data exist comparing these two therapies. OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to compare the efficacy and safety of bamlanivimab and casirivimab/imdevimab in emergency department (ED) patients with COVID-19 who met criteria for monoclonal antibody therapy. METHODS: We performed a single-center, open-label, prospective study in adult ED patients with confirmed COVID-19 and high-risk features for hospitalization. Enrolled patients received bamlanivimab or casirivimab/imdevimab, depending on the day of the week that they arrived. We observed patients for post-infusion-related reactions and contacted them on days 5, 10, and 30. The primary outcome was the number of hospitalizations through day 30. In addition, we compared groups with regard to return visits to the ED, symptom improvement, antibody-induced adverse events, and deaths. RESULTS: Between December 17, 2020 and January 17, 2021, 321 patients completed the study. We found no statistically significant difference in the rate of subsequent hospitalization between groups (bamlanivimab: n = 18 of 201 [8.9%] and casirivimab/imdevimab: n = 13 of 120 [10.8%]; p = 0.57). In addition, we found no statistically significant differences between groups regarding return visits to the ED or symptom improvement. One patient had a possible adverse reaction to the treatment, and 1 patient died. Both of these events occurred in the bamlanivimab group. CONCLUSIONS: We found no statistically significant differences in rates of subsequent hospitalization or other outcomes for ED patients with COVID-19 when they received bamlanivimab as opposed to casirivimab/imdevimab. Adverse events were rare in both groups.

Does a Standardized Discharge Communication Tool Improve Resident Performance and Overall Patient Satisfaction?

INTRODUCTION: The discharge conversation is a critical component of the emergency department encounter. Studies suggest that emergency medicine (EM) residency education is deficient in formally training residents on the patient discharge conversation. Our goal was to assess the proficiency of EM residents in addressing essential elements of a comprehensive discharge conversation; identify which components of the discharge conversation are omitted; introduce "DC HOME," a standardized discharge mnemonic; and determine whether its implementation improved resident performance and patient satisfaction. METHODS: This was a prospective observational pre- and post-intervention study done by convenience sampling of 400 resident discharge encounters. Resident physicians were observed by attending physicians who completed an evaluation, answering "yes" or "no" as to whether residents addressed six components of a comprehensive discharge. The six components include the following: diagnosis; care rendered; health and lifestyle modifications; obstacles after discharge; medications; and expectations - or "DC HOME." Didactics introducing the mnemonic "DC HOME" was provided to resident physicians. Patient feedback and satisfaction were collected after each encounter, and we recorded differences between pre-intervention and post-intervention encounters. RESULTS: Resident physicians improved significantly in all six components of "DC HOME" from pre-and-post intervention: discharge diagnosis (P = 0.0036) and the remaining five components (P<0.0001). There was a statistically significant improvement in patients' perception for health and lifestyle modifications, obstacles after discharge, medications, expectations after discharge (P<0.0001), and discharge diagnosis (P = 0.0029). Patient satisfaction scores improved significantly (P = 0.005). Time spent with patients during discharge increased from 2 minutes and 42 seconds to 4 minutes and 4 seconds (P<0.0001). CONCLUSION: EM residents frequently omit key components of the discharge conversation. The implementation of the "DC HOME" discharge mnemonic improves resident discharge performance, patient perception, and overall patient satisfaction.

How Much Time Do Residents Spend on Inpatient Clinical Computing?

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the time that residents spend on clinical computing. METHODS: Our electronic health record system was used to record clinical computing time. Residents were unaware that we were tracking their time. Prior studies have reported computing times by watching the users. We evaluated residents in internal medicine, general surgery, and emergency medicine. The postgraduate year 1 (PGY1) and PGY3 residents were evaluated in July 2016 and January 2017. RESULTS: Emergency medicine residents spent approximately 3 hours/day and internal medicine and general surgery residents spent approximately 2 hours/day on clinical computing. For internal medicine and general surgery, there was a decrease in time spent on clinical computing from July to January and from PGY1 to PGY3. CONCLUSIONS: Residents in some specialties may decrease the time spent on clinical computing. There are many possible reasons for the changes. Our study serves as a computerized observation baseline for future assessments, interventions, and for developing improvements that increase the value of clinical computing.

Breaking the Barriers in Resident Education: A Quality Improvement Initiative.

INTRODUCTION: In 2013, the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association updated the cholesterol guideline. Despite strong evidence supporting the recommendations, a discernible gap exists in the number of residents who practice them. Our study aimed to identify barriers hindering residents from guideline implementation. METHODS: Twenty eight residents were administered a preintervention and postintervention questionnaire to identify barriers in guideline application. The questionnaire was categorized into three barriers: knowledge, attitude, and behavior. A multifaceted educational intervention consisting of directed teaching sessions and supervised patient encounters was conducted. RESULTS: Our analysis showed that our residents lacked awareness, familiarity, and self-efficacy in using the cholesterol guideline. The intervention led to significant improvements in awareness (79% vs. 43%, p = .0129), familiarity (61% vs. 29%, p = .0306), and self-efficacy (65% vs. 16%, p = .0018) and achieved a 31% increase in knowledge (p = .0001), 38% in attitude (p = .0001), and 20% in behavior (p = .019). The overall improvement in scores averaged 30% (p = .0001). CONCLUSION: Our quality improvement initiative successfully improved our resident's comprehension and applicability of the 2013 ACC/AHA cholesterol guideline. We recommend a multifaceted educational approach tailored toward addressing specific barriers to improve the practice of evidence-based medicine.

Outcomes of Patients Who Have Do Not Resuscitate Status prior to Being Admitted to an Intensive Care Unit.

Admission of patients who have do not resuscitate (DNR) status to an intensive care unit (ICU) is potentially a misallocation of limited resources to patients who may neither need nor want intensive care. Yet, patients who have DNR status are often admitted to the ICU. This is a retrospective review of patients who had a valid DNR status at the time that they were admitted to an ICU in a single hospital over an eighteen-month period. Thirty-five patients met the criteria for inclusion in the study. The primary reasons for admission to the ICU were respiratory distress (54.2%) and sepsis (45.7%). Sixteen (45.7%) of the patients died, compared to a 5.4% mortality rate for all patients admitted to our ICU during this period (p < 0.001). APACHE II score was a significant predictor of mortality (18.5 ± 1.3 alive and 23.4 ± 1.4 dead; p = 0.038). Of the 19 patients discharged alive, 9 were discharged home, 5 to hospice, and 4 to a post-acute care facility. Conclusions. Patients who have DNR status and are admitted to the ICU have a higher mortality than other ICU patients. Those who survive have a high likelihood of being discharged to hospice or a post-acute care facility. The value of intensive intervention for these patients is not supported by these results. Only a minority of patients were seen by palliative care and chaplain teams, services which the literature supports as valuable for DNR patients. Our study supports the need for less expensive and less intensive but more appropriate resources for patients and families who have chosen DNR status.

Is serum lactate necessary in patients with normal anion gap and serum bicarbonate?

INTRODUCTION: There has been an increase in patients having serum lactate drawn in emergency situations. The objective of this study was to determine whether or not it was necessary to obtain a lactate level in patients with a normal serum bicarbonate level and anion gap. METHODS: This is a retrospective chart review evaluation of 304 patients who had serum lactate and electrolytes measured in an emergency setting in one academic medical center. RESULTS: In 66 patients who had elevated serum lactate (>2.2mmol/L), 45 (68%) patients had normal serum bicarbonate (SB) (greater than 21 mmol/L). Normal anion gap (AG) (normal range <16 mEq/l) was found in 51 of the 66 patients (77%). CONCLUSION: We found that among patients with elevated serum lactate, 77% had a normal anion gap and 68% had normal serum bicarbonate. We conclude serum lactate should be drawn based on clinical suspicion of anaerobic tissue metabolism independent of serum bicarbonate or anion gap values.

Reducing blood utilization by implementation of a type-and-screen transfusion policy a single-institution experience.

OBJECTIVES: The Blood Utilization Committee implemented a standardized protocol for the preoperative blood order for cardiac patients. The aim of our study was to assess the improvement in blood utilization using the crossmatch to transfusion ratio (C:T). METHODS: Four months of retrospective data were collected, which included all RBC crossmatch requests and all RBC units transfused. Similar data were gathered for the period of the intervention. The difference in C:T was calculated. RESULTS: The retrospective group had 166 patients for whom blood products were ordered. There were 560 crossmatch requests and 237 transfused RBC units with a C:T of 2.36. The prospective group had 127 patients with 297 crossmatch requests, 190 transfused units, and a C:T of 1.56. There was a statistically significant difference in the C:T. The cost difference was $12,244.00. CONCLUSIONS: Implementing exact guidelines, with the introduction of a type-and-screen concept, allowed more efficient blood usage.

The use of nitrates in the prevention of contrast-induced nephropathy in patients hospitalized after undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention.

Contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality and effective strategies for its prevention are greatly needed. The purpose of this retrospective, single-center study was to investigate whether nitrate use during percutaneous coronary artery intervention reduces the incidence of CIN. Chart review of all individuals who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) from April 2010 to March 2011 was done. Included in the study were patients who were admitted to the hospital after percutaneous coronary artery intervention and had baseline and follow-up creatinine measured. Patients with end-stage renal disease requiring dialysis and those patients with insufficient information to calculate Mehran score were excluded. There were 199 patients who met the eligibility criteria for inclusion in this study. In the identified population, postprocedure renal function was compared between 112 patients who received nitrates prior to coronary intervention and 87 who did not. Baseline characteristics were similar between the 2 groups. Contrast-induced nephropathy was defined as either a 25% or a 0.5 mg/dL, or greater, increase in serum creatinine during the first 48 to 72 hours after contrast exposure. Overall, 43 (21.6%) patients developed CIN post-PCI. Of the patients who received nitrates, 15.2% developed renal impairment when compared to 29.9% in those who did not (odds ratio [OR] = 0.42, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.21-0.84, P = .014). Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that nitrate use was independently correlated with a reduction in the development of contrast nephropathy (OR = 0.334, 95% CI 0.157-0.709, P = .004). Additionally, of the various methods of nitrate administration, intravenous infusion was shown to be the most efficacious route in preventing renal impairment (OR = 0.42, 95% CI 0.20-0.90, P = .03). In conclusion, the use of nitrates prior to PCI, particularly intravenous nitroglycerin infusion, may be associated with a decreased incidence of CIN.

Incidence of postoperative acute kidney injury in patients with chronic kidney disease undergoing minimally invasive valve surgery.

BACKGROUND: We hypothesize that minimally invasive valve surgery in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) is superior to a conventional median sternotomy. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 1945 consecutive patients who underwent isolated valve surgery. Included were patients with CKD stages 2 to 5. In-hospital mortality, composite complication rates, and intensive care unit and total hospital lengths of stay of those who underwent a minimally invasive approach were compared with those who underwent a standard median sternotomy. Resource use was approximated based on intensive care unit and total hospital lengths of stay. RESULTS: There were 688 patients identified; 510 (74%) underwent minimally invasive surgery, and 178 (26%) underwent a median sternotomy. There was no significant difference in mortality. Minimally invasive surgery was associated with fewer composite complications (33.1% vs 49.4%; odds ratio, 0.5; P ≤ .001), shorter intensive care unit (48 [interquartile range {IQR}, 33-74] hours vs 71 [IQR, 42-96] hours; P < .01), and hospital (8 [IQR, 6-9] days vs 10 [IQR, 8-15] days; P < .001) lengths of stay, and a lower incidence of acute kidney injury (8% vs 14.7%; odds ratio, 0.5; P = .01), compared with median sternotomy. In a multivariable analysis, minimally invasive surgery was associated with a 60% reduction in the risk of development of postoperative acute kidney injury. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with CKD undergoing isolated valve surgery, minimally invasive valve surgery is associated with reduced postoperative complications and lower resource use.

A computerized aid to support smoking cessation treatment for hospital patients.

BACKGROUND: Hospital-based interventions promote smoking cessation after discharge. Strategies to deliver these interventions are needed, especially now that providing smoking cessation advice or treatment, or both, to inpatient smokers is a publicly reported quality-of-care measure for US hospitals. OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of adding a tobacco order set to an existing computerized order-entry system used to admit Medicine patients to 1 hospital. DESIGN: Pre-post study. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Proportion of admitted patients who had smoking status identified, a smoking counselor consulted, or nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) ordered during 4 months before and after the change. In 4 months after implementation, the order set was used with 76% of Medicine admissions, and a known smoking status was recorded for 81% of these patients. The intervention increased the proportion of admitted patients who were referred for smoking counseling (0.8 to 2.1%) and had NRT ordered (1.6 to 2.5%) (p < .0001 for both). Concomitantly, the hospital's performance on the smoking cessation quality measure improved. CONCLUSIONS: Adding a brief tobacco order set to an existing computerized order-entry system increased a hospital's provision of evidence-based tobacco treatment and helped to improve its performance on a publicly reported quality measure. It provides a model for US hospitals seeking to improve their quality of care for inpatients.

Integration of an academic medical center and a community hospital: the Brigham and Women's/Faulkner hospital experience.

Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), a major academic tertiary medical center, and Faulkner Hospital (Faulkner), a nearby community teaching hospital, both in the Boston, Massachusetts area, have established a close affiliation relationship under a common corporate parent that achieves a variety of synergistic benefits. Formed under the pressures of limited capacity at BWH and excess capacity at Faulkner, and the need for lower-cost clinical space in an era of provider risk-sharing, BWH and Faulkner entered into a comprehensive affiliation agreement. Over the past seven years, the relationship has enhanced overall volume, broadened training programs, lowered the cost of resources for secondary care, and improved financial performance for both institutions. The lessons of this relationship, both in terms of success factors and ongoing challenges for the hospitals, medical staffs, and a large multispecialty referring physician group, are reviewed. The key factors for success of the relationship have been integration of training programs and some clinical services, provision of complementary clinical capabilities, geographic proximity, clear role definition of each institution, commitment and flexibility of leadership and medical staff, active and responsive communication, and the support of a large referring physician group that embraced the affiliation concept. Principal challenges have been maintaining the community hospital's cost structure, addressing cultural differences, avoiding competition among professional staff, anticipating the pace of patient migration, choosing a name for the new affiliation, and adapting to a changing payer environment.

Implementing clinical pathways for patients admitted to a medical service: lessons learned.

In an attempt to improve quality of care for patients admitted to our medical service we have implemented the use of pathways. These are printed standards of care and a mechanism for daily multidisciplinary documentation. The goals of our pathways are to: improve quality using printed standards of care; improve documentation of the care delivered; improve communication about daily goals between all team members, patients and families; standardize our in-patient chart format throughout the hospital; and increase efficiency of care. Pathways were designed to provide physicians and nurses with the standards for care and provide a mechanism for multidisciplinary documentation on our in-patient charts. We now have 2 pathways in use on our medical service. One is a clinical care plan (CCP) and the other is a Pancreatitis Pathway (PP) for patients admitted with acute pancreatitis and the other a guideline for care for all patients. The pathways were developed by teams including attending physicians (General Internists and Gastroenterologists), medicine house officers, nurses, and care coordinators. The pathways are used for all patients admitted to our medical service if they are admitted to one of 2 floors. This paper includes a comparison of outcomes for our first 9 patients who were managed using the pancreatitis pathway versus 7 patients cared for without the pathway. Significant differences in the pancreatitis pathway treated patients included: 1) less intense pain on day 2, (P = 0.04); 2) less pain on day of refeeding (P = 0.004); and 3) less IV fluids administered (P = 0.05). We also describe several lessons we have learned about using pathways for in-patients on a medical service in an academic medical center. We have learned the following lessons. Nursing documentation is improved. Physicians need ongoing encouragement and education about the value of pathways. There is considerable work involved for unit coordinators, care coordinators, and nursing in using pathways on a medical-surgical floor. There must be physician and nurse champions. There must be ongoing feedback to users. There must be input from users and edits. We believe the use of pathways as a process to remind clinicians of quality standards will improve the care of our patients by decreasing variation, improving team communication, and enhancing patient and family education.

A cost-benefit analysis of electronic medical records in primary care.

Electronic medical record systems improve the quality of patient care and decrease medical errors, but their financial effects have not been as well documented. The purpose of this study was to estimate the net financial benefit or cost of implementing electronic medical record systems in primary care. We performed a cost-benefit study to analyze the financial effects of electronic medical record systems in ambulatory primary care settings from the perspective of the health care organization. Data were obtained from studies at our institution and from the published literature. The reference strategy for comparisons was the traditional paper-based medical record. The primary outcome measure was the net financial benefit or cost per primary care physician for a 5-year period. The estimated net benefit from using an electronic medical record for a 5-year period was 86,400 US dollars per provider. Benefits accrue primarily from savings in drug expenditures, improved utilization of radiology tests, better capture of charges, and decreased billing errors. In one-way sensitivity analyses, the model was most sensitive to the proportion of patients whose care was capitated; the net benefit varied from a low of 8400 US dollars to a high of 140,100 US dollars . A five-way sensitivity analysis with the most pessimistic and optimistic assumptions showed results ranging from a 2300 US dollars net cost to a 330,900 US dollars net benefit. Implementation of an electronic medical record system in primary care can result in a positive financial return on investment to the health care organization. The magnitude of the return is sensitive to several key factors.