COVID-19 Collaborative Model for an Academic Hospital and Long-Term Care Facilities.

The COVID-19 pandemic is devastating post-acute and long-term care (PA/LTC). As geriatricians practicing in PA/LTC and a regional academic medical center, we created this program for collaboration between academic medical centers and regional PA/LTC facilities. The mission of the Geriatric Engagement and Resource Integration in Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Facilities (GERI-PaL) program is to support optimal care of residents in PA/LTC facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. There are 5 main components of our program: (1) Project ECHO; (2) nursing liaisons; (3) infection advisory consultation; (4) telemedicine consultation; and (5) resident social contact remote connections. Implementation of this program has had positive response from our local PA/LTC facilities. A key component of our program is our interprofessional team, which includes physicians and nursing, emergency response, and public health experts. With diverse professional backgrounds, our team members have created a new model for academic medical centers to collaborate with local PA/LTC facilities.

Pneumococcal Vaccination Guidance for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Settings: Recommendations From AMDA's Infection Advisory Committee.

Efforts at preventing pneumococcal disease are a national health priority, particularly in older adults and especially in post-acute and long-term care settings The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends that all adults ≥65 years of age, as well as adults 18-64 years of age with specific risk factors, receive both the recently introduced polysaccharide-protein conjugate vaccine against 13 pneumococcal serotypes as well as the polysaccharide vaccine against 23 pneumococcal serotypes. Nursing facility licensure regulations require facilities to assess the pneumococcal vaccination status of each resident, provide education regarding pneumococcal vaccination, and administer the appropriate pneumococcal vaccine when indicated. Sorting out the indications and timing for 13 pneumococcal serotypes and 23 pneumococcal serotypes administration is complex and presents a significant challenge to healthcare providers. Here, we discuss the importance of pneumococcal vaccination for older adults, detail AMDA-The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine (The Society)'s recommendations for pneumococcal vaccination practice and procedures, and offer guidance to postacute and long-term care providers supporting the development and effective implementation of pneumococcal vaccine policies.

Delirium and other clinical factors with Clostridium difficile infection that predict mortality in hospitalized patients.

BACKGROUND: Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) severity has increased, especially among hospitalized older adults. We evaluated clinical factors to predict mortality after CDI. METHODS: We collected data from inpatients diagnosed with CDI at a U.S. academic medical center (HSR-IRB#13630). We evaluated age, Charlson comorbidity index (CCI), whether patients were admitted from a long-term care facility, whether patients were in an intensive care unit (ICU) at the time of diagnosis, white blood cell count (WBC), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), low body mass index, and delirium as possible predictors. A parsimonious predictive model was chosen using the Akaike information criterion (AIC) and a best subsets model selection algorithm. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was used to assess the model's comparative, with the AIC as the selection criterion for all subsets to measure fit and control for overfitting. RESULTS: From the 362 subjects, the selected model included CCI, WBC, BUN, ICU, and delirium. The logistic regression coefficients were converted to a points scale and calibrated so that each unit on the CCI contributed 2 points, ICU admission contributed 5 points, each unit of WBC (natural log scale) contributed 3 points, each unit of BUN contributed 5 points, and delirium contributed 11 points.Our model shows substantial ability to predict short-term mortality in patients hospitalized with CDI. CONCLUSION: Patients who were diagnosed in the ICU and developed delirium are at the highest risk for dying within 30 days of CDI diagnosis.

Quantitative Fecal Lactoferrin as a Biomarker for Severe Clostridium difficile Infection in Hospitalized Patients.

BACKGROUND: The incidence and severity of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) have increased over the past decade, especially among hospitalized patients. In this study, we determined the value of published criteria for severe CDI in predicting 3 month mortality, as well as the utility of fecal lactoferrin as a biomarker for severe CDI. METHODS: Pilot Year 1 of IRB approved (HSR-IRB# 13630) prospective cohort study of hospitalized patients with CDI at US academic medical center (10/08-4/10). Medical records of hospitalized patients with clinically diagnosed CDI, via toxin assay, were evaluated to objectively define severe CDI based on current guidelines. A stool sample from CDI diagnosis was analyzed for amount of fecal lactoferrin (IBD-SCAN, TechLab, Inc.). Data was analyzed using SPSS for student's t-test and chi-squared, significance p ≤ 0.05. RESULTS: 79 subjects consented and enrolled, mean age was 64 years (standard deviation, sd, 17.2), 48 (61%) female, and average Charlson co-morbidity score was 5.8 (sd 3.8). Subjects with severe CDI were 5 times more likely to die within 3 months of diagnosis (Odds Ratio 5.66 (95% Confidence Interval 2.03-15.79), p=0.001) and had significantly more fecal lactoferrin (580.0 (sd 989.0) vs. 181.7 (sd 244.2) µg/mL, p=0.018), compared to those that did not meet severe CDI criteria. CONCLUSION: In this pilot study, subjects who meet defined criteria for severe CDI had higher mortality and more intestinal inflammation. These preliminary results were, however, underpowered to show a direct association of lactoferrin with mortality. Larger cohort studies are needed to optimize a criterion for severe CDI and evaluate a direct association of lactoferrin and mortality in hospitalized patients with CDI.