Working Toward a Gold Standard: The Severity of Ethanol Withdrawal Scale (SEWS) Versus the Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment Alcohol Scale (CIWA-Ar).

AIM: Proving the Severity of Ethanol Withdrawal Scale (SEWS) significantly reduces Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome (AWS) treatment Time on Medication Protocol (TOMP). METHOD: Head-to-head Quality Assurance outcome compared separate cohorts of SEWS or Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment Alcohol Scale, Revised (CIWA-Ar) data using Student's t and Wilcoxon tests. RESULTS: SEWS-driven treatment (n = 244) reduced TOMP to 2.2 days versus 3.4 days for CIWA-Ar (n = 137); P < 0.0001. CONCLUSION: The SEWS is the superior measure of AWS symptoms.

Defining Opioid-related Problems Using a Health Care Safety Net Institution's Inpatient Electronic Health Records: Limitations of Diagnosis-based Definitions.

BACKGROUND: Measuring clinically relevant opioid-related problems in health care systems is challenging due to the lack of standard definitions and coding practices. Well-defined, opioid-related health problems (ORHPs) would improve prevalence estimates and evaluation of clinical interventions, crisis response, and prevention activities. We sought to estimate prevalence of opioid use disorder (OUD), opioid misuse, and opioid poisoning among inpatients at a large, safety net, health care institution. METHODS: Our study included events documented in the electronic health records (EHRs) among hospitalized patients at Denver Health Medical Center during January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2018. Multiple EHR markers (ie, opioid-related diagnostic codes, clinical assessment, laboratory results, and free-text documentation) were used to develop diagnosis-based and extended definitions for OUD, opioid misuse, and opioid poisoning. We used these definitions to estimate number of hospitalized patients with these conditions. RESULTS: During a 2-year study period, 715 unique patients were identified solely using opioid-related diagnostic codes; OUD codes accounted for the largest proportion (499/715, 69.8%). Extended definitions identified an additional 973 unique patients (~136% increase), which includes 155/973 (15.9%) who were identified by a clinical assessment marker, 1/973 (0.1%) by a laboratory test marker, and 817/973 (84.0%) by a clinical documentation marker. CONCLUSIONS: Solely using diagnostic codes to estimate prevalence of clinically relevant ORHPs missed most patients with ORHPs. More inclusive estimates were generated using additional EHR markers. Improved methods to estimate ORHPs among a health care system's patients would more fully estimate organizational and economic burden to more efficiently allocate resources and ensure capacity to provide clinical services.

Single-dose intravenous ketamine or intramuscular naltrexone for high-utilization inpatients with alcohol use disorder: pilot trial feasibility and readmission rates.

BACKGROUND: Alcohol use disorder (AUD) accounts for millions of acute care encounters annually in the United States. Hospitalization represents a vital opportunity to intervene pharmacologically, but low medication adherence is a significant barrier. Two single-dose, adherence-independent interventions are well suited for pre-discharge administration: intravenous (IV) ketamine and intramuscular (IM) naltrexone. Their feasibility and readmission-reducing efficacy in hospital settings are not well-established. METHODS: A 3-arm, open-label randomized trial was conducted at our safety-net medical hospital among high-utilization inpatients with severe AUD. Consented adults (age 18-65) were randomized to (1) IV ketamine (KET) 0.5 mg/kg over 40 min, (2) IM naltrexone (NTX) 380 mg once, or (3) linkage alone (LA). The primary clinical outcome was 30-day all-cause hospital readmission rate. All were provided enhanced linkage to outpatient addiction clinic. RESULTS: We consented and randomized 44 participants (n = 13, 14, 17 for KET, NTX, LA, respectively), with a mean of 3.2 past-year hospitalizations. Compared to the LA arm, both the KET arm (RR 0.37, p = 0.17) and NTX arm (RR 0.52, p = 0.27) had a lower 30-day readmission rate, though the differences were nonsignificant. Immediate acceptability ratings of KET and NTX were 9.50 and 9.17 out of 10, respectively. No serious adverse events or illicit ketamine use was reported. CONCLUSIONS: Both interventions are feasible and showed promise in reducing readmissions for high-utilization AUD inpatients. Despite randomization, baseline characteristics may have differed in ways that biased against the control arm. Additional pragmatic studies-with larger sample size, blinding, and robust follow-up data collection-are needed to verify findings and better understand mediating factors. CLINICALTRIALS: gov Identifier NCT04562779. Registered 24 September 2020. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04562779.

Estimating costs of hospitalizations associated with opioid use disorder or opioid misuse at a large, urban safety-net hospital-Denver, Colorado, 2017.

INTRODUCTION: The national and state economic burden of the opioid crisis is substantial. This study estimated the number of hospitalizations associated with opioid use disorder (OUD) or opioid misuse (OM) and the cost of those hospitalizations at Denver Health (DH) Medical Center, a large, urban safety-net hospital. METHODS: For 2017, direct inpatient medical costs for hospitalizations associated with OUD or OM at DH Medical Center were estimated and categorized by group and insurance type. Data were from the DH electronic health records database that included charge data. Hospitalizations associated with OUD or OM were identified using diagnostic codes and an expanded set of inclusion criteria including diagnostic codes, opioid withdrawal assessments, opioid-related admission notes, and medication prescriptions to treat OUD. Costs were estimated using cost-to-charge ratios specific to DH. RESULTS: During 2017, 220 hospitalizations, $9,834,979 in total charges, $3,690,724 in estimated total costs, and $2,115,990 in total reimbursements were identified using diagnostic codes. Using the most expansive set of inclusion criteria, 739 hospitalizations, $35,033,157 in total charges, $13,346,099 in estimated total costs, and $7,020,877 in total reimbursements were identified. Of the 739 hospitalizations, Medicaid covered 546 hospitalizations (74 %), the largest proportion of total reimbursement (65 %), with estimated total costs of $10,135,048 (77 %). CONCLUSIONS: Our study identified considerable costs for hospitalizations associated with OUD or OM for DH. Estimating costs for hospitalizations associated with OUD or OM through use of expanded inclusion methodology can guide future program planning to allocate resources efficiently for hospitals such as DH Medical Center.

Benzodiazepines vs barbiturates for alcohol withdrawal: Analysis of 3 different treatment protocols.

INTRODUCTION: Alcohol withdrawal treatment varies widely. Benzodiazepines are the standard of care, with rapid onset and long durations of action. Recent drug shortages involving IV benzodiazepines have required incorporation of alternative agents into treatment protocols. Phenobarbital has similar pharmacokinetics to select benzodiazepines frequently used for alcohol withdrawal. The objective of this study is to describe the effectiveness and safety of our institutional protocols during three time periods utilizing benzodiazepines and barbiturates for the acute treatment of alcohol withdrawal in the emergency department. METHODS: Adult patients presenting to the ED for acute alcohol withdrawal from April 1st, 2016 to January 31st, 2018 were reviewed. Patients who received at least one dose of treatment were included. Treatments were based on availability of medication and given protocol at time of presentation. The primary outcome was the rate of ICU admission. RESULTS: 300 patient encounters were included. Overall baseline characteristics were equal across groups, except for age. There was no difference in rate of ICU admission from the ED between groups (D:8, L&P:11, P:13 patients, p = 0.99). Rate of mechanical ventilation was no different across all groups (D:1, L&P:3, P:3 patients, p = 0.55). CONCLUSION: During benzodiazepine shortages, phenobarbital is a safe and effective treatment alternative for alcohol withdrawal. Incorporating phenobarbital into a benzodiazepine based protocol or as sole agent led to similar rates of ICU admission, length of stay, and need for mechanical ventilation in patients treated for alcohol withdrawal in the emergency department.

Prospective comparison of curbside versus formal consultations.

BACKGROUND: Curbside consultations are commonly requested during the care of hospitalized patients, but physicians perceive that the recommendations provided may be based on inaccurate or incomplete information. OBJECTIVE: To compare the accuracy and completeness of the information received from providers requesting a curbside consultation of hospitalists with that obtained in a formal consultation on the same patients, and to examine whether the recommendations offered in the 2 consultations differed. DESIGN: Prospective cohort. SETTING: University-affiliated, urban safety net hospital. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Proportion of curbside consultations with inaccurate or incomplete information; frequency with which recommendations in the formal consultation differed from those in the curbside consultation. RESULTS: Curbside consultations were requested for 50 patients, 47 of which were also evaluated in a formal consultation performed on the same day by a hospitalist other than the one performing the curbside consultation. Based on information collected in the formal consultation, information was either inaccurate or incomplete in 24/47 (51%) of the curbside consultations. Management advice after formal consultation differed from that given in the curbside consultation for 28/47 patients (60%). When inaccurate or incomplete information was received, the advice provided in the formal versus the curbside consultation differed in 22/24 patients (92%, P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Information presented during inpatient curbside consultations of hospitalists is often inaccurate or incomplete, and this often results in inaccurate management advice.

Accomplishing much in a short time: use of a rapid improvement event to redesign the assessment and treatment of patients with alcohol withdrawal.

The use of Lean tools for quality improvement and process refinement is gaining acceptance in many health care institutions. Traditionally, these tools are used to apply incremental changes to established processes in order to reduce waste and improve quality. In this article, the authors describe a novel Lean methodology, the Rapid Improvement Event (RIE), used in a unique way to develop a new treatment protocol for a specific medical condition: alcohol withdrawal. The RIE allowed for the collaboration of a multidisciplinary group of providers invested in the success of a new protocol for alcohol withdrawal that spans areas from the emergency department to the inpatient ward at an inner-city safety net hospital. It also allowed for the definition of measures for its success once it is implemented.