Hospitalists' perception of their communication with primary care providers - survey results from six hospitals in Central Switzerland.

OBJECTIVES: Due to the increasing complexity of the healthcare system, effective communication and data exchange between hospitalists (in-hospital physicians) and primary care physicians (PCPs) is both central and challenging. In Switzerland, little is known about hospitalists' perception of their communication with PCPs. The primary objective was to assess hospitalists' satisfaction with their communication with PCPs. Secondary objectives addressed all information about the referral process and communication with PCPs during and after the hospital encounter. Lastly, the results of a previous survey among PCPs were juxtaposed to compare their responses to similar questions. METHODS: This study surveyed hospitalists in six hospitals in the Central Switzerland region. The survey was sent via email to hospitalists from November 2021 to February 2022. The questionnaire contained 17 questions with single- and multiple-choice answers and the option of free-text entry. Exploratory multivariable logistic regression was used to analyse independent associations. RESULTS: In total, 276 of 1134 hospitalists responded (response rate 24.3%): (1) the majority of hospitalists are satisfied with the general communication (n = 162, 58.7%) as well as with referral letters (n = 145, 52.5%), (2) preferred information channels for referral letters are email (n = 212, 76.8%) and electronic portals (n = 181, 65.5%), (3) the three most important items of information in referrals are: medication list, diagnoses and reason for referral. In multivariable regression, compared to other clinicians, internists independently favoured informing PCPs of emergency admissions of their patients in a timely manner (OR 2.04; 95%CI 1.21-3.49). Comparing responses from PCPs (n = 109), the most prominent discrepancy was that 67% (n = 184) of hospitalists claimed to "always" inform after an encounter, whereas only 7% (n = 8) of PCPs agreed. CONCLUSION: Most hospitalists are satisfied with the communication with PCPs and prefer electronic communication channels. Room for improvement was found around timely transmission of patient information before and after hospital encounters.

Aerococcus urinae endocarditis - A case report.

Aerococcus urinae is a gram-positive coccus bacterium with a previously underestimated prevalence due to morphological similarities to other gram-positive cocci. Development of newer diagnostic technologies (such as matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry MALDI-TOF) led to increased recognition of Aerococcus urinae as causative organism mainly for urinary tract infections. Its antibiotic susceptibility poses some challenges, with resistance to some drugs of choice for urinary tract infection. We report a case of a 69-year-old male with infective endocarditis of the mitral valve, who initially presented with fever and shoulder pain to the emergency department. The patient reported an episode of obstructive renal infection two weeks earlier, which was treated with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. The unusual presentation with shoulder pain and a new heart murmur led to suspicion of endocarditis. Urine and blood cultures were positive for Aerococcus urinae, echocardiography revealed vegetations on the mitral valve with severe mitral insufficiency. After two weeks of antibiotic treatment, mitral valve replacement was performed, from which the patient recovered. Reports of Aerococcus urinae endocarditis are still limited in number. On the other side, Aerococcus urinae is an emerging bacterial uropathogen with greater relevance than previously believed. We review the case reports of Aerococcus urinae endocarditis and newest literature about its presentation, course, and clinical management.

Enhancing communication and care coordination: A scoping review of encounter notification systems between emergency departments and primary care providers.

OBJECTIVE: This scoping review aims to explore the current state of encounter notification systems (ENS) between emergency departments (EDs) and primary care providers (PCPs), focusing on their mechanisms, effectiveness, impacts, and challenges in healthcare settings. METHODS: A systematic search was conducted using PubMed/MEDLINE and Google Scholar to identify relevant literature on ENS between EDs and PCPs. Eligible studies were selected based on predefined criteria, and data were synthesized narratively. RESULTS: The initial search yielded 1,396 articles, with 29 included in the review. Studies highlighted the significance of encounter notifications in improving communication and care coordination between EDs and PCPs, leading to enhanced patient outcomes. However, challenges such as technological barriers, privacy concerns, and variations in healthcare settings were identified. CONCLUSION: ENS play a crucial role in enhancing communication and care coordination between EDs and PCPs. Despite challenges, these systems offer substantial benefits and opportunities for improving patient care in the ED-primary care continuum. Future research should focus on addressing implementation barriers and evaluating long-term impacts to optimize the effectiveness of ENS in this context.

Palliative care inpatients in Switzerland (2012-2021): characteristics, in-hospital mortality and avoidable admissions.

OBJECTIVES: Palliative patients generally prefer to be cared for and die at home. Overly aggressive treatments place additional strain on already burdened patients and healthcare services, contributing to decreased quality of life and increased healthcare costs. This study characterises palliative inpatients, quantifies in-hospital mortality and potentially avoidable hospitalisations. METHODS: We conducted a multicentre retrospective analysis using the national inpatient cohort. The extracted data encompassed all inpatients for palliative care spanning the years 2012-2021. The dataset comprised information on demographics, diagnoses, comorbidities, treatments and clinical outcomes. Content experts reviewed a list of treatments for which no hospitalisation was required. RESULTS: 120 396 hospitalisation records indicated palliative patients. Almost half were women (n=59 297, 49%). Most patients were ≥65 years old. 66% had an oncologic primary diagnosis. The majority were admitted from home (82 443; 69%). The patients stayed a median of 12 days (6-20). All treatments for 25 188 patients (21%) could have been performed at home. In-hospital deaths ended 64 739 stays (54%); of note, 10% (n=6357/64 739) of in-hospital deaths occurred within 24 hours. CONCLUSIONS: In this nationwide study of palliative inpatients, two-thirds were 65 years old and older. Regarding the performed treatments alone, a fifth of these hospitalisations can be considered as avoidable. More than half of the patients died during their hospital stay, and 1 in 10 of those within 24 hours.

Developing indicators for medication-related readmissions based on a Delphi consensus study.

BACKGROUND: Medication-related readmissions challenge healthcare systems by burdening patients, increasing costs and straining resources. However, to date, there has been no consensus study on indicators for medication-related readmissions. OBJECTIVES: This Delphi study aimed to develop a consensus-based set of indicators for detecting patients at risk of medication-related readmission. METHODS: An expert panel of clinical pharmacists, physicians and nursing experts participated in a two-round Delphi study. In round 1, 31 indicators taken from the literature were rated for relevance on a scale from 1 to 9, with a median rating of 7 or higher suggesting relevance. The RAND/UCLA method was used to determine consensus. In round 2, indicators lacking consensus were re-rated together with a series of new indicators generated by the experts. Additional details were sought for some indicators. The main outcomes were the relevance of, consensus on, and completeness of the proposed indicators for identifying risks of 30-day medication-related readmission. RESULTS: Thirty-eight experts participated in round 1. Consensus was found for all the indicators, with 25 included and 6 excluded. Thirty-four experts participated in round 2. Consensus was found for all 5 newly suggested indicators, and 4 were included. The expert panel prioritized the following indicators: (1) insufficient communication between different healthcare providers, (2) polypharmacy (≥7 medications), (3) low rates of medication adherence (twice-weekly mistakes or missing administration), (4) complex medication regimens (≥3 doses, ≥2 dosage forms and ≥2 administration routes per day), and (5) multimorbidity (≥3 chronic conditions). The final set comprised 29 indicators. CONCLUSIONS: The indicator set developed for flagging potential medication-related readmissions could guide priorities for clinical pharmacy services at hospital discharge, improving patient outcomes and resource use. A validation study of these indicators is planned.

An overview of reviews and synthesis across 440 studies examines the importance of hospital readmission predictors across various patient populations.

OBJECTIVES: The scientific literature contains an abundance of prediction models for hospital readmissions. However, no review has yet synthesized their predictors across various patient populations. Therefore, our aim was to examine predictors of hospital readmissions across 13 patient populations. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: An overview of systematic reviews was combined with a meta-analytical approach. Two thousand five hundred four different predictors were categorized using common ontologies to pool and examine their odds ratios and frequencies of use in prediction models across and within different patient populations. RESULTS: Twenty-eight systematic reviews with 440 primary studies were included. Numerous predictors related to prior use of healthcare services (odds ratio; 95% confidence interval: 1.64; 1.42-1.89), diagnoses (1.41; 1.31-1.51), health status (1.35; 1.20-1.52), medications (1.28; 1.13-1.44), administrative information about the index hospitalization (1.23; 1.14-1.33), clinical procedures (1.20; 1.07-1.35), laboratory results (1.18; 1.11-1.25), demographic information (1.10; 1.06-1.14), and socioeconomic status (1.07; 1.02-1.11) were analyzed. Diagnoses were frequently used (in 37.38%) and displayed large effect sizes across all populations. Prior use of healthcare services showed the largest effect sizes but were seldomly used (in 2.57%), whereas demographic information (in 13.18%) was frequently used but displayed small effect sizes. CONCLUSION: Diagnoses and patients' prior use of healthcare services showed large effects both across and within different populations. These results can serve as a foundation for future prediction modeling.

Essential steps in the development, implementation, evaluation and quality assurance of the written part of the Swiss federal licensing examination for human medicine.

Purpose: This report describes the essential steps in the development, implementation, evaluation and quality assurance of the written part of the Swiss Federal Licensing Examination for Human Medicine (FLE) and the insights gained since its introduction in 2011. Methods: Based on existing scientific evidence, international expertise, and experience gained from previous examinations, the FLE is developed by experts from all five medical faculties in Switzerland with the support of the Institute for Medical Education and is held simultaneously at five locations. The exam organisers document and review every examination held and continuously optimise the processes; they have summarised the results in this report. Results: The essential steps comprise the development, revision and translation of questions; construction of the exam and production of materials; candidate preparation; implementation and analysis. The quality assurance measures consist of guideline coherence in the development of the questions and implementation of the exam, revision processes, construction of the exam based on the national blueprint, multiphase review of the translations and exam material, and statistical analysis of the exam and the comments from candidates. The intensive collaboration, especially on the part of representatives from all the participating faculties and a central coordination unit, which provides methodological support throughout and oversees the analysis of the exam, has proven successful. Successfully completed examinations and reliable results in the eleven examinations so far implemented represent the outcomes of the quality assurance measures. Significant insights in recent years are the importance of appreciating the work of those involved and the central organisation of exam development, thus ensuring the long-term success of the process. Conclusion: Common guidelines and workshops, quality assurance measures accompanied by the continuous improvement of all processes, and appreciation of everyone involved, are essential to carrying out such an examination at a high-quality level in the long term.

Evolution of disability pension after renal transplantation: methods and results of a database linkage study of the Swiss Transplant Cohort Study and Swiss Disability Insurance.

AIMS: In Switzerland, certain patients with disabilities and reduced working ability are entitled to a disability pension granted by the Swiss Federal Social Insurance Office (FSIO). The aim was to assess the evolution of disability pension and work capacity after kidney transplantation and thereby pilot the procedures linking FSIO data with Swiss Transplant Cohort Study (STCS) data. METHODS: The current study pilot tested the record linkage of FSIO data with data from the STCS in a single-centre, observational setting. Patients were requested to consent to the use of their Swiss social security number (SSSN) for the purpose of record linkage. A privacy preserving trust centre approach was implemented with blinded statistical analysis. RESULTS: Between May 2008 and December 2015, 282 working-age renal transplant recipients of the University Hospital of Basel transplant centre were eligible for inclusion and 136 (48%, median age 48 years) consented to the use of their social security number and record linkage. The FSIO datasets of all patients were successfully retrieved and linked to STCS data in the trust centre and were numerically analysable. Yearly FSIO allowance data were available for the entire study duration. Fifty-five patients (40%) were registered as disability insurance recipients (DIR). In the entire population, the proportion of working patients slightly decreased from 76% to 72% between the pre-transplant and the post-transplant period. This was due to the lower proportion of patients working after transplantation in DIR compared with non-recipients (non-DIR) (DIR: 60% before vs 44% after; non-DIR: 83% before vs 88% after). In the DIR group, the proportion of patients not working increased from 36% to 49%, whereas in non-DIR the proportion changed only marginally (14% to 12%). The average disability insurance allowance was CHF 1172 per month. It changed from CHF 1135 before transplantation to CHF 1209 after transplantation (p = 0.59). CONCLUSIONS: In the Swiss healthcare and social insurance system, record linkage studies combining clinical datasets with data from FSIO are feasible but associated with great efforts and resource needs. The lack of changes in disability allowances after kidney transplantation should be further investigated in the nationwide setting.

A comparison of general and disease-specific machine learning models for the prediction of unplanned hospital readmissions.

Unplanned hospital readmissions are a burden to patients and increase healthcare costs. A wide variety of machine learning (ML) models have been suggested to predict unplanned hospital readmissions. These ML models were often specifically trained on patient populations with certain diseases. However, it is unclear whether these specialized ML models-trained on patient subpopulations with certain diseases or defined by other clinical characteristics-are more accurate than a general ML model trained on an unrestricted hospital cohort. In this study based on an electronic health record cohort of consecutive inpatient cases of a single tertiary care center, we demonstrate that accurate prediction of hospital readmissions may be obtained by general, disease-independent, ML models. This general approach may substantially decrease the cost of development and deployment of respective ML models in daily clinical routine, as all predictions are obtained by the use of a single model.

Bayesian networks to identify potential high-risk multimorbidity and intervention clusters in inpatients: an explorative data mining study.

AIMS OF THE STUDY: Based on large sets of routine hospital data from inpatient cases, we aimed to explore multimorbidity and intervention clusters showing high risks for in-hospital mortality and unplanned readmissions using data-driven analytical methods. METHODS: We performed an explorative, historical cohort study of consecutive inpatient cases at a tertiary care centre with an integrated platform for routine healthcare data in Switzerland. From January 2012 through to December 2017, all inpatients aged ≥18 years at hospital admission were eligible for study inclusion. We predefined all-cause in-hospital death and unplanned hospital readmission as co-primary outcomes. In a first step, we explored and visualised multimorbidity and intervention clusters using mutual information analysis. In a subsequent step, we trained multi-layer Bayesian networks to identify clusters associated with in-hospital death and/or unplanned hospital readmission. RESULTS: Among 190,837 inpatient cases, 7994 unique diagnoses and 6639 interventions were routinely recorded during the six-year study period. Based on the mutual information analysis, we identified 32 multimorbidity clusters and 24 intervention clusters – of which several were directly related to in-hospital mortality and/or unplanned readmission in the subsequent Bayesian network analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Bayesian network analysis may be used as a tool to mine large healthcare databases in order to explore intervention targets for quality improvement programmes. However, the resulting associations should be substantiated in consecutive investigations using specific causal models. (Trial registration no EKNZ 2016-02128.).

Medical diagnoses showed low relatedness in an explorative mutual information analysis of 190,837 inpatient cases.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to quantify the shared information between medical diagnoses of an adult inpatient population to explore both multimorbidity patterns and vice versa the unrelatedness of medical diagnoses. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: This was a cross-sectional study, performed at a tertiary care center in Switzerland. Diagnoses were routinely coded using the International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision. RESULTS: Among 190,837 inpatient cases, 7,994 unique diagnoses were coded. There were 31.9 million possible diagnosis pairs; the respective mutual information scores in diagnosis pairs were low (range, 10-7 to 0.237). There were 148 pairs of diagnoses with a mutual information score higher than 0.01, which formed several clinically plausible disease clusters; 27.2% of cases did not have a diagnosis that belonged to one of the morbidity clusters. CONCLUSION: In an explorative analysis, we observed a high unrelatedness of diagnoses in a tertiary-care inpatient population. This finding indicates that although multimorbidity patterns can be observed, inpatient cases frequently have further, unrelated diagnoses, which share little information with specific other diagnoses. Therefore, management of multimorbid patients should be individualized and may not be generalized based on a few multimorbidity patterns or clusters.

Costs versus earnings in colon surgery and coronary artery bypass grafting under a prospective payment system: Sufficient financial incentives to reduce surgical site infections?

Based on a surgical site infection (SSI) cohort at an academic center, we showed a median potentially preventable loss per non-SSI case of $17,916 in colon surgery and of $34,741 in coronary artery bypass grafting.

Direct Costs of a Contact Isolation Day: A Prospective Cost Analysis at a Swiss University Hospital.

We prospectively evaluated direct costs of contact precautions using on-site observation. Additional mean costs per patient day were calculated for extra materials used, increased workload, and one-off isolation activities. The cost of contact precautions was $158.90 (95% confidence interval, $124.90‒$192.80) per patient day. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2018;39:101-103.

Secondary use of routine data in hospitals: description of a scalable analytical platform based on a business intelligence system.

We describe a scalable platform for research-oriented analyses of routine data in hospitals, which evolved from a state-of-the-art business intelligence architecture for enterprise resource planning. This platform involves an in-memory database management system for data modeling and analytics and a high-performance cluster for more computing-intensive analytical tasks. Setting up platforms for research-oriented analyses is a highly dynamic, time-consuming, and costly process. In some health care institutions, effective research platforms may be derived from existing business intelligence systems.

Iron supplementation in Switzerland - A bi-national, descriptive and observational study.

BACKGROUND: Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional disorder in the world, and it is the only common nutrient deficiency in industrialised nations. It is thought to be the most common cause of anaemia. Use of iron supplementation in Switzerland has not been previously quantified in detail. OBJECTIVES: We quantified use of iron supplementation from Swiss data and compared it with data from the UK. We assessed the frequency of serum ferritin and haemoglobin tests prior to newly started iron therapy to see whether use was based on documented low iron levels or blood parameters, especially in the case of parenteral iron supplementation. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective descriptive study of prescription iron supplementation use, and compared use of oral or parenteral iron drugs between Switzerland (CH) and the UK. We retrieved Swiss data from the Swiss Health Insurance Helsana Group, and UK data were from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD). The study period was 2012 to 2014. RESULTS: The 3-year prevalence of iron supplementation was 9.4% in Switzerland and 4.4% in the UK. Iron use increased slightly between 2012 and 2014 in both countries (CH +0.3%, UK +0.2%). Recorded parenteral iron administration was roughly a thousand times higher in Switzerland (1.9%) than in the UK in 2014. In Switzerland, iron supplements were mostly given to patients aged 20 to 49 years or older than of 80 years. In the UK, iron supplementation was less frequent in younger people, but more prevalent in the elderly. Prior to a first iron prescription, ferritin tests were done more frequently in Switzerland (oral 67.2%, parenteral 86.6%) than in the UK (oral 43.3%, parenteral 65.5%). Haemoglobin was measured before a new parenteral iron therapy rarely in Switzerland (oral 14.9%, parenteral 11.7%), but frequently in the UK (oral 77.4%, parenteral 85.6%). CONCLUSIONS: Iron supplementation is more common in Switzerland than in the UK, particularly parenteral iron supplementation. Haemoglobin measurements prior to a new parenteral iron therapy are relatively infrequent in Switzerland despite the required documentation of haemoglobin prior to therapy.

MELD score as a predictor of mortality, length of hospital stay, and disease burden: A single-center retrospective study in 39,323 inpatients.

The laboratory-based model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score reflects the function of the kidney, liver, and extrinsic coagulation pathway and might be used as a general prognostic tool for the assessment of patients. We therefore aimed to investigate a potential association of the MELD score with mortality, length of hospital stay (LOS), and disease burden in a general patient population.We performed a retrospective observational study at a tertiary referral center. From January 2012 through December 2013, all consecutive inpatients aged 18 years were eligible for the study; patients with missing MELD parameters on hospital admission and/or treatments influencing the international normalized ratio, that is, novel oral anticoagulants and vitamin K antagonists, were excluded. The MELD score on hospital admission was calculated retrospectively. The primary outcome measure was in-hospital all-cause mortality; secondary outcome measures were LOS and the number of comorbidities.A total of 39,323 inpatients were included in the final analysis. On admission, MELD scores of 15 to 19, 20 to 29, and ≥30 points (reference <15 points) showed increased hazard ratios (HRs) for in-hospital mortality in uni- and multivariable analysis with an adjusted HR of 2.52 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.81-3.49; P < .001), 2.70 (95% CI, 1.89-3.84; P < .001), and 8.00 (95% CI, 3.91-16.39; P < .001), respectively. Increased MELD scores of 15 to 19, 20 to 29, and ≥30 points were positively associated with LOS and the number of comorbidities in uni- and multivariable analysis.In our study population consisting of adult inpatients, the MELD score on hospital admission was significantly associated with mortality, LOS, and the number of comorbidities. We suggest to prospectively validate the MELD score in inpatients as part of clinical decision support systems.

Iron homeostasis in inflammation: a single centre prospective observational study in medical inpatients.

AIMS OF THE STUDY: We aimed to assess a potential association of iron status with mortality and morbidity of inpatients with systemic inflammation. METHODS: This was a single centre prospective observational study. From April 2014 to October 2014, all consecutive medical inpatients aged >=18 years with a C-reactive protein value >5 mg/l on hospital admission were eligible for the study. We excluded pregnant women and patients with terminal renal insufficiency or past allogeneic stem cell transplantation. For all patients, a complete set of serum iron parameters was obtained on hospital admission. In the final analysis, the in-hospital all-cause mortality and several morbidity measures (length of stay, number of secondary diagnoses and Charlson Comorbidity Index) were compared between four distinct iron status groups: patients having iron deficiency anaemia, iron deficiency without anaemia, anaemia without iron deficiency, and normal iron status. Iron deficiency was quantifies as the serum transferrin receptor / ferritin index, with a cut-off level of 1.5. RESULTS: A total of 438 patients were included in the final analysis. Patients with iron deficiency had a higher in-hospital mortality than patients with iron deficiency anaemia, anaemia without iron deficiency, or normal iron status (6% vs 1%, 5%, and 1%, respectively; p = 0.042). Patients with iron deficiency anaemia had a higher number of secondary diagnoses (mean 8.4; standard deviation 4.2) and a higher Charlson Comorbidity Index (mean 1.8; standard deviation 1.9) than patients with iron deficiency, anaemia without iron deficiency, or normal iron status (p <0.001 and p <0.001, respectively). The median length of stay did not differ significantly between the iron status groups (p = 0.080). CONCLUSIONS: In our study population, iron status was significantly associated with mortality and morbidity. Further studies are required to assess the pathophysiological and clinical effects of an altered iron metabolism and iron substitution therapies in inflammation.