The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on outpatients of internal medicine and pediatrics: A descriptive study.

ABSTRACT: This study analyzed the changes in the number of outpatients and disease presentation during the entirety of 2020, the period of COVID-19 pandemic.The average annual number of outpatient visits between 2017 and 2019 (before COVID-19) and the total number of outpatient visits in 2020 (COVID-19 period) were compared. Diagnostic codes were identified during 2 periods to analyze changes in the number of outpatient visits according to disease and month.The average annual number of outpatient visits was 47,105 before, and 40,786 during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a decrease of 13.4%. The number of outpatient visits in internal medicine decreased by 10.2% during the COVID-19 pandemic and tended to rebound during the second half of the year. However, the number of outpatient visits in the pediatric department decreased by 37.5% overall throughout the COVID-19 period and continued to decline in the second half of the year. The number of outpatients with infectious diseases decreased significantly (35.9%) compared to noninfectious diseases (cancer, 5.0%; circulatory disease, 4.1%). In addition, the number of outpatient visits due to viral diseases continued to decline, while the incidence of bacterial diseases increased rapidly in the second half of the year.This study confirmed that the number of outpatient visits due to bacterial or viral infections decreased throughout the COVID-19 crisis. Therefore, expanding public health and telemedicine services is necessary to prevent secondary health problems caused by essential medical use restrictions.

Hospital medicine team perception of diversity and inclusion at work.

BACKGROUND: : Diversity and Inclusion concepts are crucial in healthcare as the patient population we encounter as hospitalist medicine team is diverse. A diverse and inclusive environment for healthcare employees can lead to improved job satisfaction and high-quality medical care of patients. However, hospitalist perspectives on diversity and inclusion in their work environment are not well studied and noted in literature. Understanding hospitalist perspectives of diversity and inclusion is important in promoting organizational culture. METHODS: We conducted an online survey of a large hospitalist group at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, from October-December 2019, as part of Hospital Internal Medicine (HIM) Diversity Council (HIM-DC) inception, to understand the perceptions of its staff about diversity and inclusion at work and facilitate the next best steps for the team. The responses to the survey questions were graded on a likert scale. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze and interpret the data. RESULTS: : Of the 135 team members, 78 responded (58%). Of the respondents, more than 80% never witnessed or experienced discrimination from a colleague, while more than 50% did witness or experience discrimination from a patient/visitor. More than 70% did not report this discrimination. Nearly 90% felt that it was an inclusive environment at work, across different personal attributes. Most of the respondents requested additional cultural education and social events. CONCLUSION: Unfortunately, a higher percentage of discrimination is perceived from patients/visitors. This highlights the need for institutional policies about visitor conduct. A high proportion of HIM staff felt inclusive at workplace. Committees such as HIM-DC can augment cultural education and social events to improve team's perception.

Systemic treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma: An EASL position paper.

The last 5 years have witnessed relevant advances in the systemic treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. New data have emerged since the development of the EASL Clinical Practice Guidelines on the management of hepatocellular carcinoma in 2018. Drugs licensed in some countries now include 4 oral multi-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (sorafenib, lenvatinib, regorafenib and cabozantinib), 1 anti-angiogenic antibody (ramucirumab) and 4 immune checkpoint inhibitors, alone or in combination (atezolizumab in combination with bevacizumab, ipilimumab in combination with nivolumab, nivolumab and pembrolizumab in monotherapy). Prolonged survival in excess of 2 years can be expected in most patients with sensitive tumours and well-preserved liver function that renders them fit for sequential therapies. With different choices available in any given setting, the robustness of the evidence of efficacy and a correct matching of the safety profile of a given agent with patient characteristics and preferences are key in making sound therapeutic decisions. The recommendations in this document amend the previous EASL Clinical Practice Guidelines and aim to help clinicians provide the best possible care for patients today. In view of several ongoing and promising trials, further advances in systemic therapy of hepatocellular carcinoma are foreseen in the near future and these recommendations will have to be updated regularly.

Acute kidney injury after in-hospital cardiac arrest in a predominant internal medicine and cardiology patient population: incidence, risk factors, and impact on survival.

INTRODUCTION: Prognosis of survivors from cardiac arrest is generally poor. Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common finding in these patients. In general, AKI is well characterized as a marker of adverse outcome. In-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) represents a special subset of cardiac arrest scenarios with differential predisposing factors and courses after the event, compared to out-of-hospital resuscitations. Data about AKI in survivors after in-hospital cardiac arrest are scarce. METHODS: In this study, we retrospectively analyzed patients after IHCA for incidence and risk factors of AKI and its prognostic impact on mortality. For inclusion in the analysis, patients had to survive at least 48 h after IHCA. RESULTS: A total of 238 IHCA events with successful resuscitation and survival beyond 48 h after the initial event were recorded. Of those, 89.9% were patients of internal medicine, and 10.1% of patients from surgery, neurology or other departments. In 120/238 patients (50.4%), AKI was diagnosed. In 28 patients (23.3%), transient or permanent renal replacement therapy had to be initiated. Male gender, preexisting chronic kidney disease and a non-shockable first ECG rhythm during resuscitation were significantly associated with a higher incidence of AKI in IHCA-survivors. In-hospital mortality in survivors from IHCA without AKI was 29.7%, and 60.8% in patients after IHCA who developed AKI (p < 0.01 between groups).By multivariate analysis, AKI after IHCA persisted as an independent predictor of in-hospital mortality (HR 3.7 (95% CI 2.14-6.33, p ≤ 0.01)). CONCLUSION: In this cohort of survivors from IHCA, AKI is a frequent finding, with adverse impact on outcome. Therefore, therapeutic strategies to prevent AKI in post-IHCA patients are warranted.

Quality of care and outcomes in internal medicine patients bedspaced to noninternal medicine units.

ABSTRACT: Hospital overcrowding has led to a practice known as bedspacing (in which admitted patients are placed on a different specialty's inpatient ward), yet little is known about the impact of this practice on healthcare quality.We investigated whether hospital outcome measures differ between bedspaced general internal medicine (GIM) patients vs nonbedspaced patients.Our retrospective study included patients admitted to GIM wards at 2 academic hospitals (2012-2014), comparing bedspaced to nonbedspaced patients, and identifying adverse events from the hospital's Electronic Patient Record.We compared these groups with respect to actual length of stay vs the expected length of stay (% ELOS), which is defined as length of stay (LOS) divided by expected length of stay (ELOS), 30-day readmission, adverse events (falls, medication-related incidents, equipment-related incidents, first treatment related incidents, laboratory-related incidents, and operative/invasive events), and in-hospital mortality.There were 22,519 patients analyzed with 15,985 (71%) discharged from a medical ward and 6534 (29%) discharged from a non-medical ward. Bedspaced patients had shorter lengths of stay (4.1 vs 6.2 days, P < .001) and expected lengths of stay (ELOS) (6.1 vs 6.4 days, P < .001). Bedspaced patients had a lower percentage of ELOS (% ELOS) than nonbedspaced patients (70% vs 91%, P < .001), similar readmission rates (9.8 vs 10.3 events per 100 patients, P = .24), lower in-hospital mortality rates (2.6 vs 3.3 events per 100 patients, P = .003) and fewer adverse events (0.20 vs 0.60 events per 100 patient days, P < .01).Bedspacing of patients is common. Patients who are bedspaced to off-service wards have better outcomes. This may relate to preferential allocation practices.

Can a multidisciplinary approach slow renal progression in CKD patients?

Background: Several randomized controlled trials have examined the benefits of multidisciplinary CKD care on estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). But, the results are inconclusive. Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate whether or not multidisciplinary CKD care was beneficial in terms of CKD progression. Methods: This is a randomized controlled trial and conducted at community hospital, Thailand. The inclusion criteria were patients with age of 18 years or older and diagnosed with up to stage 3b CKD based on the KDIGO guidelines. Eligible patients divided into two groups: intervention and control group. The intervention group received a type of multidisciplinary treatment, while patients in the control group received the standard treatment administered at the outpatient clinic. The primary outcome was eGFR outcomes at three months after enrollment. Results: During the study period, there were 334 patients who met the study criteria. Eligible patients were divided into two groups: intervention (166 patients; 49.70%) and control (168 patients; 50.30%). There were three outcomes that differed significantly between the two groups at 3 months: mean difference of eGFR from baseline, proportion of patients with eGFR decline greater than 4 mL/min/1.73 m2, and difference in CKD stage from baseline. A significantly higher percentage of patients in the intervention group experienced CKD improvement by one stage (24.10% vs 5.95%), and a significantly lower percentage experienced decline by one stage (8.43% vs 35.12%) than in the control group. Conclusion: Slower renal progression in patients with up to stage 3b CKD was shown in patients who were treated by a multidisciplinary approach.

COVID 19 and the new challenges in health management: The pilot experience of the Internal Medicine Department of a Regional hospital / COVID 19 y los nuevos retos en gestión sanitaria: la experiencia piloto del Servicio de Medicina Interna de un hospital de primer nivel

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El hospital del futuro en 10 puntos / The hospital of the future in 10 points

La Sociedad Española de Medicina Interna ha desarrollado a lo largo de 2018-2019 el proyecto «El hospital del futuro». El hospital del futuro pretende trasladar al contexto del sistema sanitario español la reflexión que abordó el Royal College of Physicians en el Reino Unido sobre la organización de la asistencia en los hospitales del futuro, desde el conocimiento acumulado sobre el Sistema Nacional de Salud. En el proyecto participaron asimismo numerosas sociedades científico-médicas y entidades profesionales del sector salud y asociaciones de pacientes. Este artículo tiene por objeto destacar en 10 puntos las previsiones que consideramos más relevantes derivadas de este proyecto, dedicando el último a los retos que para la Medicina Interna se deducen de estas propuestas

Over the course of 2018 and 2019, the Spanish Society of Internal Medicine carried out a project called "The Future Hospital." Based on cumulative knowledge on the Spanish National Health System, this project seeks to transfer the observations on the organization of healthcare in future hospitals made by the Royal College of Physicians in the United Kingdom to the context of the Spanish healthcare system. The project's participants included numerous scientific and medical societies, professional associations in the health sector, and patient associations. This aim of this article is to highlight, in 10 points, predictions that arose from this project that we consider to be the most relevant, reserving the last point for the challenges for the field of internal medicine that can be surmised from these proposals

Medical work guide for physician during the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (trial edition). / 2019å† çŠ¶ç— æ¯’ç— ç–«æƒ æœŸé—´å† ç§‘åŒ»å¸ˆå¼€å±•ä¸´åºŠè¯Šç–—å·¥ä½œæŒ‡å¼•(试行).

According to the fact that many coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients are seeking for medical help due to some other possible clinical symptoms, besides respiratory symptoms, all the internal medicine departments (including emergency department) could be involved. Moreover, an increasing number of physician are going to work in fever clinic, isolation wards and supporting the medical work in Hubei Province in the future. For a better medical work implementation of physician against COVID-19 and the interpretation of this viral transmission, the work guide was drawn up by Hunan Medical Association, Internal Medicine Specialized Committee.

Improving Timeliness of Internal Medicine Consults in the Emergency Department: A Quality Improvement Initiative.

INTRODUCTION: Emergency department (ED) wait time is an important health system quality indicator. Prolonged consult to decision time (CTDT), the time it takes to reach a disposition decision after receiving a specialty consultation request, can contribute to increased overall length of stay in the ED. OBJECTIVE: To identify delays in the consultation process for general internal medicine (GIM) and trial interventions to reduce CTDT. METHODS: The study was conducted at a large tertiary teaching hospital with GIM inpatient wards at two campuses. Four interventions were trialed over sequential Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles: (1) process mapping, (2) resident education sessions, (3) audit and feedback of CTDT, and (4) adding a swing shift during peak consult volume. MEASUREMENTS: The primary outcome measures were mean CTDT for patients admitted to GIM and the proportion of admitted patients with CTDT of less than 3 hours. RESULTS: Mean CTDT decreased from 4.61 hours before intervention to 4.18 hours after intervention (p < .0001). The proportion of GIM patients with CTDT less than 3 hours increased from 25% to 33% (p < .0001). CONCLUSIONS: The interventions trialed led to a sustained reduction in CTDT over a 12-month period and demonstrated the effectiveness of education in influencing physician performance.

Coordination of Care as Experienced by the Specialist: Validation of the CSC-Specialist Survey in the Private Sector and the Effect of a Shared Electronic Health Record.

BACKGROUND: We previously developed 2 complementary surveys to measure coordination of care as experienced by the specialist and the primary care provider (PCP). These Coordination of Specialty Care (CSC) surveys were developed in the Veterans Health Administration (VA), under an integrated organizational umbrella that includes a shared electronic health record (EHR). OBJECTIVE: To develop an augmented version of the CSC-Specialist in the private sector and use that version (CSC-Specialist 2.0) to examine the effect of a shared EHR on coordination. RESEARCH DESIGN: We administered the survey online to a national sample of clinicians from 10 internal medicine subspecialties. We used multitrait analysis and confirmatory factor analysis to evaluate the psychometric properties of the original VA-based survey and develop an augmented private sector survey (CSC-Specialist 2.0). We tested construct validity by regressing a single-item measure of overall coordination onto the 4 scales. We used analysis of variance to examine the relationship of a shared EHR to coordination. RESULTS: Psychometric assessment supported the 13-item, 4-scale structure of the original VA measure and the augmented 18-item, 4-scale structure of the CSC-Specialist 2.0. The CSC-Specialist 2.0 scales together explained 45% of the variance in overall coordination. A shared EHR was associated with significantly better scores for the Roles and Responsibilities and Data Transfer scales, and for overall coordination. CONCLUSIONS: The CSC-Specialist 2.0 is a unique survey that demonstrates adequate psychometric performance and is sensitive to use of a shared EHR. It can be used alone or with the CSC-PCP to identify coordination problems, guide interventions, and measure improvements.

[Acquired angioedema due to C1-inhibitor deficiency: CREAK recommendations for diagnosis and treatment]. / Angiœdèmes par déficit acquis en C1-inhibiteur : recommandations du CREAK pour le diagnostic et la prise en charge.

Acquired angioedema with C1-inhibitor deficiency is a rare and peculiar entity belonging to the spectrum of bradykinin angioedemas. It usually occurs in subjects over 60 years old, and is mostly associated with a B-cell lymphoid hemopathy or a monoclonal gammopathy. The diagnosis relies on at least one angioedema episode, lasting more than 24 h, and on the decrease of functional C1-inhibitor. Low C1q is observed in 90% of patients, and an anti C1-inhibitor antibody is found in 50% of patients. The treatment of severe attacks relies on icatibant or C1-inhibitor perfusions. Long term prophylaxis in patients with frequent attacks requires treatment of the associated hemopathy if so. In case of idiopathic angioedema, tranexamic acid and danazol may be used, provided that there is-no thrombophilia; as well as rituximab as second-line treatment. Inhibitors of kallikrein still need to be evaluated in this therapeutic indication.

AAIM Recommendations for the 2020-2021 Internal Medicine Residency Application Cycle in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

This statement was released in June 2020 by the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine to provide guidance for the 2020-2021 residency application cycle in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. While many of the recommendations are specific to this cycle, others, such as the Department Summary Letter of Evaluation, are meant to be an enduring change to the internal medicine residency application process. AAIM realizes that some schools may not yet have the tools or resources to implement the template fully this cycle and look toward collaboration within the internal medicine education community to facilitate adoption in the cycles to come.

["Choosing wisely" - mission and aims]. / Was wollen wir mit "Klug entscheiden" erreichen?

"Klug entscheiden" addresses the problem of over- and undersupply in medicine. Following the American model "Choosing wisely" an interdisciplinary team of all internal medicine societies develops evidence-based recommendations to improve the quality of indications. In contrast to guidelines, the initiative does not provide comprehensive medical recommendations, but focuses on problems that are particularly relevant to health care. In addition, it is intended to promote communication between doctors and patients, but also the national debate on the responsible and sensible use of medical resources.