November 30, 2008 |  0
Similar to a recent study posted on 11/18, in this multi-center study of 291 patients with chest pain and suspected CAD, patients underwent both coronary CTA and catheterization (abstract). This study found the PPV of CTA (compared to catheterization) was 91% and the NPV was 83% for detecting >50% coronary artery obstruction (in patients with […]
November 30, 2008 |  0
Norwalk virus is the most frequent cause of epidemic non-bacterial gastroenteritis worldwide (CDC link). It is highly pathogenic and extremely contagious, but symptoms usually only last for about a day. However, in this study, researchers found the fecal shedding of norwalk (in experimentally infected healthy adults) lasted for a median of 1 month, and as […]
November 27, 2008 |  7
I’m on clinical service now and my patients are dying left and right. And I’ve never been prouder of my own care, and that delivered by my colleagues and hospital. When I was in training, a patient’s death was invariably considered a medical failure, and thus an occasion for shame and silence – the Outcome-That-Must-Not-Be-Named. […]
November 25, 2008 |  0
In this prospective observational cohort, researchers derived and validated a decision rule to predict true bacteremia in 3730 ED patients who had blood cultures drawn (abstract). They determined that patients should get a blood culture if they had at least 1 major or 2 minor criteria (Major criteria were temp>39.5, indwelling vascular catheter, or clinical suspicion of endocarditis; […]
November 25, 2008 |  0
Leslie Flores writes… Welcome to SHM’s newest online endeavor, The Hospitalist Leader blog.  Your blogging team is excited about this great opportunity to explore a wide range of practice management topics, and we hope that our posts invite a lot of member interaction, interesting dialogue, and the regular expression of differing opinions and points of […]
November 20, 2008 |  1
The Association for Professionals in Infection Control (APIC) has released a comprehensive prevalence survey on the state of Cdiff in US healthcare facilities (from 648 facilities in 47 states) (link). They found 13 / 1000 inpatients were infected or colonized with Cdiff (94% infected). Over half (54%) were detected in <48 hours of admission (indicating […]