February 27, 2010 |  0
In this comparison of the diagnostic accuracy of 3 monoclonal antibody stool tests for Hpylori, sensitivity ranged from 69% to 92%, and specificity ranged from 76% to 90%. The take home message is there is significant variability of diagnostic performance of various Hpylori stool tests, but they all perform better than the older polyclonal tests, […]
February 25, 2010 |  0
In this long-term follow up of the effectiveness of a central-line care bundle, originally published in 2006 (abstract), the rate of catheter associated blood stream infections (CA-BSIs) was sustained from 18 months to 36 months of follow up. This is encouraging that such drastic reductions in CA-BSIs can be sustained (abstract)
February 25, 2010 |  0
In this retrospective cohort of 338 patients undergoing emergency PCI for ACS, 28% developed CIN, which was significantly more common in women, those with an LAD lesion, a contrast volume >200cc, or an end-diastolic pulmonary artery pressure > 15mmHg. Mortality in the CIN group was significantly higher than the non-CIN group (10% vs 3%). CIN […]
February 24, 2010 |  3
Late February is the pits for interns – the novelty of being a real-live MD is long gone, and the rebirth of residency is too far beyond the horizon to see. The other day, my wonderful resident Anna brought a coffee cake to my ward team’s post-call rounds, partly to psych up the troops. This […]
February 22, 2010 |  0
In this large statewide retrospective database analysis, adjusted ICU mortality was lowest in units which had daily multi-disciplinary rounds. When stratified by intensivist staffing, those with daily rounds and high staffing had the lowest mortality, followed by those with daily rounds and low staffing. Multi-disciplinary rounds are vital to good patient outcomes (abstract)
February 22, 2010 |  0
In this large retrospective database analysis of Medicare fee for service patients undergoing 1 of 15 surgical procedures, the % of them that received co-management (>70% of hospital days had a charge from a medical doctor) increased 11% / year from 2001 to 2006. Co-management was more likely to occur in non-teaching, for-profit hospitals, and […]