Critical Care News

Over a quarter of ICD-9-Clinical Modification codes mapped incorrectly to ICD-10-Clinical Modification codes, with a small percentage being clinically inaccurate, according to recently published data. 

Frail patients who are discharged from the hospital have an increased risk of readmission or death within 30 days compared with patients who are not considered frail, according to recently published data. 

Surviving spouses of hospice care users may face less depressive symptoms following their spouse’s death compared with those who did not use hospice services, according to recently published data in JAMA Internal Medicine. 

Patients who frequent the emergency department repeatedly have higher mortality rates and a greater number of hospital admissions and outpatient visits, compared with non-frequent ED users, according to recently published data.

Results from a systematic literature review indicate that nearly one-quarter of patients who stay in the ICU following critical illness develop PTSD and that keeping diaries while in the unit may be a preventative tool.

Significant variability in care management is seen across ICUs nationwide with patients who enter the ICU with pre-established end-of-life wishes, according to a recently published study. 

Despite state laws that appoint the next immediate family member as next-of-kin for patients who lose capacity, researchers report a considerable number of veterans from their study chose someone outside their nuclear family as their appointed surrogate decision maker.

The rate of ED visits for drug poisoning has increased since 2004, with roughly 1.1 million visits each year since 2008, according to a recently published data brief by the CDC.

In a recently released position paper, leading internists are urging physicians to have honest end-of-life discussions with patients — including patient’s wishes and prognosis — to determine if CPR is in their best interest.

Physicians working in hospitals with policies that reflect best-interest regarding do-not-resuscitate orders are comfortable suggesting against resuscitation, compared with physicians in hospitals that emphasized autonomy, according to data.