Hospital Medicine News

Results of a study conducted at six New York NICUs suggested that multiple-birth infants are at an increased risk for wrong-patient order errors, with as many as one in seven sets of twins and one in three sets of triplets or quadruplets in the study given orders for diagnostic tests and medications meant for another infant.

A comparison of N95 respirators and medical masks for the prevention of influenza demonstrated no significant difference in the incidence of laboratory-confirmed influenza among health care workers in outpatient settings, according to findings from The Respiratory Protection Effectiveness Clinical Trial (ResPECT).

The addition of an automated 72-hour antibiotic time-out alert within the electronic medical record system at Mercy Hospital in St. Louis led to more frequent de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotics compared with the period before its implementation, researchers reported.

Increasing the coverage of personal protective equipment, or PPE, to include the hands and wrists reduces the contamination of personnel during removal, according to findings from two nonblinded cross-over trials.

Hospitalizations related to ambulatory care-sensitive conditions, or ACSCs — such as dehydration and UTIs — are typically avoidable when patients receive quality primary care. Although evidence suggests the rates of inpatient hospitalizations for ACSCs have decreased in recent years, the rates of hospitalizations “for observation,” which do not count as inpatient admissions, have increased, according to researchers.

Helmet use was “extremely rare” and alcohol consumption beyond the legal limit and illicit substance use “was common” among electric or motorized scooter drivers involved in accidents. In addition, extremity fractures were the most frequent injury among these patients, researchers said.

Oseltamivir for influenza prophylaxis is a consideration for health care workers at high risk for developing influenza, including those who decline vaccination, but it comes with some challenges, researchers reported in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.

Just 18% of older adults admitted to a long-term acute care hospital were alive after 5 years, making the prognosis for these patients worse than those associated with terminal illnesses, including advanced cancer and end-stage heart failure, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Inappropriate antibiotic treatment is common in hospitalized patients with asymptomatic bacteriuria, particularly among elderly patients with altered mental status, and it may lead to increased length of hospital stay, according to study results published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Recently published findings from Canada suggest use of hemodialysis for children hospitalized with acute kidney injury has increased in 2 decades and is associated with a high risk for short-term mortality.