Effect of a care transition intervention by pharmacists: an RCT.

Background: Pharmacists may improve medication-related outcomes during transitions of care. The aim of the Iowa Continuity of Care Study was to determine if a pharmacist case manager (PCM) providing a faxed discharge medication care plan from a tertiary care institution to primary care could improve medication appropriateness and reduce adverse events, rehospitalization and emergency department visits.

Methods: Design.

Effect of clinical pharmacist intervention on medication discrepancies following hospital discharge.

Background: Medication discrepancies may occur at transitions in care and negatively impact patient outcomes.

Objective: To determine if involving clinical pharmacists in hospital care, medication reconciliation and discharge medication plan communication can reduce medication discrepancies with a prospective, randomized, blinded, controlled trial.

Setting: A large, tertiary care, academic medical center.

Acceptance of recommendations by inpatient pharmacy case managers: unintended consequences of hospitalist and specialist care.

Study Objective: To determine whether recommendations made by pharmacists and accepted by hospital physicians resulted in fewer postdischarge readmissions and urgent care visits compared with recommendations that were not implemented.

Design: Prospective substudy of pharmacist recommendations.

Setting: Tertiary care academic medical center and private community-based physician practices and community pharmacies.

Reduced mortality with noninvasive hemodynamic monitoring of shock.

Purpose: This study compared clinical outcomes associated with exposure to pulmonary artery catheters (PACs), central venous catheters (CVCs), arterial pressure waveform analysis for cardiac output (APCO), or no central monitoring (NCM) in patients with shock.

Materials And Methods: We assessed 6929 consecutive patients from 2003 to 2006 within a surgical intensive care unit of a university hospital, identifying 237 mechanically ventilated patients with shock.

Results: Adjusted for severity of illness, use of APCO monitoring, compared with other options, was associated with reduced intensive care unit mortality (odds ratio [OR], 0.

A prospective, observational clinical trial of fever reduction to reduce systemic oxygen consumption in the setting of acute brain injury.

Introduction: Fever after acute brain injury appears to be a detrimental factor, associated with impaired neurological outcomes. This study assessed physiological changes in systemic oxygen consumption (VO2) during cutaneous cooling after severe brain injury.

Methods: This prospective, observational, clinical study evaluated ten, critically ill, brain-injured patients requiring mechanical ventilation with a core body temperature of greater or equal to 38 degrees C.