Advance Care Planning Among Patients With Advanced Illness Presenting to the Emergency Department.

Background: Advance care planning (ACP) benefits emergency department (ED) patients with advanced illness. Although Medicare implemented physician reimbursement for ACP discussions in 2016, early studies found limited uptake.

Objective: We conducted a pilot study to assess ACP documentation and billing to inform the development of ED-based interventions to increase ACP.

Predisposing and Precipitating Factors Associated With Delirium: A Systematic Review.

Importance: Despite discrete etiologies leading to delirium, it is treated as a common end point in hospital and in clinical trials, and delirium research may be hampered by the attempt to treat all instances of delirium similarly, leaving delirium management as an unmet need. An individualized approach based on unique patterns of delirium pathophysiology, as reflected in predisposing factors and precipitants, may be necessary, but there exists no accepted method of grouping delirium into distinct etiologic subgroups.

Objective: To conduct a systematic review to identify potential predisposing and precipitating factors associated with delirium in adult patients agnostic to setting.

Association of Residential Racial and Ethnic Segregation With Legal Intervention Injuries in California.

Importance: The continued harm of Black individuals in the US by law enforcement officers calls for reform of both law enforcement officers and structural racism embedded in communities.

Objective: To examine the association between county characteristics and racial and ethnic disparities in legal intervention injuries.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This retrospective, cross-sectional study was conducted among 27 671 patients presenting to California hospitals from January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2019, with legal intervention injuries (defined as any injury sustained as a result of an encounter with any law enforcement officer) as identified by International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision codes.

Early head CT in post-cardiac arrest patients: A helpful tool or contributor to self-fulfilling prophecy?

Objective: Neuroprognostication guidelines suggest that early head computed tomography (HCT) might be useful in the evaluation of cardiac arrest (CA) patients following return of spontaneous circulation. We aimed to determine the impact of early HCT, performed within the first 6 h following CA, on decision-making following resuscitation.

Methods: We identified a cohort of initially unconscious post-CA patients at a tertiary care academic medical center from 2012 to 2017.

Implementation of Federal Dependent Care Policies for Physician-Scientists at Leading US Medical Schools.

This survey study explores whether leading US medical schools have policies about dependent care travel costs.

Differential outcomes following successful resuscitation in cardiac arrest due to drug overdose.

Background: Data pertaining to clinical characteristics and outcomes of cardiac arrest (CA) due to drug overdose (ODCA) are limited. We hypothesized that patients with ODCA would have binary outcomes (brain death or functional recovery) compared to patients in whom CA was due to another etiology.

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of CA cases from a single academic institution from 2012 to 2017.

Distinct predictive values of current neuroprognostic guidelines in post-cardiac arrest patients.

Purpose: To assess the performance of neuroprognostic guidelines proposed by the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), European Resuscitation Council/European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ERC/ESICM), and American Heart Association (AHA) in predicting outcomes of patients who remain unconscious after cardiac arrest.

Methods: We retrospectively identified a cohort of unconscious post-cardiac arrest patients at a single tertiary care centre from 2011 to 2017 and reviewed hospital records for clinical, radiographic, electrophysiologic, and biochemical findings. Outcomes at discharge and 6 months post-arrest were abstracted and dichotomized as good (Cerebral Performance Category (CPC) scores of 1-2) versus poor (CPC 3-5).

Minority Patients are Less Likely to Undergo Withdrawal of Care After Spontaneous Intracerebral Hemorrhage.

Background: Prior studies of patients in the intensive care unit have suggested racial/ethnic variation in end-of-life decision making. We sought to evaluate whether race/ethnicity modifies the implementation of comfort measures only status (CMOs) in patients with spontaneous, non-traumatic intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH).

Methods: We analyzed data from the Ethnic/Racial Variations of Intracerebral Hemorrhage (ERICH) study, a prospective cohort study specifically designed to enroll equal numbers of white, black, and Hispanic subjects.

The American Heart Association's Get With the Guidelines (GWTG)-Stroke development and impact on stroke care.

The American Heart Association's Get With the Guidelines (GWTG)-Stroke programme has changed stroke care delivery in the USA since its establishment in 2003. GWTG is a voluntary registry and continuous quality improvement initiative that collects data on patient characteristics, hospital adherence to guidelines and inpatient outcomes. Implementation of the programme saw increased provision of evidence-based care and improved patient outcomes.