Hospitalizations during the 30-day period preceding admissions with ST-elevation myocardial infarction: Insights from the Nationwide Readmission Database (NRD).

Introduction: The extent and associated reasons or characteristics related to patients presenting to hospital prior with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) are unknown.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study analyzed the Nationwide Readmission Database from 2018 to 2020 to evaluate hospitalizations within 30 days preceding a hospitalization with the diagnosis of STEMI in order to determine how often this occurs and what are the causes and factors associated with the recent admission.

Results: There were 1,355,765 hospital admissions with a diagnosis of STEMI and 54,545 (4.

Creating a plasma coordination center to support COVID-19 outpatient trials across a national network of hospital blood banks.

Introduction: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we rapidly implemented a plasma coordination center, within two months, to support transfusion for two outpatient randomized controlled trials. The center design was based on an investigational drug services model and a Food and Drug Administration-compliant database to manage blood product inventory and trial safety.

Methods: A core investigational team adapted a cloud-based platform to randomize patient assignments and track inventory distribution of control plasma and high-titer COVID-19 convalescent plasma of different blood groups from 29 donor collection centers directly to blood banks serving 26 transfusion sites.