Clinical Experience With a Dedicated Neurocritical Care Quality Improvement Program in an Academic Medical Center.

Background Managing neurocritical care patients encompasses many complex challenges, necessitating specialized care and continuous quality improvement efforts. In recent years, the focus on enhancing patient outcomes in neurocritical care may have led to the development of dedicated quality improvement programs. These programs are designed to systematically evaluate and refine care practices, aligning them with the latest clinical guidelines and research findings.

A Description of Mechanically Ventilated Patients Admitted From the Emergency Department With a Short Critical Care Stay.

Background: Patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) requiring invasive mechanical ventilation who are discharged alive from the ICU within 24 h are poorly characterized in the literature.

Objective: Our aim was to characterize a cohort of intubated emergency department (ED) patients who are extubated and discharged from the ICU within 24 h.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective, observational cohort study at a single level I trauma center from January 2017 to December 2019.

Incidence and Risk Model of Venous Thromboembolism in Patients with Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage.

Objective: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a significant source of morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients. We describe our experience with VTE prophylaxis and treatment in patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH), risk factors for VTE, and a hazard model describing the daily risk of VTE.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was performed on patients with aSAH admitted from 2014 to 2018.

The Association Between Illness Severity Scores and In-hospital Mortality After Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage.

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to examine the association with in-hospital mortality of 8 illness severity scores in patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH).

Methods: In a retrospective cohort study, we investigated the association with in-hospital mortality of admission Hunt and Hess (HH) score, Fisher grade, severity of illness and risk of mortality scores, and serial Glasgow coma scale (GCS) score in patients with aSAH. We also explored the changes in GCS between admission and discharge using a multivariate model adjusting for age, clinical vasospasm, and external ventricular drain status.

Association of Psychosocial Factors and Hospital Complications with Risk for Readmission After Trauma.

Background: Unplanned hospital readmissions are associated with morbidity and high cost. Existing literature on readmission after trauma has focused on how injury characteristics are associated with readmission. We aimed to evaluate how psychosocial determinants of health and complications of hospitalization combined with injury characteristics affect risk of readmission after trauma.

Analysis of Risk Factors for Patient Readmission 30 Days Following Discharge From General Surgery.

Importance: Previous studies investigating patients at risk for hospital readmissions focus on medical services and have found chronic conditions as contributors. Little is known, however, of the characteristics of patients readmitted from surgical services.

Objective: Surgical patients readmitted within 30 days following discharge were analyzed to identify opportunities for intervention in a cohort that may differ from the medical population.

Using an electronic medical record tool to improve pneumococcal screening and vaccination rates for older patients admitted with community-acquired pneumonia.

An electronic medical record tool was developed that determines if a patient meets criteria for screening for the vaccine; it then poses a series of screening questions. Use of the tool has improved performance on pneumococcal vaccination from 44% to more than 90%, with an increase in vaccine units of 305%.

Patient safety measures in burn care: do National reporting systems accurately reflect quality of burn care?

Recently, much attention has been placed on quality of care metrics and patient safety. Groups such as the University Health-System Consortium (UHC) collect and review patient safety data, monitor healthcare facilities, and often report data using mortality and complication rates as outcomes. The purpose of this study was to analyze the UHC database to determine if it differentiates quality of care across burn centers.