Epidemiology and outcome of Clostridium difficile infections in patients hospitalized in Internal Medicine: findings from the nationwide FADOI-PRACTICE study.

Background: Clostridium difficile (CD) is a leading cause of diarrhoea among hospitalized patients. The objective of this study was to evaluate the rate, the optimal diagnostic work-up, and outcome of CD infections (CDI) in Internal Medicine (IM) wards in Italy.

Methods: PRACTICE is an observational prospective study, involving 40 IM Units and evaluating all consecutive patients hospitalized during a 4-month period.

The assessment of complexity in internal medicine patients. The FADOI Medicomplex Study.

Background: Although the number of elderly people is progressively increasing in the world, old and very old patients have been under-represented and understudied in trials evaluating the efficacy of chronic illness management models. The usual hospital indicators and practice guidelines do not consider the effects of complexity - co-morbidity, social support, functional and cognitive status, patient adherence to therapy, risk of adverse drug reactions - in these subjects. The aim of this observational, multi-centric cohort study was to carefully assess factors contributing to the complexity of care for patients admitted to internal medicine wards.