Benefits of Early Active Mobility in the Medical Intensive Care Unit: A Pilot Study.

Background: Pressure ulcer formation continues to be problematic in acute care settings, especially intensive care units (ICUs). Our institution developed a program for early mobility in the ICU using specially trained nursing aides. The goal was to impact hospital-acquired pressure ulcers incidence as well as factors associated with ICU deconditioning by using specially trained personnel to perform the acute early mobility interventions.

Developing performance measures for patient blood management.

In 2005, The Joint Commission set about assessing the need for performance measures associated with the provision of blood products. Through a rigorous process, seven patient blood management performance measures were created. These measures incorporated a measure requiring transfusion consent; three measures requiring the combination of a laboratory value and a rationale for transfusion of plasma, platelets, or red blood cells; a measure requiring standard documentation about a transfusion; a measure evaluating preoperative anemia screening; and a measure of preoperative type screening and antibody testing before the start of major blood loss surgery.

Evaluation of the predictive value of ICD-9-CM coded administrative data for venous thromboembolism in the United States.

Objective: To determine the positive predictive value of International Classification of Disease, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) discharge codes for acute deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism.

Materials And Methods: Retrospective review of 3456 cases hospitalized between 2005 and 2007 that had a discharge code for venous thromboembolism, using 3 sample populations: a single academic hospital, 33 University HealthSystem Consortium hospitals, and 35 community hospitals in a national Joint Commission study. Analysis was stratified by position of the code in the principal versus a secondary position.