Bridging the Gap: A Pilot Study of a Health Care Transition Podcast Curriculum and Standardized Patient Case for Graduate Medical Education Trainees.

Introduction Pediatric to adult health care transition (HCT) is critical to maintaining the health and wellness of patients, and pediatric and adult providers often do not feel prepared to shepherd patients through this process. Methods  We designed an HCT curriculum consisting of nine podcasts paired with existing ambulatory experiential learning opportunities for internal medicine-pediatric residents (n=6). Before and after the curriculum we evaluated resident HCT self-assessment and resident performance working with a standardized patient (SP) and standardized parent in a novel objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) station designed to assess HCT skills.

Caring for Each Other: A Resident-Led Peer Debriefing Skills Workshop.

Background: Inadequate time and space to process critical incidents contribute to burnout. Residents do not regularly participate in emotional debriefs. An institutional needs assessment revealed only 11% of surveyed pediatrics and combined medicine-pediatrics residents had participated in a debrief.

Improving adherence to hepatitis B vaccine administration recommendations in two newborn nurseries.

Administration of the birth dose of hepatitis B vaccine is an important step in reducing perinatally acquired hepatitis B infection, yet the USA is below the Healthy People 2020 goal for rate of administration.In response to updated Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices recommendations to administer the dose within 24 hours of birth, we used quality improvement methodology to implement changes that would increase the vaccination rates of healthy newborns in our nurseries. The goal was to improve the proportion of infants who receive the hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth to >90% within a 2-year period, with a secondary goal of increasing vaccination rates prior to discharge from the nursery to >95%.

Improving adherence to hepatitis C screening guidelines.

Background: Hepatitis C (HCV) is a viral liver disease that can result in cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, liver transplantation or death. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that 2.7-3.

Can this patient read and understand written health information?

Context: Patients with limited literacy are at higher risk for poor health outcomes; however, physicians' perceptions are inaccurate for identifying these patients.

Objective: To systematically review the accuracy of brief instruments for identifying patients with limited literacy.

Data Sources: Search of the English-language literature from 1969 through February 2010 using PubMed, Psychinfo, and bibliographies of selected manuscripts for articles on health literacy, numeracy, reading ability, and reading skill.

Risk factors for gram-negative bacterial surgical site infection: do allergies to antibiotics increase risk?

Objective: To determine the relationship between inadequate antimicrobial prophylaxis and development of gram-negative bacterial (GNB) surgical site infection (SSI).

Design: Retrospective case-control study.

Setting: A 369-bed acute care community hospital in Durham, North Carolina.

Mortality and time to extubation in severe hospital-acquired pneumonia.

Background: This study examined predictors of in-hospital mortality and time to extubation among patients with acute, severe hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) managed in the intensive care unit (ICU).

Methods: Patients with HAP prospectively identified between June 2001 and May 2003 were included in the study if they (1) met the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's definition for HAP, (2) were treated in the ICU within 1 day of the HAP diagnosis, and (3) required intubation acutely or had a bloodstream infection within 48 hours of the HAP diagnosis.

Results: The cohort included 219 patients, 83 of whom died (37.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus outbreak in an intensive care nursery: potential for interinstitutional spread.

Background: After surveillance surveys documented the absence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in our intensive care nursery, an outbreak of MRSA infection occurred there during a 7-month period in 2005.

Methods: Control measures included reinforcement of hand hygiene and contact precautions procedures. Active surveillance cultures were obtained on all neonates, including interinstitutional transfers.

Cerebral phaeohyphomycosis in an immunodeficient child treated medically with combination antifungal therapy.

Cerebral phaeohyphomycosis is a rare fungal infection with a poor prognosis when using conventional antifungal therapy in the absence of neurosurgical intervention. We present a case of a pediatric patient with inoperable Cladophialophora bantiana cerebral abscesses. To our knowledge, this child's case is the first reported to be treated with the combination of the newer triazole voriconazole and the new echinocandin caspofungin.