Multidisciplinary effort to improve the diagnosis of malnutrition in hospitalized patients.

Malnutrition has been increasingly demonstrated to be common and underrecognized in hospitalized patients. Rates have been demonstrated as high as 55%, but the diagnosis of malnutrition has historically been made in only a minority of inpatients. Laboratory studies, including serum prealbumin level, have been shown to have poor predictive value of malnutrition.

Evaluation of the Yale New Haven Readmission Risk Score for Pneumonia in a General Hospital Population.

Background: The Yale New Haven Readmission Risk Score (YNHRRS) for pneumonia is a clinical prediction tool developed to assess risk for 30-day readmission. This tool was validated in a cohort of Medicare patients; generalizability to a broader patient population has not been evaluated. In addition, it lacks indicators of functional status or social support, which have been shown in other studies to be predictors of readmission.

Evaluation of opt-out inpatient HIV screening at an urban teaching hospital.

This study evaluated opt-out inpatient HIV screening delivered by admitting physicians, and compared number of HIV tests and diagnoses to signs and symptoms-directed HIV testing (based on physician orders) in the emergency department (ED). The opt-out inpatient HIV screening program was conducted over a one year period in patients who were admitted to the 386-bed University of California San Diego (UCSD) teaching hospital. Numbers of HIV tests and diagnoses were compared to those observed among ED patients who underwent physician-directed HIV testing during the same time period.

Reporting of estimated glomerular filtration rate: effect on physician recognition of chronic kidney disease and prescribing practices for elderly hospitalized patients.

Background: Physician recognition of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in elderly patients has been noted to be poor. These patients are at increased risk of medication dosing errors and acute renal failure.

Objective: To investigate the effect of reporting estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of elderly hospitalized patients on physician recognition of CKD and physician prescribing behaviors.