Comprehensive Care Management in Conjunction with Sputum Cytometry-Guided Pharmacotherapy in a Post-Discharge Clinic for Patients with COPD.

Acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) are amongst the most common reasons for hospital admission, and recurrent episodes occur frequently. Comprehensive care management (CCM) strategies have modest effect in preventing re-admissions. The objectives of this study were to examine the utility of optimizing anti-inflammatory therapy guided by sputum cytometry in the post-hospitalization setting, and to assess the feasibility and effectiveness of a clinic combining CCM and sputum-guided therapy.

Implementing the patient care collaborative model in three general internal medicine units: a mixed-methods healthcare improvement initiative.

Background: As part of the scale-up of the Patient Care Collaborative (PCC) at our institution, we explored staff perceptions and patient outcomes at different levels of model implementation in three general internal medicine units.

Methods: We conducted a mixed-methods embedded experimental healthcare improvement initiative. In the qualitative strand, we conducted five focus group discussions.