Predicting Mortality in Patients Hospitalized With Acute Myocardial Infarction: From the National Cardiovascular Data Registry.

Background: In-hospital mortality risk prediction is an important tool for benchmarking quality and patient prognostication. Given changes in patient characteristics and treatments over time, a contemporary risk model for patients with acute myocardial infarction (MI) is needed.

Methods: Data from 313 825 acute MI hospitalizations between January 2019 and December 2020 for adults aged ≥18 years at 784 sites in the National Cardiovascular Data Registry Chest Pain-MI Registry were used to develop a risk-standardized model to predict in-hospital mortality.

Spontaneous duodenal hematoma: a rare complication of triple antithrombotic therapy case report.

Triple therapy is defined as concurrent use of an anticoagulant and dual antiplatelet therapy. We aimed to review the clinical course of a patient who developed a spontaneous duodenal hematoma on triple therapy and appraise current guidelines regarding triple antithrombotic therapy use. A 59-year-old man presented with acute heart failure and an apical mural thrombus.

Predicting In-Hospital Mortality in Patients Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.

Background: Standardization of risk is critical in benchmarking and quality improvement efforts for percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs). In 2018, the CathPCI Registry was updated to include additional variables to better classify higher-risk patients.

Objectives: This study sought to develop a model for predicting in-hospital mortality risk following PCI incorporating these additional variables.

LEAN SIX SIGMA TECHNIQUES TO IMPROVE OPHTHALMOLOGY CLINIC EFFICIENCY.

Purpose: Ophthalmologists serve an increasing volume of a growing elderly population undergoing increasingly complex outpatient medical care, including extensive diagnostic testing and treatment. The resulting prolonged patient visit times ("patient flow times") limit quality, patient and employee satisfaction, and represent waste. Lean Six Sigma process improvement was used in a vitreoretinal practice to decrease patient flow time, demonstrating that this approach can yield significant improvement in health care.

Emergency Physicians Are Able to Detect Right Ventricular Dilation With Good Agreement Compared to Cardiology.

Objective: Focused cardiac ultrasound (FOCUS) is a useful tool in evaluating patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with acute dyspnea. Prior work has shown that right ventricular (RV) dilation is associated with repeat hospitalizations and shorter life expectancy. Traditionally, RV assessment has been evaluated by cardiologist-interpreted comprehensive echocardiography.

The Effect of Paging Reminders on Fellowship Conference Attendance: A Multi-Program Randomized Crossover Study.

Background: Educational conferences have long served as a foundation of medical education. Sending reminder text pages prior to the start of conferences is a method that may be employed to enhance conference attendance.

Objective: The goal of our study was to determine if routine text paging before regularly scheduled conferences improves attendance among fellows in 3 internal medicine programs.

Fasting or Nonfasting Lipid Measurements: It Depends on the Question.

In the 2013 American College of Cardiology (ACC)/American Heart Association Guideline (AHA) on the Treatment of Blood Cholesterol to Reduce Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Risk in Adults, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol treatment thresholds have been replaced with a focus on global risk. In this context, we re-examine the need for fasting lipid measurements in various clinical scenarios including estimating initial risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in a primary prevention patient; screening for familial lipid disorders in a patient with a strong family history of premature atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease or genetic dyslipidemia; clarifying a diagnosis of metabolic syndrome so it can be used to make lifestyle counseling more effective; assessing residual risk in a treated patient; diagnosing and treating patients with suspected hypertriglyceridemic pancreatitis; or diagnosing hypertriglyceridemia in patients who require therapy for other conditions that may further elevate triglycerides. Posing a specific question can aid the clinician in understanding when fasting lipids are needed and when nonfasting lipids are adequate.

Can emergency physicians diagnose and correctly classify diastolic dysfunction using bedside echocardiography?

Objectives: The goal of this study was to determine if emergency physicians (EPs) can correctly perform a bedside diastology examination (DE) and correctly grade the level of diastolic function with minimal additional training in echocardiography beyond what is learned in residency. We hypothesize that EPs will be accurate at detecting and grading diastolic dysfunction (DD) when compared to a criterion standard interpretation by a cardiologist.

Methods: We conducted a prospective, observational study on a convenience sample of adult patients who presented to an urban emergency department with a chief concern of dyspnea.