Cardiothoracic surgeon management of postoperative cardiac critical care.

Objective: To determine whether postoperative cardiac care by cardiothoracic surgeons in a semiclosed intensive care unit model could be distinguished from that given by intensivists who are not board certified in cardiothoracic surgery.

Design: From January 2007 to February 2009, we retrospectively examined data on patients after cardiac operations from 2 consecutive periods during which full-time management of intensive care was changed from noncardiothoracic intensivists (period 1, 168 patients) to cardiothoracic surgeons (period 2, 272 patients).

Main Outcome Measures: Variables measured included Society of Thoracic Surgeons observed and expected mortality, central venous line infections, ventilator-acquired pneumonia, red blood cell exposure, adherence to blood glucose level target at 6 am on the first and second postoperative days, length of stay, and intensive care unit pharmacy costs.

Hospital readmission for adult acute sickle cell painful episodes: frequency, etiology, and prognostic significance.

The acute sickle cell painful episode is the most common cause of hospitalization of patients with sickle cell anemia. Its detailed clinical features and peri-discharge features are not well known. In order to determine the actual pattern of hospital admissions of patients with SS and the causes of frequent hospital readmissions and their prognostic significance, we conducted a prospective longitudinal and observation cohort study of all adult patients with sickle cell anemia admitted to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital between January 1998 and December 2002.