Current and future workforce of general internal medicine in Switzerland: a cross-sectional study.

Aim Of This Study: General internal medicine is a crucial element in healthcare systems. Understanding how many people are and will be working in this field is important to maintain and improve quality for patients in healthcare systems. This can provide a basis for political decisions.

Association of Baseline Inflammation With Effectiveness of Nutritional Support Among Patients With Disease-Related Malnutrition: A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Inflammation is a key driver of malnutrition during illness and is often accompanied by metabolic effects, including insulin resistance and reduction of appetite. However, it still remains unclear if inflammation influences the response to nutritional support among patients with disease-related malnutrition.

Objective: To examine whether patients' baseline inflammatory status is associated with the effect of nutritional support on 30-day mortality.

Vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent in malnourished inpatients and associated with higher mortality: A prospective cohort study.

The impact of vitamin D deficiency on the recovery of patients with malnutrition remains undefined. Our aim was to study the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in a well-characterized cohort of patients with malnutrition and its association with outcomes.Within this secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial, we examined the association of vitamin D deficiency and adverse clinical outcomes over a follow-up of 180 days in hospitalized patients at risk for malnutrition.

Evidence-based nutrition for the malnourished, hospitalised patient: one bite at a time.

Although malnutrition is a highly prevalent condition in the inpatient setting, particularly in older patients with multiple morbidities, the medical community has struggled to find efficient, evidence-based approaches for its prevention and treatment. From an evolutionary perspective, illness-related low appetite may be seen as a protective response with the goals to accelerate recovery from disease by improving autophagy. In line with this, earlier trials in the intensive care setting including severely ill patients have demonstrated unwarranted effects of overnutrition on patient outcomes.

Validation of a Prediction Rule for Pneumonia in Emergency Department Patients.

We validated a clinical prediction rule for based on clinical parameters (dry cough, fever) and laboratory findings (C-reactive protein, lactate dehydrogenase, sodium, platelet counts) in 713 consecutive patients with community-acquired pneumonia. The Score performed well in estimating the likelihood for infection and thus may help to direct diagnostic and therapeutic decisions.

Procalcitonin-guided antibiotic therapy algorithms for different types of acute respiratory infections based on previous trials.

Although evidence indicates that use of procalcitonin to guide antibiotic decisions for the treatment of acute respiratory infections (ARI) decreases antibiotic consumption and improves clinical outcomes, algorithms used within studies had differences in PCT cut-off points and frequency of testing. We therefore analyzed studies evaluating procalcitonin-guided antibiotic therapy and propose consensus algorithms for different respiratory infection types. Areas covered: We systematically searched randomized-controlled trials (search strategy updated on February 2018) on procalcitonin-guided antibiotic therapy of ARI in adults using a pre-specified Cochrane protocol and analyzed algorithms from 32 trials that included 10,285 patients treated in primary care settings, emergency departments (ED), and intensive care units (ICU).

Vitamin D Deficiency Strongly Predicts Adverse Medical Outcome Across Different Medical Inpatient Populations: Results From a Prospective Study.

Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with several adverse outcomes mainly in the outpatient setting. The objective of this study was to examine the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and its association with risk of adverse clinical outcomes in a large prospective cohort of medical inpatients.We collected clinical data and measured 25(OH)D levels in adult medical patients upon hospital admission and followed them for 30 days.

Screening and Treatment of Vitamin D Deficiency on Hospital Admission: Is There a Benefit for Medical Inpatients?

Background: Whether screening and treatment of vitamin D deficiency improves clinical outcomes in medical inpatients remains unclear. We performed a systematic search and summarized the evidence from observational and randomized, controlled studies (RCTs) on the influence of vitamin D deficiency and its treatment on patient outcomes.

Methods: The MEDLINE and EMBASE databases were searched in January 2015 using the terms "vitamin D deficiency," "vitamin D," "mortality," "inpatient," "length of stay," "hospitalization," "accidental falls," "quality of life," "activities of daily living," and "intensive care units.