Increasing healthcare proxy documentation in an intensive care unit: a quality improvement initiative.

In New York State, the Health Care Proxy Law allows patients to designate a person they trust to make medical decisions on their behalf should they lose the capacity to do so. In an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) setting, identification of a health care proxy (HCP) is especially important as patients are at heightened risk of losing decision-making capacity during their clinical course. While our hospital has guidelines to solicit and correctly document the patient's HCP information, it is not routinely done.

Alcohol and the Hospitalized Patient.

Alcohol use is a common social and recreational activity in our society. Misuse of alcohol can lead to significant medical comorbidities that can affect essentially every organ system and lead to high health care costs and utilization. Heavy alcohol use across the spectrum from binge drinking and intoxication to chronic alcohol use disorder can lead to high morbidity and mortality both in the long and short term.