Differences in cardiac testing resource utilization using two different risk stratification schemes.

Objective: Assess whether changing an emergency department (ED) chest pain pathway from utilizing the Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) score for risk stratification to an approach utilizing the History, EKG, Age, Risk, Troponin (HEART) score was associated with reductions in healthcare resource utilization.

Methods: A retrospective, quasi-experimental study using difference-in-differences and interrupted time series specifications evaluated all ED patients with a chest pain encounter from 8/2015 to 7/2019 at a large academic medical center. We included patients age ≥ 18 with negative troponin testing discharged from the ED.

Sustaining Improvements in CLABSI Reduction in a Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit.

Unlabelled: Central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) are preventable events that increase morbidity and mortality. The objective of this quality project was to reduce the incidence of CLABSIs in a pediatric cardiothoracic intensive care unit.

Methods: Institutional review of an unacceptably high rate of CLABSIs led to the implementation of 4 new interventions.

Using an Escape Box in Continuing Nursing Education for Multidisciplinary Emergency Preparedness.

An escape room is a strategy that engages learners and allows them to participate actively in a lesson. This article describes the implementation of an escape box as an escape room lesson and teaching method during an inpatient nursing skills day with a multidisciplinary team. Participants totaled 75 and included nurses, respiratory therapists, and advanced practice nurses.

Creatine Usage and Education of Track and Field Throwers at National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Universities.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the level of creatine use along with the perceived benefits and barriers of creatine use among collegiate athletes who participate in throwing events within the sport of track and field. A total of 258 throwers from National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I institutions completed an online survey regarding creatine. The results provided baseline levels of creatine use and allowed for the analysis of factors related to athletic conference affiliation.

Hand-sewn gastrojejunostomy using knotless unidirectional barbed absorbable suture during laparoscopic gastric bypass.

Background: This report describes the authors' institutional experience using knotless unidirectional barbed absorbable suture to close the common enterotomy of the jejunojejunostomy (JJ) and to create a hand-sewn gastrojejunostomy (GJ) during laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.

Methods: A retrospective review of morbidly obese patients who underwent laparoscopic gastric bypass with a hand-sewn GJ between April 2011 and 2012 was performed. The authors' traditional technique (TT) consisted of using standard monofilament absorbable suture to close the common JJ enterotomy in a single running layer and to create the GJ with a two-layer anastomosis.