Publications by authors named "R Hanula"
Rationale & Objective: Patients treated with dialysis are commonly prescribed multiple medications (polypharmacy), including some potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs). PIMs are associated with an increased risk of medication harm (eg, falls, fractures, hospitalization). Deprescribing is a solution that proposes to stop, reduce, or switch medications to a safer alternative.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Standalone nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) for Clostridioides difficile infections often don't differentiate between colonization and actual disease, but a 2-stage algorithm combining NAATs with toxin immunoassays (Toxin) could improve diagnostic specificity.
- A systematic review of 26 studies including 12,737 patients found no significant difference in 30-day mortality between NAAT+/Toxin+ and NAAT+/Toxin- patients, but a higher recurrence rate for the former group.
- Treating patients who tested NAAT+/Toxin- lowered all-cause mortality but did not affect recurrence rates, suggesting that some of these patients might still benefit from treatment despite the limitations of observational studies.
Background: Patients on dialysis are commonly prescribed multiple medications (polypharmacy), many of which are potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs). Potentially inappropriate medications are associated with an increased risk of falls, fractures, and hospitalization. MedSafer is an electronic tool that generates individualized, prioritized reports with deprescribing opportunities by cross-referencing patient health data and medications with guidelines for deprescribing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImportance: Despite widespread use, summary evidence from prior meta-analyses has contradictory conclusions regarding whether oseltamivir decreases the risk of hospitalization when given to outpatients. Several large investigator-initiated randomized clinical trials have not yet been meta-analyzed.
Objective: To assess the efficacy and safety of oseltamivir in preventing hospitalization among influenza-infected adult and adolescent outpatients.