Effect of a nurse team coordinator on outcomes for hospitalized medicine patients.

Purpose: Several randomized trials have found that discharge planning improves outcomes for hospitalized patients. We do not know if adding a clinical nurse specialist (CNS) to physician teams in hospitals that already have discharge planning services makes a difference.

Methods: In 2 teaching hospitals, patients were randomly assigned to regular hospital care or care with a clinical nurse specialist.

Adverse events among medical patients after discharge from hospital.

Background: Adverse events (AEs) are adverse outcomes caused by medical care. Several studies have indicated that a substantial number of patients experience AEs before or during hospitalization. However, few data describe AEs after hospital discharge.

Approach to resistant gram-negative bacterial pulmonary infections in patients with cystic fibrosis.

Purpose Of The Review: Patients with cystic fibrosis are living longer with chronic pulmonary bacterial infections. One consequence of antibiotic treatment of these chronic infections has been the increasing prevalence of antibiotic resistance seen in bacterial isolates recovered from patients with cystic fibrosis.

Recent Findings: Bacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Burkholderia cepacia are able to acquire antibiotic resistance by either spontaneous mutation or gene transfer via plasmids or integrins.