Age of transfused red blood cells and health outcomes in two surgical cohorts.

Rationale: Red blood cells (RBC) undergo morphologic and biochemical changes during storage which may lead to adverse health risks upon transfusion. In prior studies, the effect of RBC age on health outcomes has been conflicting. We designed the study to assess the effects of RBC units' storage duration on health outcomes specifically for hospitalized patients undergoing hip fracture surgery or coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery.

How Surrogates Decide: A Secondary Data Analysis of Decision-Making Principles Used by the Surrogates of Hospitalized Older Adults.

Background: Many hospitalized adults do not have the capacity to make their own health care decisions and thus require a surrogate decision-maker. While the ethical standard suggests that decisions should focus on a patient's preferences, our study explores the principles that surrogates consider most important when making decisions for older hospitalized patients.

Objectives: We sought to determine how frequently surrogate decision-makers prioritized patient preferences in decision-making and what factors may predict their doing so.