A multi-center validation of the electronic health record admission source and discharge location fields against the clinical notes for identifying inpatients with long-term care facility exposure.

Unlabelled: Identifying long-term care facility (LTCF)-exposed inpatients is important for infection control research and practice, but ascertaining LTCF exposure is challenging. Across a large validation study, electronic health record data fields identified 76% of LTCF-exposed patients compared to manual chart review.

Objective: Residence or recent stay in a long-term care facility (LTCF) is an important risk factor for antibiotic-resistant bacterial colonization.

Follow-up blood cultures in bacteremia: A potential target for diagnostic stewardship.

Objectives: Evidence supporting collection of follow-up blood cultures for Gram-negative bacteremia is mixed. We sought to understand why providers order follow-up blood cultures when managing bacteremia and whether follow-up blood cultures in this context are associated with short- and long-term survival.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of adult inpatients with bacteremia at the University of Maryland Medical Center in 2015-2020.

Clinical yield of multiple testing with respiratory pathogen panels.

Unlabelled: Though multiplex respiratory pathogen panels (RPP) have high sensitivity, multiple tests are occasionally performed simultaneously or in rapid succession in an attempt to increase the yield. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of this practice.

Methods: "Multiple testing" was defined as >1 RPP performed within 12 hours on the same patient and specimen type.

A Multicenter Evaluation of Probiotic Use for the Primary Prevention of Clostridioides difficile Infection.

Background: Primary prevention of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is a priority for hospitals. Probiotics have the potential to interfere with colonization and CDI. In this study, we evaluated the impact of a computerized clinical decision support (CCDS) tool to prescribe probiotics for primary prevention of CDI among adult hospitalized patients.

Newborn Screening Long Term Follow-Up in the Medical Home.

This demonstration project explored the feasibility of utilizing data from pediatric primary care providers to evaluate the long-term outcomes of children with disorders identified by newborn screening (NBS). Compliance with national guidelines for care and the morbidity for this population was also examined. Primary care practices were recruited and patients with sickle cell disease or who were deaf/hard of hearing were given the opportunity to enroll in the study.