Do Decision Support Tools Decrease the Prevalence of Hospital-Acquired Venous Thromboembolisms When Compared to Clinical Judgement? A Single-Center Pre-Post Study.

Hospital-acquired venous thromboembolisms (HA-VTEs) carry a significant health burden on patients and a financial burden on hospitals due to reimbursement penalties. VTE prophylaxis at our institute was performed through utilizing an order set based on healthcare professionals' perceived level of risk. However, the use of standardized risk assessment models is recommended by multiple professional societies.

Impact of an Observation Medicine Educational Intervention on Residents' Confidence, Knowledge, and Attitudes: A Quasi-Experimental Study.

Objectives: Driven by innovations in healthcare, observation medicine (OM) is expanding as a medical specialty. Despite exponential growth, education on OM remains underemphasized in the internal medicine (IM) residency programs. We assessed the impact of an educational intervention pairing didactic and experiential learning with an interdepartmental approach on IM residents' confidence, knowledge, and attitudes when providing observation care to patients with neuro-cardiovascular diseases in the hospital setting.

Safety Assessment of a Noninvasive Respiratory Protocol for Adults With COVID-19.

As evidence emerged supporting noninvasive strategies for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related respiratory distress, we implemented a noninvasive COVID-19 respiratory protocol (NCRP) that encouraged high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) and self-proning across our healthcare system. To assess safety, we conducted a retrospective chart review evaluating mortality and other patient safety outcomes after implementation of the NCRP protocol (April 3, 2020, to April 15, 2020) for adult patients hospitalized with COVID-19, compared with preimplementation outcomes (March 15, 2020, to April 2, 2020). During the study, there were 469 COVID-19 admissions.

No evidence of increasing COVID-19 in health care workers after implementation of high flow nasal cannula: A safety evaluation.

Background: Initial recommendations discouraged high flow nasal cannula (HFNC) in COVID-19 patients, driven by concern for healthcare worker (HCW) exposure. Noting high morbidity and mortality from early invasive mechanical ventilation, we implemented a COVID-19 respiratory protocol employing HFNC in severe COVID-19 and HCW exposed to COVID-19 patients on HFNC wore N95/KN95 masks. Utilization of HFNC increased significantly but questions remained regarding HCW infection rate.

PK10453, a nonselective platelet-derived growth factor receptor inhibitor, prevents the progression of pulmonary arterial hypertension.

The platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) signaling pathway has been found to be activated in human pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and in animal models of the disease. Our study tested the hypothesis that a novel, nonselective inhaled PDGF receptor inhibitor, PK10453, would decrease pulmonary hypertension both in the rat monocrotaline (MCT) model and the rat MCT plus pneumonectomy (MCT+PN) model of PAH. PK10453, delivered by inhalation for 4 (D4)- and 8 (D8)-minute exposures 3 times a day for 2 weeks, decreased right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP) in both the rat MCT and rat MCT+PN models: RVSP was 80.