Subhypnotic Intravenous Ketamine Improves Patient Satisfaction With Burn Wound Care: A Quality Improvement Project.

Despite advancements in pain management for burn injuries, analgesia often fails to meet our patients' needs. We hypothesized that low doses of intravenous (IV) ketamine as an adjunct to our current protocol would be safe, improving both nurse and patient satisfaction with analgesia during hydrotherapy. Burn patients admitted who underwent hydrotherapy from June 1, 2021, to June 30, 2023 were surveyed.

Optimizing burn wound procedural pain control, efficiency, and satisfaction through integrated nurse and physician education.

Herein, we report the results of a quality improvement project (QI). Following a review of the burn unit practices, a nursing-led, physician supported educational intervention regarding optimal timing, dosage, and indication for medications used during hydrotherapy, including midazolam and opioids, was implemented. We hypothesized that such intervention would support improvement in both nurse and patient satisfaction with pain control management.

Quality Improvement of Pediatric Airway Emergency Carts: Standardization, Streamlining, and Simulation.

Objective Pediatric airway emergencies are amongst the most tenuous scenarios faced by on-call providers, requiring quick access to the appropriate equipment and a timely response. In the present study, we report on the testing and improvement of pediatric airway carts at our institution. The primary objective was to optimize our pediatric airway emergency carts to improve response times.

Data on the clinical, analytical, and laboratory factors associated with negative anion gaps at an academic medical center.

The anion gap is a calculated parameter derived from the difference between the major plasma cations and anions in serum/plasma or whole blood, with a widely used simple equation utilizing concentrations of sodium, chloride, and bicarbonate. While there is extensive literature on the clinical significance and causes of elevated anion gaps, there is comparatively less data on low anion gaps. Occasionally, anion gap calculations result in a negative number (-1 or less).

Impact of Interfacing Near Point of Care Clinical Chemistry and Hematology Analyzers at Urgent Care Clinics at an Academic Health System.

Background: Point-of-care (POC) testing equipment is commonly utilized in outpatient clinics. Our institution recently interfaced POC chemistry and hematology devices at two outpatient clinics via middleware software to the central electronic health record (EHR), facilitating a comparison of manual transcription versus automatic reporting via interface. This allowed for estimation of serious/obvious error rates and manual time savings.

Update on the Practice of Splinting During Acute Burn Admission From the ACT Study.

Burn scar contracture (BSC) is a common pathological outcome following burn injuries, leading to limitations in range of motion (ROM) of affected joints and impairment in function. Despite a paucity of research addressing its efficacy, static splinting of affected joints is a common preventative practice. A survey of therapists performed 25 years ago showed a widely divergent practice of splinting during the acute burn injury.