Critical Care SmartBrief

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January 11, 2013

Right Care. Right Now.

Critical Care Update

WBC counts can predict pertussis severity in babies
Health records of 31 babies with pertussis in pediatric intensive care units in California between 2009 and 2011 revealed greater white blood cell counts and at least a 50% increase in white blood cells among those with more severe pertussis. Aside from having elevated maximum heart and breathing rates, researchers found that babies with more serious pertussis were more at risk for seizures, shock and kidney failure. The findings, in the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, emphasize the importance of aggressive pediatric intensive care, the lead author said. HealthDay News (1/10)

Severe flu sends 150 people in Illinois to hospital ICUs
Illinois officials said severe flu has sent 150 people to an ICU and six have died this flu season. Eight hospitals in the Chicago area this week turned away ambulances as they struggled to handle an influx of patients with flu-like symptoms. Illinois is one of 29 states reporting a high level of flu activity. WMAQ-TV (Chicago)/The Associated Press (1/8)

Medicine in the News

NQF endorses 14 quality standards on infectious diseases
Fourteen standards intended to enhance the quality of care for infectious diseases have been approved by the National Quality Forum board of directors. The standards pertain to appropriate therapies for upper respiratory infections, tuberculosis screening and sexually transmitted disease testing among patients with HIV/AIDS. Healthcare IT News (1/9)

Survey finds greater demand for advanced practice clinicians
A survey by Sullivan, Cotter and Associates and the American Medical Group Association revealed 63% of responding medical groups saw a 17% increase in employment of advance practice clinicians in the past year, while 53% said they plan to grow APC employment by 15% in the coming year. The physician shortage and workforce realignment contributed to the increased demand, a researcher said. Drug Store News (1/9)

Trends and Technology

Mich. neonatal staff has input in design of mobile NICU
Helen DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids, Mich., is getting a mobile NICU vehicle designed in part by its neonatal transport team. It's not as fast as using a helicopter, but neonatal outreach coordinator Lynette Johnson says the vehicle has more room for equipment needed to handle medical crises en route to the hospital. MLive.com (Michigan) (free registration) (1/10)

How to refine medical error reporting
The U.S. health system spends about $17.29 billion in avoidable expenses each year because of medical errors, many of which go unreported. This article offers three steps to enhance the way medical errors are reported: integrating medical error reporting into EHR systems, adopting mobile technologies that include ways to capture and report medical error data, and using data analytics. Government Health IT online (1/7)

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The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do."

--Thomas Jefferson,
3rd U.S. president

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