ICU boarding tied to lower quality care, study finds | Study: Decolonization more effective, cost-efficient for MRSA | Study finds glucose control important during ICU transitions
Surgical ICU patients sent to other hospital units overall received less bedside attention from critical care teams, compared with patients kept in the home ICU, researchers reported in the American Journal of Surgery. Study data showed clinicians spent about 16% less time with boarder patients during rounds, and about 71% of boarders were seen in the final fifth of rounds, compared with 13% of non-boarders.
A study in Critical Care Medicine found targeted and universal decolonization in ICUs reduced MRSA infections better than screening and isolation, as well as being more cost-effective. Study data showed costs for universal and targeted decolonization were similar.
Patient outcomes may be improved by monitoring and maintaining glucose levels in patients as they transition from the ICU to general units, according to a study to be published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. The retrospective study of ICU patients suggests for those who do not have diabetes, the current blood glucose targets range may not be appropriate.
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Senate Republicans on Thursday released a 142-page bill, aimed at repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, that would make steep cuts to Medicaid and end the requirement for all Americans to have health insurance, while creating new federal tax credits to help people buy coverage. The bill, which could face opposition from conservative and moderate Republican senators along with Democrats, would allow states to drop benefits mandated by the ACA, such as maternity and mental health care.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers created an in-ear device to silence medical alarms for ICU patients, but said future studies are needed to see if it improves outcomes. Initial ICU testing of the device, which still allows patients to hear speech and environmental sounds, showed it could effectively filter out alarm sounds.
A Des Moines, Iowa, woman says the Count the Kicks app, which monitors fetal movement, alerted her to a potential problem during her pregnancy and may have saved the life of her child. Emily Eekhoff said she noticed fetal movement had slowed so she went to the hospital, where physicians found the umbilical cord had wrapped around the baby's neck three times and did an emergency cesarean section delivery to deliver her daughter.