To assess understanding of numerical concepts in asthma self-management instructions, a 4-item Asthma Numeracy Questionnaire (ANQ) was developed and read to 73 adults with persistent asthma. Participants completed the Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (STOFHLA), 12(16%) answered all 4 numeracy items correctly; 6(8%) answered none correctly. Participants were least likely to understand items involving risk and percentages. Low numeracy but not STOFHLA score was associated with a history of hospitalization for asthma. At higher STOFHLA levels there was a wide range of the total number of correct numeracy responses. Numeracy is a unique and important component of health literacy.

Objective: To measure the impact of staged implementation of full versus partial ABCDE bundle on mechanical ventilation (MV) duration, intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital lengths of stay (LOS), and cost.

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) due to chronic respiratory disease and/or hypoxia is classified as World Health Organization (WHO) Group III pulmonary hypertension. The patients most commonly encountered in clinical practice with group III PH include those with chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD), diffuse parenchymal lung disease, and sleep-disordered breathing. The purpose of this review is to outline the variable clinical significance of pulmonary hypertension in the most common pulmonary disease states and how a clinician may approach the management of these patients.

Background For patients with novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) who undergo emergency endotracheal intubation, there is limited data regarding the practice, outcomes and complications of this procedure. Research Question For COVID-19 patients requiring emergency endotracheal intubation, how do the procedural techniques, the incidence of first pass success and the complications associated with the procedure compare with intubations on critically ill patients prior to the COVID-19 pandemic? Study Design and Methods We conducted a retrospective study of adult COVID-19 patients at Montefiore Medical Center who underwent first-time endotracheal intubation by critical care physicians between July 19, 2019 and May 1, 2020. The first COVID-19 patient was admitted to our institution on March 11, 2020, before which patients were designated as the pre-pandemic cohort. Descriptive statistics was used to compare groups. A Fischer’s exact test was used to compare categorical variables. A two-tailed Student’s t-test for parametric variables or a Wilcoxon rank sum test for nonparametric variables were utilized for continuous variables. Results 1,260 intubations met inclusion criteria (782 pre-pandemic, 478 pandemic). Patients during the pandemic were more likely to be intubated for hypoxemic respiratory failure (72.6% vs 28.1%; P <0.01). During the pandemic, operators were more likely to use video laryngoscopy (89.4% vs 53.3%, P <0.01) and neuromuscular blocking agents (86.0% vs 46.2%; P <0.01). First pass success was higher during the pandemic period (94.6% vs 82.9%; P <0.01). The rate of associated complications was higher during the pandemic (29.5% vs 15.2%; P <0.01), a finding driven by a higher rate of associated hypoxemia during or immediately after the procedure (25.7% vs 8.2%; P <0.01). Interpretation We have shown that video laryngoscopy and neuromuscular blockade were increasingly utilized during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite a higher rate of first pass success during the pandemic, the incidence of complications associated with the procedure was higher.