We find QT prolongation to be common (24%), with Torsade de Pointes representing 6% of in-hospital cardiac arrests. Predictors of QT prolongation in the acutely ill population are similar to those previously identified in ambulatory populations. Acutely ill patients with QT prolongation have longer lengths of hospitalization and nearly three times the odds for mortality then those without QT prolongation.

Among acutely ill adult patients requiring Intensive Care Unit admission, the provision of optimal turning was greater with a wearable patient sensor, increasing the total time with turning compliance and demonstrated a statistically significant protective effect against the development of hospital acquired pressure injuries. These are the first quantitative data on turn quality in the Intensive Care Unit and highlight the need to reinforce optimal turning practices. Additional clinical trials leveraging technologies like wearable sensors are needed to establish the appropriate frequency and dosing of individualized turning protocols to prevent pressure injuries in at-risk hospitalized patients.

Chronic wounds, including pressure ulcers, compromise the health of 6.5 million Americans and pose an annual estimated burden of $25 billion to the U.S. health care system. When treating chronic wounds, clinicians must use meticulous documentation to determine wound severity and to monitor healing progress over time. Yet, current wound documentation practices using digital photography are often cumbersome and labor intensive. The process of transferring photos into Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) requires many steps and can take several days. Newer smartphone and tablet-based solutions, such as Epic Haiku, have reduced EMR upload time. However, issues still exist involving patient positioning, image-capture technique, and patient identification. In this paper, we present the development and assessment of the SnapCap System for chronic wound photography. Through leveraging the sensor capabilities of Google Glass, SnapCap enables hands-free digital image capture, and the tagging and transfer of images to a patient’s EMR. In a pilot study with wound care nurses at Stanford Hospital (n=16), we (i) examined feature preferences for hands-free digital image capture and documentation, and (ii) compared SnapCap to the state of the art in digital wound care photography, the Epic Haiku application. We used the Wilcoxon Signed-ranks test to evaluate differences in mean ranks between preference options. Preferred hands-free navigation features include barcode scanning for patient identification, Z(15) = -3.873, p < 0.001, r = 0.71, and double-blinking to take photographs, Z(13) = -3.606, p < 0.001, r = 0.71. In the comparison between SnapCap and Epic Haiku, the SnapCap System was preferred for sterile image-capture technique, Z(16) = -3.873, p < 0.001, r = 0.68. Responses were divided with respect to image quality and overall ease of use. The study’s results have contributed to the future implementation of new features aimed at enhancing mobile hands-free digital photography for chronic wound care.

A multidisciplinary team led by nursing leadership and physicians developed a plan to meet increasing demand and improve the patient experience in the ED without expanding the department's current resources. The approach included Lean tools and engaged frontline staff and physicians. Applying Lean management principles resulted in quicker service, improved patient satisfaction, increased capacity, and reduced resource utilization. Incorporating continuous daily management is necessary for sustainment of continuous improvement activities.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of 2 hospital-wide interventions on achieving a discharge-before-noon rate of 40%. BACKGROUND: A multidisciplinary team led by administrative and physician leadership developed a plan to diminish capacity constraints by minimizing late afternoon hospital discharges using 2 patient flow management techniques. METHODS: The study was a preintervention/postintervention retrospective analysis observing all inpatients discharged across 19 inpatient units in a 484-bed, academic teaching hospital measuring calendar month discharge-before-noon percentage, patient satisfaction, and readmission rates. Patient satisfaction and readmission rates were used as baseline metrics. RESULTS: The discharge-before-noon percentage increased from 14% in the 11-month preintervention period to an average of 24% over the 11-month postintervention period, whereas patient satisfaction scores and readmission rates remained stable. CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of the 2 interventions successfully increased the percentage of discharges before noon yet did not achieve the goal of 40%. Patient satisfaction and readmission rates were not negatively impacted by the program.

Adding coordination and diplopia assessments to face, arm, and speech assessment does not improve stroke detection in the prehospital setting.

BackgroundPressure ulcers are insidious complications that affect approximately 2.5 million patients and account for approximately US$11 billion in annual health care spending each year. To date we are unaware of any study that has used a wearable patient sensor to quantify patient movement and positioning in an effort to assess whether adherence to optimal patient turning results in a reduction in pressure ulcer occurrence.Methods/designThis study is a single-site, open-label, two-arm, randomized controlled trial that will enroll 1812 patients from two intensive care units. All subjects will be randomly assigned, with the aid of a computer-generated schedule, to either a standard care group (control) or an optimal pressure ulcer-preventative care group (treatment). Optimal pressure ulcer prevention is defined as regular turning every 2 h with at least 15 min of tissue decompression. All subjects will receive a wearable patient sensor (Leaf Healthcare, Inc., Pleasanton, CA, USA) that will detect patient movement and positioning. This information is relayed through a proprietary mesh network to a central server for display on a user-interface to assist with nursing care. This information is used to guide preventative care practices for those within the treatment group. Patients will be monitored throughout their admission in the intensive care unit.DiscussionWe plan to conduct a randomized control trial, which to our knowledge is the first of its kind to use a wearable patient sensor to quantify and establish optimal preventative care practices, in an attempt to determine whether this is effective in reducing hospital-acquired pressure ulcers.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02533726.

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