Traditional hospital wards are not specifically designed as effective clinical microsystems. The feasibility and sustainability of doing so are unclear, as are the possible outcomes. To reorganize a traditional hospital ward with the traits of an effective clinical microsystem, we designed it to have 4 specific features: (1) unit‐based teams, (2) structured interdisciplinary bedside rounds, (3) unit‐level performance reporting, and (4) unit‐level nurse and physician coleadership. We called this type of unit an accountable care unit (ACU). In this narrative article, we describe our experience implementing each feature of the ACU. Our aim was to introduce a progressive approach to hospital care and training. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2015;10:36–40. © 2014 Society of Hospital Medicine

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Significant proportions of ward CVC-days were unjustified. Reducing "idle CVC-days" and facilitating the appropriate use of PIVs may reduce CVC-days and CR-BSI risk.

A bundle of four evidence-based interventions reduced the incidence of CAUTIs in a community hospital. It is relatively simple, appears to be cost-effective and might be sustainable and adaptable by other hospitals.

ObjectiveDescribe the disease course in a cohort of outpatients with COVID-19 and evaluate factors predicting duration of symptoms.DesignRetrospective cohort study.SettingTelemedicine clinic at a large medical system in Atlanta, Georgia.Participants337 patients with acute COVID-19. Exclusion criteria included intake visit more than 10 days after symptom onset and hospitalisation prior to intake visit.Main outcome measuresSymptom duration in days.ResultsCommon symptoms at intake visit are upper respiratory (73% cough, 55% loss of smell or taste, 57% sinus congestion, 32% sore throat) and systemic (66% headache, 64% body aches, 53% chills, 30% dizziness, 36% fever). Day of symptom onset was earliest for systemic and upper respiratory symptoms (median onset day 1 for both), followed by lower respiratory symptoms (day 3, 95% CI 2 to 4), with later onset of gastrointestinal symptoms (day 4, 95% CI 3 to 5), when present. Cough had the longest duration when present with median 17 days (95% CI 15 to 21), with 42% not resolved at final visit. Loss of smell or taste had the second longest duration with 14 days (95% CI 12 to 17), with 38% not resolved at final visit. Initial symptom severity is a significant predictor of symptom duration (p<0.01 for multiple symptoms).ConclusionsCOVID-19 illness in outpatients follows a pattern of progression from systemic symptoms to lower respiratory symptoms and persistent symptoms are common across categories. Initial symptom severity is a significant predictor of disease duration for most considered symptoms.

Objective: To describe the symptom course in outpatients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Design: Retrospective chart review of standardized symptom checklist for patients followed at home by telephone calls during their acute COVID-19 illness. Compile results by day of illness into a single heatmap representation of symptoms. Setting: COVID-19 Virtual Outpatient Management Clinic (VOMC) in Atlanta, Georgia; a practice that follows patients with mild COVID-19 at home. Participants: 272 patients with confirmed COVID-19 by nasopharyngeal PCR, who presented to the VOMC within 10 days of symptom onset and within 5 days of screening PCR test. Main outcome measure: Each symptom is recorded as yes/no for each patient on each day. The total number of yes replies is divided by the total number of patients in VOMC to generate a result for each cell in the heatmap. Patients admitted to the hospital are censored from the denominator. Results: The mean duration of follow-up was 20.2 days. The most commonly reported symptoms in the course of illness were cough (83%), headache (73%) loss of smell or taste (71%), sinus congestion (71%), and body ache (67%). Symptoms remained common at 3 weeks, including cough (41%), shortness of breath on exertion (24%), loss of smell or taste (23%), sinus congestion (23%), and headache (20%). Conclusions: Symptoms of acute COVID-19 frequently last longer than the minimum duration of isolation and patients and healthcare providers should be aware that symptom resolution may be gradual.

Background: Risk assessment of patients with acute COVID-19 in a telemedicine context is not well described. In settings of large numbers of patients, a risk assessment tool may guide resource allocation not only for patient care but also for maximum health care and public health benefit. Objective:The goal of this study was to determine whether a COVID-19 telemedicine risk assessment tool accurately predicts hospitalizations. Methods:We conducted a retrospective study of a COVID-19 telemedicine home monitoring program serving health care workers and the community in Atlanta, Georgia, with enrollment from March 24 to May 26, 2020; the final call range was from March 27 to June 19, 2020. All patients were assessed by medical providers using an institutional COVID-19 risk assessment tool designating patients as Tier 1 (low risk for hospitalization), Tier 2 (intermediate risk for hospitalization), or Tier 3 (high risk for hospitalization). Patients were followed with regular telephone calls to an endpoint of improvement or hospitalization. Using survival analysis by Cox regression with days to hospitalization as the metric, we analyzed the performance of the risk tiers and explored individual patient factors associated with risk of hospitalization.Results: Providers using the risk assessment rubric assigned 496 outpatients to tiers: Tier 1, 237 out of 496 (47.8%); Tier 2, 185 out of 496 (37.3%); and Tier 3, 74 out of 496 (14.9%). Subsequent hospitalizations numbered 3 out of 237 (1.3%) for Tier 1, 15 out of 185 (8.1%) for Tier 2, and 17 out of 74 (23%) for Tier 3. From a Cox regression model with age of 60 years or older, gender, and reported obesity as covariates, the adjusted hazard ratios for hospitalization using Tier 1 as reference were 3.74 (95% CI 1.06-13.27; P=.04) for Tier 2 and 10.87 (95% CI 3.09-38.27; P<.001) for Tier 3. Conclusions:A telemedicine risk assessment tool prospectively applied to an outpatient population with COVID-19 identified populations with low, intermediate, and high risk of hospitalization.

<b><i>Background:</i></b> End-stage kidney disease patients on dialysis are particularly susceptible to COVID-19 infection due to comorbidities, age, and logistic constraints of dialysis making social distancing difficult. We describe our experience with hospitalized dialysis patients with COVID-19 and factors associated with mortality. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> From March 1, 2020, to May 31, 2020, all dialysis patients admitted to 4 Emory Hospitals and tested for COVID-19 were identified. Sociodemographic information and clinical and laboratory data were obtained from the medical record. Death was defined as an in-hospital death or transfer to hospice for end-of-life care. Patients were followed until discharge or death. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Sixty-four dialysis patients with COVID-19 were identified. Eighty-four percent were African-American. The median age was 64 years, and 59% were males. Four patients were on peritoneal dialysis, and 60 were on hemodialysis for a median time of 3.8 years, while 31% were obese. Fever (72%), cough (61%), and diarrhea (22%) were the most common symptoms at presentation. Thirty-three percent required admission to intensive care unit, and 23% required mechanical ventilation. The median length of stay was 10 days, while 11 patients (17%) died during hospitalization and 17% were discharged to a temporary rehabilitation facility. Age &#x3e;65 years (RR 13.7, CI: 1.9–100.7), C-reactive protein &#x3e;100 mg/dL (RR 8.3, CI: 1.1–60.4), peak D-dimer &#x3e;3,000 ng/mL (RR 4.3, CI: 1.03–18.2), bilirubin &#x3e;1 mg/dL (RR 3.9, CI: 1.5–10.4), and history of peripheral vascular disease (RR 3.2, CI: 1.2–9.1) were associated with mortality. Dialysis COVID-19-infected patients were more likely to develop thromboembolic complications than those without COVID-19 (RR 3.7, CI: 1.3–10.1). <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> In a predominantly African-American population, the mortality of end-stage kidney disease patients admitted with COVID-19 infection was 17%. Age, C-reactive protein, D-dimer, bilirubin, and history of peripheral vascular disease were associated with worse survival.