No abstract

The targeted literature search included evidence related to the effectiveness of 5 U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved pharmacologic therapies for dementia for outcomes in the domains of cognition, global function, behavior/mood, and quality of life/activities of daily living. RECOMMENDATION 1: Clinicians should base the decision to initiate a trial of therapy with a cholinesterase inhibitor or memantine on individualized assessment. (Grade: weak recommendation, moderate-quality evidence.) RECOMMENDATION 2: Clinicians should base the choice of pharmacologic agents on tolerability, adverse effect profile, ease of use, and cost of medication. The evidence is insufficient to compare the effectiveness of different pharmacologic agents for the treatment of dementia. (Grade: weak recommendation, low-quality evidence.) RECOMMENDATION 3: There is an urgent need for further research on the clinical effectiveness of pharmacologic management of dementia.

BACKGROUND: Rehospitalization is a prominent target for healthcare quality improvement and performance-based reimbursement. The generalizability of existing evidence on best practices is unknown.

No abstract

Background Handoffs are ubiquitous to Hospital Medicine and considered a vulnerable time for patient safety. Purpose To develop recommendations for hospitalist handoffs during shift change and service change. Data Sources PubMed (through January 2007), AHRQ Patient Safety Network, white papers, and hand search of article bibliographies. Study Selection Controlled studies evaluating interventions to improve in-hospital handoffs (n = 10). Data Extraction Studies were abstracted for design, setting, target, outcomes (including patient, staff, or system level outcomes), and relevance to hospitalists. Data Synthesis Although there were no studies of hospitalist handoffs, the existing literature from related disciplines and expert opinion support the use of a verbal handoff supplemented with written documentation in a structured format or technology solution. Technology solutions were associated with a reduction in preventable adverse events, improved satisfaction with handoff quality, and improved provider identification. Nursing studies demonstrate that supplementing verbal exchange with a written medium leads to improved retention of information. White papers characterized effective verbal exchange as focusing on ill patients and actions required, with time for questions and minimal interruptions. In addition, content should be updated daily to ensure communication of the latest clinical information. Using this literature, recommendations for hospitalist handoffs are presented with corresponding levels of evidence. Recommendations were reviewed by hospitalists at the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) Annual Meeting and by an interdisciplinary team of expert consultants and were endorsed by the SHM governing Board. Conclusions The systematic review and resulting recommendations provide hospitalists a starting point from which to improve in-hospital handoffs.

Executive Summary: Medication errors and adverse events caused by them are common during and after a hospitalization.The impact of these events on patient welfare and the financial burden, both to the patient and the healthcare system, are significant. In 2005, The Joint Commission put forth medication reconciliation as National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) No. 8 in an effort to minimize adverse events caused during these types of care transitions. However, the meaningful and systematic implementation of medication reconciliation, as expressed through NPSG No. 8, proved to be extraordinarily difficult for healthcare institutions around the country.Given the importance of accurate and complete medication reconciliation for patient safety occurring across the continuum of care, the Society of Hospital Medicine convened a stakeholder conference in 2009 to begin to identify and address: (1) barriers to implementation; (2) opportunities to identify best practices surrounding medication reconciliation; (3) the role of partnerships among traditional healthcare sites and nonclinical and other community-based organizations; and (4) metrics for measuring the processes involved in medication reconciliation and their impact on preventing harm to patients. The focus of the conference was oriented toward medication reconciliation for a hospitalized patient population; however, many of the themes and concepts derived would also apply to other care settings. This paper highlights the key domains needing to be addressed and suggests first steps toward doing so. View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. Journal of Hospital Medicine Vol 5 No 8 October 2010 477An overarching principle derived at the conference is that medication reconciliation should not be viewed as an accreditation function. It must, first and foremost, be recognized as an important element of patient safety. From this principle, the participants identified ten key areas requiring further attention in order to move medication reconciliation toward this focus.1. There is need for a uniformly acceptable and accepted definition of what constitutes a medication and what processes are encompassed by reconciliation. Clarifying these terms is critical to ensuring more uniform impact of medication reconciliation. 2. The varying roles of the multidisciplinary participants in the reconciliation process must be clearly defined. These role definitions should include those of the patient and family/caregiver and must occur locally, taking into account the need for flexibility in design given the varying structures and resources at healthcare sites. 3. Measures of the reconciliation processes must be clinically meaningful (i.e., of defined benefit to the patient) and derived through consultation with stakeholder groups. Those measures to be reported for national benchmarking and accreditation should be limited in number and clinically meaningful. 4. While a comprehensive reconciliation system is needed across the continuum of care, a phased approach to implementation, ...

BACKGROUND Discharge from the hospital is a critical transition point in a patient's care. Incomplete handoffs at discharge can lead to adverse events for patients and result in avoidable rehospitalization. Care transitions are especially important for elderly patients and other high‐risk patients who have multiple comorbidities. Standardizing the elements of the discharge process may help to address the gaps in quality and safety that occur when patients transition from the hospital to an outpatient setting. METHODS The Society of Hospital Medicine's Hospital Quality and Patient Safety committee assembled a panel of care transition researchers, process improvement experts, and hospitalists to review the literature and develop a checklist of processes and elements required for ideal discharge of adult patients. The discharge checklist was presented at the Society of Hospital Medicine's Annual Meeting in April 2005, where it was reviewed and revised by more than 120 practicing hospitalists and hospital‐based nurses, case managers, and pharmacists. The final checklist was endorsed by the Society of Hospital Medicine. RESULTS The finalized checklist is a comprehensive list of the processes and elements considered necessary for optimal patient handoff at hospital discharge. This checklist focused on medication safety, patient education, and follow‐up plans. CONCLUSIONS The development of content and process standards for discharge is the first step in improving the handoff of care from the inpatient to the posthospital setting. Refining this checklist for patients with specific diagnoses, in specific age categories, and with specific discharge destinations may further improve information transfer and ultimately affect patient outcomes. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2006;1:354–360. © 2006 Society of Hospital Medicine.

Overall life expectancy can be predicted with a moderate degree of accuracy, sufficient for informing patient-clinician discussions but inadequate as the only determinant of the optimal management approach.