BackgroundThe pathogenesis of Chiari malformations is incompletely understood. We tested the hypothesis that different etiologies have different mechanisms of cerebellar tonsil herniation (CTH), as revealed by posterior cranial fossa (PCF) morphology.MethodsIn 741 patients with Chiari malformation type I (CM-I) and 11 patients with Chiari malformation type II (CM-II), the size of the occipital enchondrium and volume of the PCF (PCFV) were measured on reconstructed 2D-CT and MR images of the skull. Measurements were compared with those in 80 age- and sex-matched healthy control individuals, and the results were correlated with clinical findings.ResultsSignificant reductions of PCF size and volume were present in 388 patients with classical CM-I, 11 patients with CM-II, and five patients with CM-I and craniosynostosis. Occipital bone size and PCFV were normal in 225 patients with CM-I and occipitoatlantoaxial joint instability, 55 patients with CM-I and tethered cord syndrome (TCS), 30 patients with CM-I and intracranial mass lesions, and 28 patients with CM-I and lumboperitoneal shunts. Ten patients had miscellaneous etiologies. The size and area of the foramen magnum were significantly smaller in patients with classical CM-I and CM-I occurring with craniosynostosis and significantly larger in patients with CM-II and CM-I occurring with TCS.ConclusionsImportant clues concerning the pathogenesis of CTH were provided by morphometric measurements of the PCF. When these assessments were correlated with etiological factors, the following causal mechanisms were suggested: (1) cranial constriction; (2) cranial settling; (3) spinal cord tethering; (4) intracranial hypertension; and (5) intraspinal hypotension.

The data suggest that remote video auditing combined with feedback produced a significant and sustained improvement in hand hygiene.

An anonymous survey of 1143 employees in 17 nursing facilities assessed knowledge of, attitudes about, self-perceived compliance with, and barriers to implementing the 2002 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hand hygiene guidelines. Overall, employees reported positive attitudes toward the guidelines but differed with regard to knowledge, compliance, and perceived barriers. These findings provide guidance for practice improvement programs in long-term care settings.

Emergency preparedness programs are critical.

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Study objectives-To evaluate the impact of a multifactorial intervention to improve the quality, efficiency, and patient understanding of care for community-acquired pneumonia.Design-Times series cohort study. Setting-Four academic health centers in the New York City metropolitan area.Patients or participants-All consecutive adults hospitalized for pneumonia during a 5-month period before (n = 1,013) and after (n = 1,081) implementation of an inpatient quality improvement (QI) initiative.Interventions-A multidisciplinary team of opinion leaders developed evidence-based treatment guidelines and critical pathways, conducted educational sessions with physicians, distributed pocket reminder cards, promoted standardized orders, and developed bilingual patient education materials.Measurements and results-The average age was 71.4 years, and 44.1% of cases were low risk, 36.8% were moderate risk, and 19.2% were high risk. The preintervention and postintervention groups were well matched on age, sex, race, nursing home residence, pneumonia severity, initial presentation, and most major comorbidities. The intervention increased the use of guideline-recommended antimicrobial therapy from 78.1 to 83.4% (p = 0.003). There was also a borderline decrease in the proportion of patients being discharged prior to becoming clinically stable, from 27.0 to 23.5% (p = 0.06). However, there were no improvements in the other targeted indicators, including time to first dose of antibiotics, proportion receiving antibiotics within 8 h, timely switch to oral antibiotics, timely discharge, length of stay, or patient education outcomes.Correspondence to: Ethan A. Halm, MD, MPH, Division of General Internal Medicine, Box 1087, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, One Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY 10029; ethan.halm@mountsinai.org. Reproduction of this article is prohibited without written permission from the American College of Chest Physicians (permissions@chestnet.org). NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptChest. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2015 January 21. Published in final edited form as:Chest. 2004 July ; 126(1): 100-107. doi:10.1378/chest.126.1.100. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptConclusions-This real-world QI program was able to improve modestly on some quality indicators, but not effect resource use or patient knowledge of their disease. Changing physician and organizational behavior in academic health centers will require the development and implementation of more intensive, system-oriented strategies.Keywords antibiotic therapy; guidelines; outcomes; pneumonia; quality improvementNearly one million patients are hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia each year in the United States, at an annual cost of $9 billion. 1,2 It is the most common infectious cause of death, the sixth-leading cause of death overall, and has an average mortality rate of 14%. 3,4 Previous work 5-8 has demonstrated substantial variations in the quality of inpatient pneumonia care between hospitals ...

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BackgroundDysglycemia is a major risk factor for atherosclerosis. In many patient populations dysglycemia is under-diagnosed. Patients with severe coronary artery disease commonly have dysglycemia and there is growing evidence that dysglycemia, irrespective of underlying history of diabetes, is associated with adverse outcome in coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery patients, including longer hospital stay, wound infections, and higher mortality. As HbA1c is an easy and reliable way of checking for dysglycemia we routinely screen all patients undergoing CABG for elevations in HbA1c. Our hypothesis was that a substantial number of patients with dysglycemia that could be identified at the time of cardiothoracic surgery despite having no apparent history of diabetes.Methods1045 consecutive patients undergoing CABG between 2007 and 2009 had HbA1c measured pre-operatively. The 2010 American Diabetes Association (ADA) diagnostic guidelines were used to categorize patients with no known history of diabetes as having diabetes (HbA1c ≥ 6.5%) or increased risk for diabetes (HbA1c 5.7-6.4%).ResultsOf the 1045 patients with pre-operative HbA1c measurements, 40% (n = 415) had a known history of diabetes and 60% (n = 630) had no known history of diabetes. For the 630 patients with no known diabetic history: 207 (32.9%) had a normal HbA1c (< 5.7%); 356 (56.5%) had an HbA1c falling in the increased risk for diabetes range (5.7-6.4%); and 67 (10.6%) had an HbA1c in the diabetes range (6.5% or higher). In this study the only conventional risk factor that was predictive of high HbA1c was BMI. We also found a high HbA1c irrespective of history of DM was associated with severe coronary artery disease as indicated by the number of vessels revascularized.ConclusionAmong individuals undergoing CABG with no known history of diabetes, there is a substantial amount of undiagnosed dysglycemia. Even though labeling these patients as "diabetic" or "increased risk for diabetes" remains controversial in terms of perioperative management, pre-operative screening could lead to appropriate post-operative follow up to mitigate short-term adverse outcome and provide high priority medical referrals of this at risk population.