The contemporary patient-centered medical practice relies upon the acquisition of informed consent, which serves as written proof that the patient has recognized and agreed to the risks and benefits of their treatment. Well-documented informed consent forms are not only reflective of important ethical practices in medicine but can also serve as legal documents to protect healthcare providers from undue liabilities. We conducted a quality improvement project with the intention to improve the accuracy and completeness of consent form documentation in the medical intensive care unit.The evaluation of consent forms before our intervention revealed that only 6.8% were correctly completed, with an average of 10.2 out of 14 (73%) essential items correct. Our intervention involved a multifaceted approach that included targeted education in combination with process improvement. The post-intervention results at one month revealed improvement in consent form accuracy from 6.8% to 60% (p = 0.0001), with an increase in the average number of essential items documented correctly from 10.2 to 13.5 (p = 0.0001). Data were collected three months post-intervention to evaluate for sustained improvement. Results revealed a significant decrease in consent form accuracy to 39% when compared to the one-month post-intervention data but still maintained a statistically significant improvement when compared to initial baseline data; 6.8% to 39% (p = <0.01).Following the intervention, overall consent form accuracy improved significantly at our institution. Furthermore, these positive adjustments persisted when assessed at three months post-intervention despite the decrease as compared to one-month post-intervention. This trend suggests that our multifaceted intervention was able to increase the quality and accuracy of consent form documentation successfully.
Objectives: In patients with septic shock, hydrocortisone 200–400 mg/d has been shown to reverse shock compared with placebo. Lower doses of hydrocortisone have not previously been studied, and there are no previous studies comparing two different doses of hydrocortisone. At our institution, some clinicians routinely prescribe doses less than 200 mg/d. This study aims to compare the effect of lower doses of hydrocortisone to standard doses on shock reversal and adverse events in septic shock. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: Single-center medical ICU. Subjects: Patients who received hydrocortisone for septic shock. Interventions: Electronic chart review. Measurements and Main Results: Patients were divided into low-dose hydrocortisone (75–150 mg/d) and standard-dose hydrocortisone (200–400 mg/d) cohorts based on initial prescribed hydrocortisone dose. Rates of shock reversal and adverse events in the two cohorts were compared. Two-hundred thirteen patients were included—41 in low-dose and 172 in standard-dose cohorts. Baseline characteristics including initial vasopressor requirement and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment scores were similar. Average rates of change in vasopressor needs, conditional hazard rate for vasopressor withdrawal, and cumulative probability for vasopressor withdrawal were all quantitatively similar for low-dose and standard-dose hydrocortisone. Insulin requirement (particularly in those with diabetes mellitus), blood glucose in those with diabetes mellitus, and frequency of secondary infections seemed to be lower in the low-dose hydrocortisone cohort. Mortality and other secondary outcomes were similar. Conclusions: In septic shock, hydrocortisone dosed 75–150 mg/d appears to reverse shock as effectively 200–400 mg/d and may cause a lower frequency of adverse events.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.