FDA has learned that some ranitidine medicines, including some products commonly known as the brand-name drug Zantac, contain NDMA.

FDA is warning that Ibrance (palbociclib), Kisqali (ribociclib), and Verzenio (abemaciclib) used to treat some patients with advanced breast cancers may cause rare but severe inflammation of the lungs.

The eight teams participating in the Pursuing Equity initiative share their lessons, tactics, and practical tips for improving equity in their health system so that others may learn from their experiences.

Institute for Healthcare Improvement and partners recognize hospitals and health care practices leading the way in addressing the health needs of older adults

Health care leaders rely on data to guide decisions, yet when data is misinterpreted it impacts the quality of those decisions. This article discusses using data the right way to inform decisions, including control charts to display and interpret data over time.

Consumers are likely aware of the recent reports of respiratory illnesses – including some resulting in deaths – following the use of vaping products.The FDA is working closely with the CDC, as well as state and local public health partners to investigate them as quickly as possible.

An effective aim statement is fundamental for every quality improvement project. Use this worksheet to help you write a clear, specific aim statement and complete the checklist to double-check your work.

Safety Communication - Related to Seizures Reported Following E-cigarette Use, Particularly in Youth and Young Adults

Both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are working tirelessly to investigate the distressing incidents of severe respiratory disease associated with use of e-cigarette products.

FDA has received reports that the use of Mavyret, Zepatier, or Vosevi to treat chronic Hepatitis C in patients with moderate to severe liver impairment has resulted in rare cases of worsening liver function or liver failure.

IHI's work in partnership with the Ministry of Health in Brazil is recognized in this article celebrating the results of the first 18 months of the PROADI Collaborative with 119 public hospitals.

MedWatch Alert on certain prescription insomnia medicines.

Verschlimmbessern: German word meaning to make something worse in an effort to improve it

In this issue of BMJ Quality & Safety, Snooks et al1 report a stepped-wedge trial involving 32 general practices in Wales. A web-based software program presented clinicians with estimates of patients’ risk of future emergency attendance on the basis of clinical characteristics, past health services use and socioeconomic factors. Clinicians could then develop management plans which would avoid acute deteriorations necessitating emergency department attendance. Surprisingly, the intervention caused a small but statistically significant increase in hospital admissions and use of other National Health Service services.

The authors deserve congratulations here because they undertook this evaluation precisely because policies intended to improve care or reduce costs often presume the effectiveness of a certain approach when little evidence exists to support it. Targeting high-cost users of healthcare is a widely recommend approach which is harder...

Sepsis is a global health priority of staggering impact, resulting in at least 6 million deaths worldwide each year and contributing to as many one half of all hospital deaths in the USA.1–4 Sepsis is also tremendously costly, as reflected in total healthcare expenditures,5 6 short-term and long-term morbidity and mortality7–9 and the heavy burden placed on caregivers and society.10 11 Large-scale efforts, including those of the WHO and the Global Sepsis Alliance, have helped to elevate sepsis to a highly prominent concern visible to ‘the public, political leaders and leaders of healthcare systems’.1 12 Emerging public awareness campaigns—for example, the Sepsis Alliance’s ‘It’s About TIME’ motto emphasises Temperature, Infection, Mental decline and Extreme illness as concerning patient symptoms13—further drive home...

Aim

We evaluated the introduction of a predictive risk stratification model (PRISM) into primary care. Contemporaneously National Health Service (NHS) Wales introduced Quality and Outcomes Framework payments to general practices to focus care on those at highest risk of emergency admission to hospital. The aim of this study was to evaluate the costs and effects of introducing PRISM into primary care.

Methods

Randomised stepped wedge trial with 32 general practices in one Welsh health board. The intervention comprised: PRISM software; practice-based training; clinical support through two ‘general practitioner (GP) champions’ and technical support. The primary outcome was emergency hospital admissions.

Results

Across 230 099 participants, PRISM implementation increased use of health services: emergency hospital admission rates by 1 % when untransformed (while change in log-transformed rate L=0.011, 95% CI 0.010 to 0.013); emergency department (ED) attendance rates by untransformed 3 % (while L=0.030, 95% CI 0.028 to 0.032); outpatient visit rates by untransformed 5 % (while L=0.055, 95% CI 0.051 to 0.058); the proportion of days with recorded GP activity by untransformed 1 % (while L=0.011, 95% CI 0.007 to 0.014) and time in hospital by untransformed 3 % (while L=0.029, 95% CI 0.026 to 0.031). Thus NHS costs per participant increased by £76 (95% CI £46 to £106).

Conclusions

Introduction of PRISM resulted in a statistically significant increase in emergency hospital admissions and use of other NHS services without evidence of benefits to patients or the NHS.

Background

Existing evidence indicates that reducing nurse staffing and/or skill mix adversely affects care quality. Nursing shortages may lead managers to dilute nursing team skill mix, substituting assistant personnel for registered nurses (RNs). However, no previous studies have described the relationship between nurse staffing and staff–patient interactions.

Setting

Six wards at two English National Health Service hospitals.

Methods

We observed 238 hours of care (n=270 patients). Staff–patient interactions were rated using the Quality of Interactions Schedule. RN, healthcare assistant (HCA) and patient numbers were used to calculate patient-to-staff ratios. Multilevel regression models explored the association between staffing levels, skill mix and the chance of an interaction being rated as ‘negative’ quality, rate at which patients experienced interactions and total amount of time patients spent interacting with staff per observed hour.

Results

10% of the 3076 observed interactions were rated as negative. The odds of a negative interaction increased significantly as the number of patients per RN increased (p=0.035, OR of 2.82 for ≥8 patients/RN compared with >6 to <8 patients/RN). A similar pattern was observed for HCA staffing but the relationship was not significant (p=0.056). When RN staffing was low, the odds of a negative interaction increased with higher HCA staffing. Rate of interactions per patient hour, but not total amount of interaction time, was related to RN and HCA staffing levels.

Conclusion

Low RN staffing levels are associated with changes in quality and quantity of staff–patient interactions. When RN staffing is low, increases in assistant staff levels are not associated with improved quality of staff–patient interactions. Beneficial effects from adding assistant staff are likely to be dependent on having sufficient RNs to supervise, limiting the scope for substitution.

Background

While midline vascular catheters are gaining popularity in clinical practice, patterns of use and outcomes related to these devices are not well known.

Methods

Trained abstractors collected data from medical records of hospitalised patients who received midline catheters in 12 hospitals. Device characteristics, patterns of use and outcomes were assessed at device removal or at 30 days. Rates of major (upper-extremity deep vein thrombosis [DVT], bloodstream infection [BSI] and catheter occlusion) and minor complications were assessed. 2 tests were used to examine differences in rates of complication by number of lumens, reasons for catheter removal l, and hospital-level differences in rates of midline use.

Results

Complete data on 1161 midlines representing 5%–72% of all midlines placed in participating hospitals between 1 January 2017 and 1 March 2018 were available. Most (70.8%) midlines were placed in general ward settings for difficult intravenous access (61.4%). The median dwell time of midlines across hospitals was 6 days; almost half (49%) were removed within 5 days of insertion. A major or minor complication occurred in 10.3% of midlines, with minor complications such as dislodgement, leaking and infiltration accounting for 71% of all adverse events. While rates of major complications including occlusion, upper-extremity DVT and BSI were low (2.2%, 1.4% and 0.3%, respectively), they were just as likely to lead to midline removal as minor complications (53.8% vs 52.5%, p=0.90). Across hospitals, absolute volume of midlines placed varied from 100 to 1837 devices, with corresponding utilisation rates of 0.97%–12.92% (p<0.001).

Conclusion

Midline use and outcomes vary widely across hospitals. Although rates of major complications are low, device removal as a result of adverse events is common.

Background

The American College of Surgeons’ Trauma Quality Improvement Program (TQIP) provides trauma centres with performance reports on their processes and outcomes of care relative to their peers. This study explored how performance reports are used by trauma centre leaders to engage in performance improvement and perceived barriers to use.

Study design

Qualitative focus group study with trauma medical directors (TMDs) and trauma programme managers (TPMs) in US trauma centres. Consistent with qualitative descriptive analysis, data collection and interpretation were inductively and iteratively completed. Major themes were derived using a constant comparative technique.

Results

Six focus groups were conducted involving 22 TMDs and 22 TPMs. Three major themes were captured: (1) technical uses of performance reports; (2) cultural uses of performance reports; (3) opportunities to enhance the role and value of TQIP. First, technical uses included using reports to assess data collection procedures, data quality and areas of poor performance relative to peers. In this domain, barriers to report use included not trusting others’ data quality and challenges with report interpretation. Second, reports were used to influence practice change by fostering inter-specialty discussions, leveraging resources for quality improvement, community engagement and regional collaboratives. Perceived lack of specialist engagement was viewed as an impediment in this domain. Lastly, identified opportunities for TQIP to support report use involved clarifying the relationship between verification and performance reports, and increasing partnerships with nursing associations.

Conclusion

Trauma centre improvement leaders indicated practical and social uses of performance reports that can affect intention and ability to change. Recommendations to optimise programme participation include a focus on data quality, adequate resource provision and enhanced support for regional collaboratives.

Background

A system of clinical records accessible by both patients and their attending healthcare professionals facilitates continuity of care and patient-centred care, thereby improving clinical outcomes. The need for such a system has become greater as the proportion of patients with chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) requiring ongoing care increases. This is particularly true in low-income and middle-income countries where the burden of these diseases is greatest.

Objective

To describe a nationwide patient-held health booklet (PHHB) system and investigate its use and completeness for clinical information transfer during chronic NCD outpatient visits in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

Methods

Qualitative and quantitative methodologies were employed in this mixed-methods study. Structured interviews were used to study a sample of adult patients with chronic NCDs attending the outpatient departments (OPDs) of two large, public secondary care hospitals ; artefact reviews were used to analyse the content of the written documents relating to their clinical care; and snowball methodology was used to identify policy and training documents.

Results

96% (379/395) brought handover documentation from previous provider/s: 94% had PHHBs, 27% other additional documents and 4% had nothing. 67% were referred from primary care and 44% referred back for follow-up. On leaving the OPD, irrespective of requirements for computer data entry, doctors provided written clinical information in the PHHB for 93% of patients. 84% of patients recalled being given verbal information. However, only 41% of the consultation with written information included all three key handover information items (diagnosis, management/treatment and follow-up). The PHHBs were the best completed type of document, with evidence that they were consulted by patients (80%), public (95%) and private (77%) providers. Living >1 hour away (OR=0.28; 95% CI 0.13 to 0.61) decreased the likelihood of receiving written management/treatment information; living >1 hour away (OR=0.48; 95% CI 0.27 to 0.87), comorbidity (OR=0.55; 95% CI 0.35 to 0.87) and returning to secondary care (OR=0.52; 95% CI 0.33 to 0.80) all independently decreased the likelihood of receiving written follow-up information. A Ministry order mandates the use of the booklet, but there were no other related policies, guidelines or clinician training.

Conclusion

The universal PHHBs were well accepted, well used and the best completed handover documentation. The PHHBs provided a successful handover option for patients with chronic NCDs in Mongolia, but their completeness needs improving. There is potential for global application.

Background

Despite focused initiatives to reduce device-associated infection among hospitalised patients, the practices US hospitals are currently using are unknown. We thus used a national survey to ascertain the use of several established and novel practices to prevent device-associated infections.

Methods

We mailed surveys to infection preventionists in a random sample of nearly 900 US acute care hospitals in 2017. Our survey asked about the use of practices to prevent three common device-associated infections: catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI), central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) and ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). Using sample weights, we estimated the percentage of hospitals reporting regular use of each practice. We also conducted multivariable regression to determine associations between selected hospital characteristics (eg, perceived support from leadership) and use of CAUTI, CLABSI and VAP prevention practices.

Results

The response rate was 59%. Several practices are reportedly used in over 90% of US hospitals: aseptic technique during indwelling urethral catheter insertion and maintenance (to prevent CAUTI); maximum sterile barrier precautions during central catheter insertion and alcohol-containing chlorhexidine gluconate for insertion site antisepsis (to prevent CLABSI); and semirecumbent positioning of the patient (to prevent VAP). Antimicrobial devices are used in the minority of hospitals for these three device-associated infections.

Conclusions

We provide an updated snapshot of the practices US hospitals are currently using to prevent device-associated infections. Compared with previous studies using a similar design and questions, we found that the use of recommended practices increased in US hospitals, especially for CAUTI prevention.