Journal of hospital medicine : an official publication of the Society of Hospital Medicine
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Multicenter Study
Blood culture use in the emergency department in patients hospitalized with respiratory symptoms due to a nonpneumonia illness.
Guidelines and performance measures recommend obtaining blood cultures in selected patients hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Due to inherent diagnostic uncertainty, there may be spillover effects of these recommendations on other conditions that resemble pneumonia. ⋯ The increase in collecting cultures in the ED in patients hospitalized with respiratory symptoms due to a nonpneumonia illness suggests an important potential unintended consequence of blood culture recommendations for CAP. More attention to the judicious use of blood cultures to reduce harm and costs is needed.
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Multicenter Study
Hospital readmission and healthcare utilization following sepsis in community settings.
Sepsis, the most expensive cause of hospitalization in the United States, is associated with high morbidity and mortality. However, healthcare utilization patterns following sepsis are poorly understood. ⋯ Postsepsis survival and healthcare utilization were most strongly influenced by patient factors already present prior to sepsis hospitalization.