The American journal of medicine
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To review the literature to determine whether inhaled ipratropium bromide provides additive benefits to adults with acute asthma who are being treated with beta-agonists in an emergency department. ⋯ The addition of ipratropium to beta-agonist therapy offers a statistically significant, albeit modest, improvement in pulmonary function, as well as a reduction in the rate of hospital admissions.
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Multicenter Study
Use of critical pathways to improve the care of patients with acute myocardial infarction.
While critical pathways have become a popular strategy to improve the quality of care, their effectiveness is not well defined. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of a critical pathway on processes of care and outcomes for Medicare patients admitted with acute myocardial infarction. ⋯ Hospitals that instituted critical pathways did not have increased use of proven medical therapies, shorter lengths of stay, or reductions in mortality compared with other hospitals that commonly used alternative approaches to quality improvement among Medicare patients with myocardial infarction.
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We sought to assess the yield of chest roentgenography for the detection of pneumothorax among hospitalized patients with pleural effusion who have undergone diagnostic or therapeutic thoracentesis. ⋯ Among the symptom-free patients in our sample, the risk of developing pneumothorax with clinical consequences was so low that the practice of routine chest roentgenography may not be justified.