Journal of general internal medicine
-
In the United States, suicide rates are increasing among nearly all age groups. Primary care is a critical setting for suicide prevention, where interventions often rely on identifying mental health conditions as indicators of elevated suicide risk. ⋯ From 2000 to 2014, of nearly thirty thousand VHA primary care patients who died by suicide, almost half had no antecedent mental health or substance use diagnosis. Within VHA primary care settings, suicide risk screening for those with and without such a diagnosis is indicated.
-
This paper was originally published with an incorrect title.
-
Concurrent use of benzodiazepines in opioid users has been linked to a higher risk of an emergency room visit or inpatient admission for opioid overdose and death from drug overdose. Further research is needed to confirm the findings and analyze contributing risk factors for opioid overdoses in a large commercially insured population. ⋯ Results from this study demonstrate a significant increase in risk of opioid overdose in patients exposed to combinations of sedative-hypnotics with opioids compared to those only taking opioids. Findings from this study provide evidence that opioids should be avoided in combination with benzodiazepines and non-benzodiazepine sedative-hypnotics, used at the lowest dose possible, and used with caution in the elderly, those with previous history of overdose, and those with substance use disorder at baseline.
-
Poor communication between physicians and nurses is a significant contributor to adverse events for hospitalized patients. Overcoming communication difficulties requires examining communication practices to better understand some of the factors that affect the nurse-physician communication process. ⋯ Improving communication requires bringing attention to three contextual dimensions of communication: organizational complexity, cognitive load, and the social context. Initiatives that seek to improve communication may be more successful if they acknowledge the complexity of communication and the context in which it occurs.