Journal of general internal medicine
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Communication with clinicians is an important component of a hospitalized patient's experience. ⋯ Hospitalized patients' experience of their communication with hospitalists may be improved by using standardized hospitalist information cards. Younger patients cared for by a team with an advanced practice provider, as well as female patients paired with female providers, were more likely to be satisfied with the overall communication. Assessing the impact of information cards should be studied in other settings to confirm generalizability.
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Newer glucose-lowering drugs, including sodium glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) and GLP-1 agonists, have a key role in the pharmacologic management of type 2 diabetes. No studies have measured primary nonadherence for these two drug classes, defined as when a medication is prescribed for a patient but ultimately not dispensed to them. ⋯ One third of patients prescribed SGLT2i or GLP-1 agonists in this sample did not fill their prescription within 30 days. Black race, male sex, older age, having greater baseline comorbidities, and having a primary care provider vs endocrinologist prescribe the index drug were associated with higher odds of primary nonadherence. Interventions targeting medication adherence for these newer drugs must consider primary nonadherence as a barrier to optimal clinical care.
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Communication of the benefits and harms of blood pressure lowering strategy is crucial for shared decision-making. ⋯ Over 4 years, intensive systolic blood pressure lowering provides, on average, 14.7 more MACE-free days than standard treatment, without any difference in SAE-free days. Whether this time-based effect summary improves shared decision-making remains to be elucidated.
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Education and income, as two primary socioeconomic indicators, are often used interchangeably in health research. However, there is a lack of clear distinction between these two indicators concerning their associations with health. ⋯ Education and income were both independently associated with incident type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. The combined associations of these two socioeconomic indicators revealed that within each education or income level, substantial health disparities existed across strata of the other socioeconomic indicator. Education and income are two equally important socioeconomic indicators in health, and should be considered simultaneously in health research and policymaking.
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Deaths from pneumonia were decreasing globally prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it is unclear whether this was due to changes in patient populations, illness severity, diagnosis, hospitalization thresholds, or treatment. Using clinical data from the electronic health record among a national cohort of patients initially diagnosed with pneumonia, we examined temporal trends in severity of illness, hospitalization, and short- and long-term deaths. ⋯ Outcomes for community-onset pneumonia have improved across the VA healthcare system after accounting for illness severity, despite an increase in cases and comorbidity burden.