Arch Intern Med
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Clinicians currently rely on patient-designated and next-of-kin surrogates to make end-of-life treatment decisions for incapacitated patients. Surrogates are instructed to use the substituted judgment standard, which directs them to make the treatment decision that the patient would have made if he or she were capacitated. However, commentators have questioned the accuracy with which surrogates predict patients' treatment preferences. ⋯ Patient-designated and next-of-kin surrogates incorrectly predict patients' end-of-life treatment preferences in one third of cases. These data undermine the claim that reliance on surrogates is justified by their ability to predict incapacitated patients' treatment preferences. Future studies should assess whether other mechanisms might predict patients' end-of-life treatment preferences more accurately. Also, they should assess whether reliance on patient-designated and next-of-kin surrogates offers patients and/or their families benefits that are independent of the accuracy of surrogates' decisions.
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
The importance of echocardiography in physicians' support of endocarditis prophylaxis.
Guidelines advocate for antimicrobial prophylaxis for prevention of bacterial endocarditis. Our objective was to explore physicians' perspectives regarding the importance of echocardiography in the evaluation and management of endocarditis prophylaxis. ⋯ Physicians strongly support the use of echocardiography in endocarditis prophylaxis decision making. However, the importance of echocardiography relative to other factors varies across physician specialties. Further studies must evaluate the role of echocardiography in the assessment and management of antimicrobial endocarditis prophylaxis to assist in the development of clear clinical guidelines.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Role of pharmacist counseling in preventing adverse drug events after hospitalization.
Hospitalization and subsequent discharge home often involve discontinuity of care, multiple changes in medication regimens, and inadequate patient education, which can lead to adverse drug events (ADEs) and avoidable health care utilization. Our objectives were to identify drug-related problems during and after hospitalization and to determine the effect of patient counseling and follow-up by pharmacists on preventable ADEs. ⋯ Pharmacist medication review, patient counseling, and telephone follow-up were associated with a lower rate of preventable ADEs 30 days after hospital discharge. Medication discrepancies before and after discharge were common targets of intervention.
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Few data are available about physicians' decisions in regard to withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining measures. We therefore studied internists' views on this subject. ⋯ A large percentage of internists would be unwilling to adhere to some of patients' wishes to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment. The clinical scenario and type of treatment affect internists' decisions about whether they would withhold or withdraw such treatment.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Acupuncture in patients with chronic low back pain: a randomized controlled trial.
Acupuncture is widely used by patients with low back pain, although its effectiveness is unclear. We investigated the efficacy of acupuncture compared with minimal acupuncture and with no acupuncture in patients with chronic low back pain. ⋯ Acupuncture was more effective in improving pain than no acupuncture treatment in patients with chronic low back pain, whereas there were no significant differences between acupuncture and minimal acupuncture.