Archives of internal medicine
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Effective collaboration and teamwork is essential to providing safe hospital care. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of an intervention designed to improve interdisciplinary collaboration and lower the rate of adverse events (AEs). ⋯ Structured Inter-Disciplinary Rounds significantly reduced the adjusted rate of AEs in a medical teaching unit.
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
The optimal delivery of palliative care: a national comparison of the outcomes of consultation teams vs inpatient units.
Growing attention to end-of-life care has led to intensive efforts to provide better palliative care. However, it is not known whether palliative care is best provided by consultative teams or in dedicated units. ⋯ Care received in palliative care units may offer more improvements in care than those achieved with palliative care consultations.
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Opioids are widely prescribed for chronic nonmalignant pain, often at doses exceeding those recommended in clinical practice guidelines. However, the risk-benefit ratio of high-dose opioid therapy is not well characterized. The objective of this study was to characterize the relationship between opioid dose and opioid-related mortality. ⋯ Among patients receiving opioids for nonmalignant pain, the daily dose is strongly associated with opioid-related mortality, particularly at doses exceeding thresholds recommended in recent clinical guidelines.