Articles: health.
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Hospitalized patients often experience disrupted sleep due to nighttime patient-staff interactions (PSIs). This study evaluates how PSIs impact sleep opportunities in neurology inpatients using electronic health record (EHR) data and introduces surrogate measures of sleep such as longest uninterrupted sleep opportunity (LUSO) and interruptive episodes. ⋯ This study demonstrates the utility of LUSO and interruptive episodes as EHR-based measures to link PSIs to sleep opportunities. While vital signs and medications were the most frequent PSIs, neurological checks and off-unit testing were associated with the largest impact on reducing LUSO. The predominance of single-PSI interruptive episodes underscores that the bundling of PSIs is not occurring. These findings highlight that PSIs impact sleep opportunities in distinct ways, supporting the use of this methodology to evaluate and address EHR-linked disruptions to patient sleep.
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A growing number of aging adults are living with multiple chronic conditions (MCC). Older adults living with MCC are predisposed to developing frailty, a state of decreased physiologic reserve that increases risk for geriatric syndromes and associated morbidity and mortality. ⋯ Here, we discuss current gaps for using eFI to identify frail older adults living with MCC, and artificial intelligence (AI) approaches to enhance eFI accuracy. Accurate and routine frailty assessment can aid the generalist providing care to older adults living with MCC across multiple care settings to optimize physiologic reserve for these vulnerable patients.
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Primary care delivery in the United States, including tobacco treatment, was negatively impacted by the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), leading to pandemic-related cessation disparities. Early in the PHE, rates of tobacco assessment during telehealth visits were substantially lower than during in-person visits. It is unknown if these changes persisted. ⋯ Smoking assessment remained consistently lower during the PHE compared to the months prior, primarily driven by lack of assessment during telehealth visits. Concerted efforts are needed to ensure that telehealth visits are leveraged to promote equitable smoking assessment and delivery of evidence-based tobacco treatment among a patient population with high rates of tobacco use.
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Restrictive covenants (RCs) are clauses placed into employment agreements across various industries, and they are frequently used in health care-specifically within physician contracts. Given the most recent guidance and rule determined by the Federal Trade Commission in April 2024, the relevancy of RCs in health care has come under even more scrutiny in the latter half of 2024. This review will focus on the history of RC law and review the value of these clauses from the perspectives of the employer, practicing physician, and patient. We also provide the stakeholder responses to both the ban and the subsequent blockage of enforcement by a Texas federal court in August of 2024.