Publications

OBJECTIVES: A bundled consent process, where patients or surrogates provide consent for all commonly performed procedures on a single form at the time of ICU admission, has been advocated as a method for improving both rates of documented consent and patient/family satisfaction, but there has been little published literature about the use of bundled consent. We sought to determine how residents in an academic medical center with a required bundled consent process actually obtain consent and how they perceive the overall value, efficacy, and effects on families of this approach.

DESIGN: Single-center survey study.

SETTING: Medical ICUs in an urban academic medical center.

SUBJECTS: Internal medicine residents.

INTERVENTIONS: We administered an online survey about bundled consent use to all residents. Quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: One-hundred two of 164 internal medicine residents (62%) completed the survey. A majority of residents (55%) reported grouping procedures and discussing general risks and benefits; 11% reported conducting a complete informed consent discussion for each procedure. Respondents were divided in their perception of the value of bundled consent, but most (78%) felt it scared or stressed families. A minority (26%) felt confident that they obtained valid informed consent for critical care procedures with the use of bundled consent. An additional theme that emerged from qualitative data was concern regarding the validity of anticipatory consent.

CONCLUSIONS: Resident physicians experienced with the use of bundled consent in the ICU held variable perceptions of its value but raised concerns about the effect on families and the validity of consent obtained with this strategy. Further studies are necessary to further explore what constitutes best practice for informed consent in critical care.

BACKGROUND: Dyspnea is prevalent among hospitalized patients but little is known about the experience of dyspnea among inpatients. We sought to characterize the multiple sensations and associated emotions of dyspnea in patients admitted with dyspnea to a tertiary care hospital.

METHODS: We selected patients who reported breathing discomfort of at least 4/10 on admission (10 = unbearable). Research staff recruited 156 patients within 24 hours of admission and evaluated daily patients' current and worst dyspnea with the Multidimensional Dyspnea Profile; patients participated in the study 2.6 days on average. The Multidimensional Dyspnea Profile assesses overall breathing discomfort (A1), intensity of five sensory qualities of dyspnea, and 5 negative emotional responses to dyspnea. Patients were also asked to rate whether current levels of dyspnea were "acceptable."

RESULTS: At the time of the first research interview, patients reported slight to moderate dyspnea (A1 median 4); however, most patients reported experiencing severe dyspnea in the 24 hours before the interview (A1 mean 7.8). A total of 54% of patients with dyspnea ≥4 on day 1 found the symptom unacceptable. The worst dyspnea each day in the prior 24 hours usually occurred at rest. Dyspnea declined but persisted through hospitalization for most patients. "Air hunger" was the dominant sensation, especially when dyspnea was strong (>4). Anxiety and frustration were the dominant emotions associated with dyspnea.

CONCLUSIONS: This first multidimensional portrait of dyspnea in a general inpatient population characterizes the sensations and emotions dyspneic patients endure. The finding that air hunger is the dominant sensation of severe dyspnea has implications for design of laboratory models of these sensations and may have implications for targets of palliation of symptoms.

PURPOSE: Opioid associated admissions to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) are increasing, but how institutions manage the care of these patients is unknown. We studied the availability of protocols and guidelines in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) for the management of the critically ill patient with opioid use disorder.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A survey was sent to a random sampling of ICU clinicians at acute care hospitals in the United States.

RESULTS: Of the 300 hospitals contacted, 118 agreed to participate and 58 submitted surveys (49%, 58/118 response rate). While a majority of ICUs has a guideline to titrate sedative analgesics, only 7% reported a guideline that addresses the sedation needs of patients with opioid use disorder. Only one respondent identified a guideline for the continuation of medication-assisted treatment such as methadone. Most respondents did not have, or were unaware of, a guideline to manage opioid withdrawal or to prevent over-reversal with naloxone. Outpatient resources were offered to patients by 36% of institutions, while even fewer reported the use of a dedicated addiction care team.

CONCLUSIONS: Few institutional guidelines exist to provide clinicians with the tools necessary to prevent harm and promote recovery for this growing and vulnerable ICU population.

OBJECTIVES: To assess trends in timing of mortality among patients with septic shock.

DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study.

SETTING: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project's National Inpatient Sample, 1994-2014.

PATIENTS: Hospitalized adults (≥ 18 yr) with International Classification of Diseases, 9th Edition, Clinical Modification codes consistent with septic shock; secondary analysis: adults with International Classification of Diseases, 9th Edition, Clinical Modification codes consistent with acute respiratory failure receiving invasive mechanical ventilation and patients with both septic shock and acute respiratory failure receiving invasive mechanical ventilation.

INTERVENTIONS: None.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: From 1994 to 2014, 48-hour mortality rates decreased among patients with septic shock (21.2% to 10.8%) and septic shock with acute respiratory failure receiving invasive mechanical ventilation (19.1% to 13.4%) but increased among patients with acute respiratory failure receiving invasive mechanical ventilation (7.9% to 9.8%; p value for all trends, < 0.001). Three-to-14-day mortality decreased among patients with septic shock (22.1% to 15.5%), septic shock with acute respiratory failure receiving invasive mechanical ventilation (28.7% to 22.4%) and acute respiratory failure receiving invasive mechanical ventilation (16.8% to 15.0%; p value for all trends, < 0.001). Mortality after 14 days decreased among all groups (septic shock: 12.6% to 6.7%; septic shock with acute respiratory failure receiving invasive mechanical ventilation: 20.3% to 11.3%; and acute respiratory failure receiving invasive mechanical ventilation: 12.7% to 5.8%; p value for all trends, < 0.001). Cox proportional hazard ratio for declining risk in mortality per year (adjusted for patient and hospital characteristics) was 0.96 (95% CI, 0.96-0.96) for septic shock, 0.97 (0.97-0.97) for acute respiratory failure receiving invasive mechanical ventilation and septic shock, and 0.99 (0.99-0.99) for acute respiratory failure receiving invasive mechanical ventilation.

CONCLUSIONS: Septic shock 48-hour, 3-14-day and greater than 14-day mortality declined markedly over two decades; in contrast, patients with acute respiratory failure only experienced marked decreases in greater than 14-day in-hospital mortality rates.

IMPORTANCE: Electronic health records allow teams of clinicians to simultaneously care for patients, but an unintended consequence is the potential for duplicate orders of tests and medications.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether a simple visual aid is associated with a reduction in duplicate ordering of tests and medications.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cohort study used an interrupted time series model to analyze 184 694 consecutive patients who visited the emergency department (ED) of an academic hospital with 55 000 ED visits annually. Patient visits occurred 1 year before and after each intervention, as follows: for laboratory orders, from August 13, 2012, to August 13, 2014; for medication orders, from February 3, 2013, to February 3, 2015; and for radiology orders, from December 12, 2013, to December 12, 2015. Data were analyzed from April to September 2019.

EXPOSURE: If an order had previously been placed during the ED visit, a red highlight appeared around the checkbox of that order in the computerized provider order entry system.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Number of unintentional duplicate laboratory, medication, and radiology orders.

RESULTS: A total of 184 694 patients (mean [SD] age, 51.6 [20.8] years; age range, 0-113.0 years; 99 735 [54.0%] women) who visited the ED were analyzed over the 3 overlapping study periods. After deployment of a noninterruptive nudge in electronic health records, there was an associated 49% decrease in the rate of unintentional duplicate orders for laboratory tests (incidence rate ratio, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.45-0.59), from 4485 to 2731 orders, and an associated 40% decrease in unintentional duplicate orders of radiology tests (incidence rate ratio, 0.60; 95% CI, 0.44-0.82), from 956 to 782 orders. There was not a statistically significant change in unintentional duplicate orders of medications (incidence rate ratio, 1.17; 95% CI, 0.52-2.61), which increased from 225 to 287 orders. The nudge eliminated an estimated 17 936 clicks in our electronic health record.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this interrupted time series cohort study, passive visual cues that provided just-in-time decision support were associated with reductions in unintentional duplicate orders for laboratory and radiology tests but not in unintentional duplicate medication orders.

CONTEXT: Dyspnea is an uncomfortable and distressing sensation experienced by hospitalized patients.

OBJECTIVES: There is no large-scale study of the prevalence and intensity of patient-reported dyspnea at the time of admission to the hospital.

METHODS: Between March 2014 and September 2016, we conducted a prospective cohort study among all consecutive hospitalized patients at a single tertiary care center in Boston, MA. During the first 12 hours of admission to medical-surgical and obstetric units, nurses at our institution routinely collect a patient's 1) current level of dyspnea on a 0-10 scale with 10 anchored at "unbearable," 2) worst dyspnea in the past 24 hours before arrival at the hospital on the same 0-10 scale, and 3) activities that were associated with dyspnea before admission. The prevalence of dyspnea was identified, and tests of difference were performed across patient characteristics.

RESULTS: We analyzed 67,362 patients, 12% of whom were obstetric patients. Fifty percent of patients were admitted to a medical-surgical unit after treatment in the emergency department. Among all noncritically ill inpatients, 16% of patients experienced dyspnea in the 24 hours before the admission. Twenty-three percent of patients admitted through the emergency department reported any dyspnea in the past 24 hours. Eleven percent experienced some current dyspnea when interviewed within 12 hours of admission with 4% of patients experiencing dyspnea that was rated 4 or greater. Dyspnea of 4 or more was present in 43% of patients admitted with respiratory diagnoses and 25% of patients with cardiovascular diagnoses. After multivariable adjustment for severity of illness and patient comorbidities, patients admitted on the weekend or during the overnight nursing shift were more likely to report dyspnea on admission.

CONCLUSION: Dyspnea is a common symptom among all hospitalized patients. Routine documentation of dyspnea is feasible in a large tertiary care center.

A nurse project consultant role empowered 3 critical care nurses to expand their scope of practice beyond the bedside and engage within complex health care delivery systems to reduce harms in the intensive care unit. As members of an interdisciplinary team, the nurse project consultants contributed their clinical expertise and systems knowledge to develop innovations that optimize care provided in the intensive care unit. This article discusses the formal development of and institutional support for the nurse project consultant role. The nurse project consultants' responsibilities within a group of quality improvement initiatives are described and their challenges and lessons learned discussed. The nurse project consultant role is a new model of engaging critical care nurses as leaders in health care redesign.