UCLA Health’s Post

Only 1 in 10 emergency department patients with chest pain are experiencing an AMI. The other nine are taking up an ED bed waiting to be discharged. Clinicians are waiting on actionable test results to effectively treat patients – in wards, the surgical suite or the ED. Meeting guidelines and TAT goals with confidence can be one of the lab’s greatest challenges. In this trend talk Dr. Cullen discusses how high-sensitivity Troponin in the lab and at the point of care can deliver insights in clinical practice. https://lnkd.in/etaYfQ6B

Evaluation and Adjusting Protocols for the Pediatric Cranium Boston - May 18-19! How would you like to add a new dimension to your practice that will increase your referrals, patient retention and practice income? What if you could offer patients a unique skill set that few in the profession have mastered? Adding cranial adjusting to your current practice paradigm will do all these things plus make practicing even more fun. In this 16-hour hands-on seminar, you will learn the skills to confidently evaluate an infant’s cranium, including neurological, structural, and functional parameters, and how to make specific corrections to any aberrant patterns, effectively, efficiently, and safely. https://lnkd.in/eAZAxs5d

For those interested, we just published a manuscript investigating intraoperative opioid variation. Key takeaways: there exists variation in opioid administration within and across surgical procedures, with substantial contributions to variation in intraoperative opioid administration at clinician, hospital, and patient levels, underscoring the need to consider these factors when evaluating opioid-reducing strategies. https://lnkd.in/eJj4jUWQ

Running a cardiology practice is complex, and you need to find advanced diagnostic tools for your patients. Establishing a Cardiac PET/CT program can provide significant benefits for cardiology groups, but it also poses financial, technical, and logistical challenges. Deciding whether to start a Cardiac PET/CT program can seem overwhelming, but considering the positive impact to patient care can help you see its true value. That's where CDL can help! We provide an affordable and stress-free solution to help you implement a Cardiac PET/CT program. Learn more. #CDL #CardiacPET #Cardiaccare https://lnkd.in/eP3g7TX4

📖 Dive into the PCIC Handbook! Access cutting-edge research and stay informed about the latest trends in pediatric cardiac intensive care. #PCICHandbook #HeartCareResearch https://ow.ly/uvY750QvTh0

The problem-oriented practice of medicine. For many decades we have struggled with the medical record.  Inaccurate problem lists, medication reconciliations, and plans that merely say to continue the current regimen.  As a board-certified internist, I expect consultants to provide a meaningful plan to move the patient’s care forward.  Either discuss the next steps in care or discuss options or provide a prognosis so appropriate guidance can be provided to the patient.  Too many times the specialist or sub-specialist simply states to “continue the current plan” without even reiteration of the plan whether it be a cut and paste from a previous note or pre-written thought.  A primary care provider may have to look back through several notes to find a meaningful description of the plan of care. As a consulting pulmonologist, I fully expect my colleagues and patients to hold my feet to the fire and call me out if I do not provide a way forward in each consult note, or sign off with a follow-up outpatient clinic apt time for the patient. A wonderful reminder of the goals we should strive for is a lecture by Dr. Larry Weed M.D. delivered at grand rounds in Emory in 1971. We have not moved the mark much. #medicine #progressnotperfection https://lnkd.in/gvkjNKxE

Important message! Many patients don’t realize the growing number of hurdles that insurance companies are placing on practitioners to get approval for appropriate testing, procedures, and therapies for our patients. This is becoming more problematic each year. Our company employs a whole division of workers who spend their entire day and countless hours each year combatting these non-sensical hurdles. This is a growing and substantial cost to physician practices and is not sustainable long term. These endless prior authorizations and denials of approved testing and treatment by the insurance companies are a common reason that many of our Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients have delays or lapses in obtaining critical testing, or in starting or maintaining on therapies for controlling their disease. These hurdles by the insurance companies are borderline criminal in many instances, and do not have their customers (aka our patients) best interest in mind. Some patients are waiting for weeks and months to get approvals of their much needed testing or treatments. The patients are the ones who suffer the negative consequences of these prolonged delays. Delays in diagnosis and treatment allow for prolonged disease flares, which can and do lead to complications and worsened overall long term clinical outcomes for our patients. It isn’t right that insurance companies have become the “practitioners”, and are telling IBD specialists how to manage the care of their complex IBD patients.

My question of the day: how many times a day at your #urgentcare do you have a young adult patient without any significant medical history, and even yet, no significant family history come in with chest pain. The staff obtains an #ECG and it’s “abnormal.” History and physical exam findings do not support a cardiac etiology and lifestyle history is low risk. But you’ve still got the abnormal ECG. So what do you do, refer to the already overrun #emergencydepartment? Can’t refer to cardiology because they don’t accept patients without the full work up and to establish with a PCP is 3-4 months out. I suspect a fair amount of #emergent referrals from urgent care is to due to CYB (cover your butt from litigation) then actual medical science. What’s the solution to this? 📷: ECGlibrary.com

Want to learn more about identifying sepsis early, SEP-1 protocols and new sepsis detection technologies? Join Robert Scoggins, MD, PhD, Medical Director of Critical Care, Kootenai Health and Cytovale’s Chief Medical Officer, and Eric Fethke, MD, Pediatric Cardiologist, educator, and host of the Pursuit of Health Podcast as they discuss the complex condition of sepsis and where there may be hope for improved diagnosis and care. Learn more 👉 https://bit.ly/4buqUrM #sepsis