Advance care planning in chronic liver disease.

The Danish Health Authority recommends that all patients with life threatening disease, regardless of the diagnosis, are offered palliative care with respect for individual goals of care. Only few studies have investigated the evidence of ACP in patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis. This review defines ways to identify patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis in need of palliative care and how to analyse the goals of care. We present a strategy for ACP-conversations and how to implement these in the daily clinical work.

Tunneled Peritoneal Catheter for Refractory Ascites in Cirrhosis: A Randomized Case-Series.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Refractory ascites markedly worsens prognosis in cirrhosis. Large volume paracentesis (LVP) is standard treatment, but complications are common. In a randomized controlled case-series, we assessed a permanent tunneled peritoneal catheter versus LVP in patients with cirrhosis and ascites. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Random allocation was computer-generated, and concealment used opaque envelopes. Patients were included from January 2017 to December 2018. Inclusion criteria were cirrhosis and recurrent ascites and expected survival of more than 3 months. RESULTS: Thirteen patients were enrolled (PleurX =6 versus LVP = 7). Seven were female, ranging in age from 51 to 80 years. No procedure-related complications occurred. Two patients died due to variceal bleeding (PleurX-group) and sepsis (LVP-group). One patient was withdrawn due to hyponatremia (PleurX-group). Two patients were withdrawn due to bacterial peritonitis and infection of unknown origin (control-group). In the PleurX-group, all patients colonized the catheter, two developed bacterial peritonitis. The most common bacterial colonization was Staph. Epidermidis (n = 4). CONCLUSIONS: In selected patients, the PleurX catheter mobilizes ascites and may be an alternative to LVP. The risk of infection should be considered in each case. The impact of colonization and risk of infections needs further investigation. The present trial does not allow for statistical conclusions.

[Outpatient control and rehabilitation in decompensated liver cirrhosis should be an interdisciplinary approach].

There are no rehabilitative offers to patients, who are discharged following a hospitalisation with decompensated liver cirrhosis. The development and implementation of a comprehensive rehabilitative offer can lead to early detection and treatment of complications, which could eventually result in hospitalisation. In this review, we argue, that prevention of hospitalisation, self-care, quality of life, patient satisfaction and compliance should form the basis of a rehabilitative offer for patients with liver cirrhosis.

Republished error management: Descriptions of verbal communication errors between staff. An analysis of 84 root cause analysis-reports from Danish hospitals.

INTRODUCTION: Poor teamwork and communication between healthcare staff are correlated to patient safety incidents. However, the organisational factors responsible for these issues are unexplored. Root cause analyses (RCA) use human factors thinking to analyse the systems behind severe patient safety incidents. The objective of this study is to review RCA reports (RCAR) for characteristics of verbal communication errors between hospital staff in an organisational perspective. METHOD: Two independent raters analysed 84 RCARs, conducted in six Danish hospitals between 2004 and 2006, for descriptions and characteristics of verbal communication errors such as handover errors and error during teamwork. RESULTS: Raters found description of verbal communication errors in 44 reports (52%). These included handover errors (35 (86%)), communication errors between different staff groups (19 (43%)), misunderstandings (13 (30%)), communication errors between junior and senior staff members (11 (25%)), hesitance in speaking up (10 (23%)) and communication errors during teamwork (8 (18%)). The kappa values were 0.44-0.78. Unproceduralized communication and information exchange via telephone, related to transfer between units and consults from other specialties, were particularly vulnerable processes. CONCLUSION: With the risk of bias in mind, it is concluded that more than half of the RCARs described erroneous verbal communication between staff members as root causes of or contributing factors of severe patient safety incidents. The RCARs rich descriptions of the incidents revealed the organisational factors and needs related to these errors.

Descriptions of verbal communication errors between staff. An analysis of 84 root cause analysis-reports from Danish hospitals.

INTRODUCTION: Poor teamwork and communication between healthcare staff are correlated to patient safety incidents. However, the organisational factors responsible for these issues are unexplored. Root cause analyses (RCA) use human factors thinking to analyse the systems behind severe patient safety incidents. The objective of this study is to review RCA reports (RCAR) for characteristics of verbal communication errors between hospital staff in an organisational perspective. METHOD: Two independent raters analysed 84 RCARs, conducted in six Danish hospitals between 2004 and 2006, for descriptions and characteristics of verbal communication errors such as handover errors and error during teamwork. RESULTS: Raters found description of verbal communication errors in 44 reports (52%). These included handover errors (35 (86%)), communication errors between different staff groups (19 (43%)), misunderstandings (13 (30%)), communication errors between junior and senior staff members (11 (25%)), hesitance in speaking up (10 (23%)) and communication errors during teamwork (8 (18%)). The kappa values were 0.44-0.78. Unproceduralized communication and information exchange via telephone, related to transfer between units and consults from other specialties, were particularly vulnerable processes. CONCLUSION: With the risk of bias in mind, it is concluded that more than half of the RCARs described erroneous verbal communication between staff members as root causes of or contributing factors of severe patient safety incidents. The RCARs rich descriptions of the incidents revealed the organisational factors and needs related to these errors.

[Serious medication order errors at hospitals]. / Alvorlige medicinordinationsfejl på sygehuse.

INTRODUCTION: Medication order errors are frequent in Denmark. It is necessary to know the reasons why these errors happen to be able to implement initiatives limiting medication order errors. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In this study we analyzed 811 medications order errors, which were reported as unintended events. RESULTS: The medication order errors were associated with at total of 98 medicinal product; hence nine medicinal products caused 18 errors with severe or catastrophic harm to patients. 46.0% of the errors were incorrect medicinal product, 47.7% were incorrect dosage and 6.3% of the orders were double ordering. Penicillin and warfarin were the most frequently involved medicinal products. The products that most frequently caused severe or catastrophic patient harm were insulin and warfarin. The most frequent errors were "no medicinal product prescribed" and "incorrect medicinal product". The errors with the most severe consequences for the patients were due to "medication was not discontinued" (sevoflurane and warfarin) and "poor patient compliance" (warfarin and insulin). A common feature concerning the errors' origin was incorrect handling of information. CONCLUSION: Specific initiatives should be taken to counter the above-mentioned problems and reduce the occurrence of medication order errors. Such measures may comprise control, medication reconciliation and imposition of clinical decision support.