Development of a Palliative Telehealth Pilot to Meet the Needs of the Nursing Home Population.

Many older adults will spend their final days in a skilled nursing facility because of multiple complex conditions. Patients with unclear goals of care are at higher risk of rehospitalization and burdensome care at end of life. Palliative care has been shown to improve outcomes for this patient population; however, access is limited because of the small number of boarded specialists nationwide. Telehealth offers the ability to expand the reach of palliative care to both underserved geographies and community settings. This quality improvement pilot project details the development and implementation of a telehealth palliative care program available to nursing home residents. Eight nursing homes, in the New England region of the United States, participated in the 4-month pilot. The palliative telehealth program offered real-time access to a palliative care specialist able to provide symptom management, goals-of-care discussions, and Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment completion. The pilot shows promising outcomes including code status change, Medical Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment form completion, and reduced hospitalizations supporting the benefit of comprehensive goals-of-care discussions for frail older adults living in a nursing home. As health care moves into the digital age, telemedicine plays a large role in the delivery of essential patient care. Provision of palliative specialists by telehealth allows the opportunity to address the unmet needs of this frail population.

Probable acyclovir-induced angioedema in a patient with HIV infection and suspected varicella-zoster virus encephalitis.

PURPOSE: A probable acyclovir-associated hypersensitivity reaction resulting in severe facial angioedema and respiratory distress is reported. SUMMARY: A 51-year-old woman with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and end-stage renal disease arrived at the emergency department (ED) with a diffuse rash on the chest and back; she was diagnosed with varicella-zoster virus infection, received one dose of i.v. acyclovir, and was discharged home with a prescription for valacyclovir. After taking one dose of the drug, she became confused and agitated. The next day the patient returned to the ED; she was confused and unresponsive, with signs and symptoms suggesting viral encephalitis. After a workup including lumbar puncture fluid, she was treated empirically with i.v. acyclovir for viral encephalitis. Within one hour of receiving the acyclovir infusion, the patient developed angioedema of the lips, tongue, and periorbital areas requiring intubation and transfer to the intensive care unit. Further acyclovir therapy was withheld, and foscarnet therapy was initiated for the presumptive treatment of viral encephalitis. Over the next few days, the patient's angioedema completely resolved; her mental status gradually improved while she completed a 14-day course of foscarnet therapy. The application of the Naranjo scale indicated a probable adverse reaction to acyclovir, likely mediated by acyclovir-specific immunoglobulin E, highlighting the need to consider alternative antiviral agents without cross-reactivity to acyclovir in patients with confirmed or suspected viral encephalitis. CONCLUSION: A 51-year-old woman with HIV infection developed probable acyclovir-induced angioedema after receiving i.v. acyclovir therapy for suspected viral encephalitis.

Success of an infection control program to reduce the spread of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of enhanced infection control measures with screening for gastrointestinal colonization on limiting the spread of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae in a New York City hospital endemic for this pathogen. DESIGN: Retrospective observational study with pre- and postinterventional phases. METHODS: Beginning in 2006, a comprehensive infection control program was instituted in a 10-bed medical and surgical intensive care unit at a university-based medical center. In addition to being placed in contact isolation, all patients colonized or infected with carbapenem-resistant gram-negative bacilli, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus were cohorted to one end of the unit. Improved decontamination of hands and environmental surfaces was encouraged. In addition, routine rectal surveillance cultures were screened for the presence of carbapenem-resistant pathogens. The number of patients per quarter with clinical cultures positive for carbapenem-resistant K. pneumoniae was compared during the approximately 2-year periods before and after the intervention. RESULTS: The mean number (+/-SD) of new patients per 1,000 patient-days per quarter with cultures yielding carbapenem-resistant K. pneumoniae decreased from 9.7 +/- 2.2 before the intervention to 3.7 +/- 1.6 after the intervention (P < .001). There was no change in the mean number of patient-days or the mean number of patients per quarter with cultures yielding methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus, or carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii or Pseudomonas aeruginosa after the intervention. There was no association between antibiotic usage patterns and carbapenem-resistant K. pneumoniae. CONCLUSIONS: The comprehensive intervention that combined intensified infection control measures with routine rectal surveillance cultures was helpful in reducing the incidence of carbapenem-resistant K. pneumoniae in an intensive care unit where strains producing the carbapenemase KPC were endemic.

Evolution of antimicrobial resistance among Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumannii and Klebsiella pneumoniae in Brooklyn, NY.

OBJECTIVES: To document resistance patterns of three important nosocomial pathogens, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumannii and Klebsiella pneumoniae, present in hospitals in Brooklyn, NY. METHODS: Susceptibility profiles of pathogens gathered during a surveillance study in 2006 were analysed and compared with similar surveys performed in 1999 and 2001. MICs were determined according to CLSI standards, and selected isolates were screened by PCR for the presence of VIM, IMP and KPC beta-lactamases. RESULTS: For P. aeruginosa, susceptibility to most antimicrobials fell in 2001 and then reached a plateau. However, there was a progressive decrease in the number of patients with P. aeruginosa during the three surveys. While the total number of isolates of A. baumannii remained steady, there was a progressive decrease in susceptibility to most classes of antimicrobial agents, and approximately one-third had combined resistance to carbapenems, fluoroquinolones and aminoglycosides. There was a noticeable rise in the number of isolates of K. pneumoniae over the surveillance periods, suggesting that this has become the predominant pathogen in many medical centres. Over one-third of K. pneumoniae collected in 2006 carried the carbapenemase KPC, and 22% were resistant to all three classes of antimicrobial agents. CONCLUSIONS: Hospitals in our region have been beset with antimicrobial-resistant Gram-negative bacteria. K. pneumoniae has rapidly emerged as the most common multidrug-resistant pathogen. Improved therapeutic agents and methods of detection are needed to reduce transmission of these bacteria.

Detection and spread of Escherichia coli possessing the plasmid-borne carbapenemase KPC-2 in Brooklyn, New York.

A carbapenem-resistant isolate of Escherichia coli was identified that possessed a 23-kb plasmid encoding Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase type 2 (KPC-2). A subsequent surveillance study involving hospitals in Brooklyn, New York, revealed that, among 1417 E. coli isolates, 7 isolates (from 3 hospitals) possessed bla(KPC-2). E. coli possessing KPC-2 is emerging in our region, and improved methods for detection are urgently needed.