Characteristics and Outcomes of ICU Patients Without COVID-19 Infection-Pandemic Versus Nonpandemic Times: A Population-Based Cohort Study.

Outcomes for critically ill COVID-19 are well described; however, the impact of the pandemic on critically ill patients without COVID-19 infection is less clear. OBJECTIVES: To demonstrate the characteristics and outcomes of non-COVID patients admitted to an ICU during the pandemic, compared with the previous year. DESIGN: A population-based study conducted using linked health administrative data comparing a cohort from March 1, 2020, to June 30, 2020 (pandemic) to a cohort from March 1, 2019, to June 30, 2019 (nonpandemic). SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Adult patients (18 yr old) admitted to an ICU in Ontario, Canada, without a diagnosis of COVID-19 during the pandemic and nonpandemic periods. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary outcome was all-cause in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcomes included hospital and ICU length of stay, discharge disposition, and receipt of resource intensive procedures (e.g., extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, mechanical ventilation, renal replacement therapy, bronchoscopy, feeding tube insertion, and cardiac device insertion). We identified 32,486 patients in the pandemic cohort and 41,128 in the nonpandemic cohort. Age, sex, and markers of disease severity were similar. Fewer patients in the pandemic cohort were from long-term care facilities and had fewer cardiovascular comorbidities. There was an increase in all-cause in-hospital mortality among the pandemic cohort (13.5% vs 12.5%; p < 0.001) representing a relative increase of 7.9% (adjusted odds ratio, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.05-1.56). Patients in the pandemic cohort admitted with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbation had an increase in all-cause mortality (17.0% vs 13.2%; p = 0.013), a relative increase of 29%. Mortality among recent immigrants was higher in the pandemic cohort compared with the nonpandemic cohort (13.0% vs 11.4%; p = 0.038), a relative increase of 14%. Length of stay and receipt of intensive procedures were similar. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: We found a modest increase in mortality among non-COVID ICU patients during the pandemic compared with a nonpandemic cohort. Future pandemic responses should consider the impact of the pandemic on all patients to preserve quality of care.

Long-term outcomes in syncope patients presenting to the emergency department: A systematic review.

INTRODUCTION: Long-term outcomes among syncope patients are not well studied to guide physicians regarding outpatient testing and follow-up. The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review for outcomes at 1-year or later among ED syncope patients. METHODS: We searched Cochrane Central, Medline, Medline in Process, PubMed, Embase, and the Cumulative Index to Nursing databases from inception to December 2018. We included studies that reported long-term outcomes among ED syncope patients. We excluded studies on patients <16 years old, studies that included syncope mimickers (pre-syncope, seizure, intoxication, loss of consciousness after head trauma), case reports, letters to the editor, non-English and review articles. Outcomes included death, syncope recurrence requiring hospitalization, arrhythmias and procedural interventions for arrhythmias. Meta-analysis was performed by pooling the outcomes using random effects model. RESULTS: Initial literature search generated 2,094 articles duplicate removal. Of the 50 articles selected for full-text review, 19 articles with 98,211 patients were included in this review: of which 12 were included in the 1-year outcome meta-analysis. Pooled analysis showed : 7.0% mortality; 16.0% syncope recurrence requiring hospitalization; 6.0% with device insertion. 1-year arrhythmias reported in two studies were 1.1 and 26.4%. Pooled analysis for outcome at 31 to 365 days showed: 5.0% mortality and 1% device insertion. Two studies reported 4.9% and 21% mortality at 30 months and 4.2 years follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: An important proportion of ED syncope patients suffer long-term morbidity and mortality. Appropriate follow-up is needed and future research to identify patients at risk is needed.

Time is of the essence: an observational time-motion study of internal medicine residents while they are on duty.

BACKGROUND: The effects of changes to resident physician duty hours need to be measureable. This time-motion study was done to record internal medicine residents' workflow while on duty and to determine the feasibility of capturing detailed data using a mobile electronic tool. METHODS: Junior and senior residents were shadowed by a single observer during six-hour blocks of time, covering all seven days. Activities were recorded in real-time. Eighty-nine activities grouped into nine categories were determined a priori. RESULTS: A total of 17,714 events were recorded, encompassing 516 hours of observation. Time was apportioned in the following categories: Direct Patient Care (22%), Communication (19%), Personal tasks (15%), Documentation (14%), Education (13%), Indirect care (11%), Transit (6%), Administration (0.6%), and Non-physician tasks (0.4%). Nineteen percent of the education time was spent in self-directed learning activities. Only 9% of the total on duty time was spent in the presence of patients. Sixty-five percent of communication time was devoted to information transfer. A total of 968 interruptions were recorded which took on average 93.5 seconds each to service. CONCLUSION: Detailed recording of residents' workflow is feasible and can now lead to the measurement of the effects of future changes to residency training. Education activities accounted for 13% of on-duty time.

Time-motion studies of internal medicine residents' duty hours: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Since the mid-1980s, medical residents' long duty hours have been under scrutiny as a factor affecting patient safety and the work environment for the residents. After several mandated changes in duty hours, it is important to understand how residents spend their time before proposing and implementing future changes. Time-motion methodology may provide reliable information on what residents do while on duty. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to review all available literature pertaining to time-motion studies of internal medicine residents while on a medicine service and to understand how much of their time is apportioned to various categories of tasks, and also to determine the effects of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-mandated duty hour changes on resident workflow in North America. METHODS: Electronic bibliographic databases were searched for articles in English between 1941 and April 2013 reporting time-motion studies of internal medicine residents rotating through a general medicine service. RESULTS: Eight articles were included. Residents spent 41.8% of time in patient care activities, 18.1% communicating, 13.8% in educational activities, 19.7% in personal/other, and 6.6% in transit. North American data showed the following changes after the implementation of the ACGME 2003 duty hours standard: patient care activities from 41.8% to 40.8%, communication activities from 19.0% to 22.3%, educational activities from 17.7% to 11.6%, and personal/other activities from 21.5% to 17.1%. CONCLUSION: There was a paucity of time-motion data. There was great variability in the operational definitions of task categories reported in the studies. Implementation of the ACGME duty hour standards did not have a significant effect on the percentage of time spent in particular tasks. There are conflicting reports on how duty hour changes have affected patient safety. A low proportion of time spent in educational activities deserves further study and may point to a review of the educational models used.