Readmissions at a public safety net hospital.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to determine factors related to avoidability of 30-day readmissions at our public, safety net hospital in the United States (US). METHODS: We prospectively reviewed medical records of adult internal medicine patients with scheduled and unscheduled 30-day readmissions. We also interviewed patients if they were available. An independent panel used pre-specified, objective criteria to adjudicate potential avoidability. RESULTS: Of 153 readmissions evaluated, 68% were unscheduled. Among these, 67% were unavoidable, primarily due to disease progression and development of new diagnoses. Scheduled readmissions accounted for 32% of readmissions and most (69%) were clinically appropriate and unavoidable. The scheduled but avoidable readmissions (31%) were attributed largely to limited resources in our healthcare system. CONCLUSIONS: Most readmissions at our public, safety net hospital were unavoidable, even among our unscheduled readmissions. Surprisingly, one-third of our overall readmissions were scheduled, the majority reflecting appropriate management strategies designed to reduce unnecessary hospital days. The scheduled but avoidable readmissions were due to constrained access to non-emergent, expensive procedures that are typically not reimbursed given our system's payor mix, a problem which likely plague other safety net systems. These findings suggest that readmissions do not necessarily reflect inadequate medical care, may reflect resource constraints that are unlikely to be addressable in systems caring for a large burden of uninsured patients, and merit individualized review.

Pulmonary embolus caused by Suttonella indologenes prosthetic endocarditis in a pulmonary homograft.

A 28-year-old Cambodian man with a history of congenital heart disease presented with a 6-month history of increasing fatigue, night sweats, and weight loss. His surgical history included two Blalock-Taussig shunts, ventricular septal defect closure, and placement of a pulmonary valve conduit via a Rastelli procedure. Echocardiographic and cardiac computed tomographic studies revealed a vegetation in the pulmonary homograft. Blood cultures grew gram-negative rods that were eventually identified as Suttonella indologenes. The patient underwent a prolonged course of intravenous antibiotics, which was complicated by septic pulmonary embolism that clinically resolved. Bacterial endocarditis caused by aerobic gram-negative organisms is uncommon. The authors report the first case of S. indologenes endocarditis in a patient with complex congenital heart disease.

Diagnostic performance of a computer-based ECG rhythm algorithm.

We examined the accuracy of computer-based rhythm interpretation from one electrocardiograph manufacturer (GE Healthcare Technologies MUSE software 005C) in 4297 consecutive recordings in a university hospital setting. Overreading was performed by either of 2 experienced cardiologists, and all disagreements with the initial computer rhythm statement were reviewed by the second cardiologist to achieve physician consensus used as the "gold standard" for rhythm diagnosis. Overall, 13.2% (565/4297) of computer-based rhythm statements required revision, but excluding tracings with pacemakers, the revision rate was 7.8% (307/3954), including 3.8% involving the primary rhythm diagnosis and 3.9% involving definition of ectopic complexes. The false-negative rate for sinus rhythm was only 1.3%, but a computer diagnosis of sinus rhythm was incorrect in 9.9% of other rhythms. The false-negative rate for atrial fibrillation was 9.2%, whereas a computer diagnosis of atrial fibrillation was incorrect in 1.1% of other rhythms, including sinus. Computer diagnosis of paced rhythms remains problematic, and physician overreading to correct computer-based electrocardiogram rhythm diagnoses remains mandatory.