Recurrent acute pancreatitis: a harbinger for irreversible chronic pancreatitis.

Recurrent acute pancreatitis is beginning to be recognized as an intermediary stage in the continuous spectrum between acute and chronic pancreatitis. It is crucial to identify this disease stage and intervene with diagnostic and therapeutic modalities to prevent the painful and irreversible condition of chronic pancreatitis. We review the recent advances in diagnosing and managing this important 'call for action' condition.

An examination of the most expensive adult hospitalizations in America.

BACKGROUND: While no hospitalization is inexpensive, some are extremely costly. Learning from these exceptions is critical. The patients and conditions that ultimately translate into the most exorbitant adult hospitalizations have not been characterized. OBJECTIVE: To analyze and detail characteristics of extreme high-cost adult hospitalizations in the United States using the most recently available Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) data. DESIGN/SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: The NIS 2018 database was queried for all adult hospitalizations with hospital charges greater than $333,000. Multivariable linear regression was used in the analyses. MEASURES: The main outcome measures were total charges, mortality, length of stay, admitting diagnosis, and procedures. RESULTS: There were 538,121 adults age ≥18 years with total hospital charges ≥$333,333. Among these patients 481,856 (89.5%) survived their hospitalization and 56,265 (10.4%) died. Males, older patients, being insured by Medicare, having more comorbid illness, and those who were transferred from another hospital were significantly more likely to die during the incident hospitalization (all p < 0.01). Patients who died had even more costly hospitalizations with more procedures (mean [SD]: 10.7 [±6.4] versus 7.0 [± 5.9], p < 0.01), and longer lengths of stay after adjustment for confounders (p = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Hundreds of thousands of adult patients are hospitalized in the US each year at extremely high costs. For both those who survive and the 10% who die, there may be opportunities for reducing the expense. Interventions, such as predictive modeling and systematic goals of care discussions with all patients, deserve further study.

Acute Pancreatitis: The Increasing Role of Medical Management of a Traditionally Surgically Managed Disease.

Management of acute pancreatitis and its complications has rapidly evolved in recent years. The earlier pillars of management that included prolonged bowel rest, empiric intravenous antibiotics, and early surgical intervention for complications such as pancreatic necrosis have become much less common. The latest evidence-based approaches to acute pancreatitis are taking almost a diametrically different path to previous management. The current strategy focuses on early feeding, judicious use of antibiotics, and delayed use of invasive interventions. Even in complex cases, when surgical interventions may be indicated, there is an expressed preference for minimally invasive techniques. We review the changes that have evolved rapidly over the past decade in this common clinical problem.

Hospitalist Infectious Disease Service in Academic Medical Centers: A Win-Win for Hospitalists and Fellows.

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Does sepsis treatment differ between primary and overflow intensive care units?

BACKGROUND: Sepsis is a major cause of death in hospitalized patients. Early goal-directed therapy is the standard of care. When primary intensive care units (ICUs) are full, sepsis patients are cared for in overflow ICUs. OBJECTIVE: To determine if process-of-care measures in the care of sepsis patients differed between primary and overflow ICUs at our institution. DESIGN: We conducted a retrospective study of all adult patients admitted with sepsis between July 2009 and February 2010 to either the primary ICU or the overflow ICU. MEASUREMENTS: Baseline patient characteristics and multiple process-of-care measures, including diagnostic and therapeutic interventions. RESULTS: There were 141 patients admitted with sepsis to our hospital; 100 were cared for in the primary ICU and 41 in the overflow ICU. Baseline acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE II) scores were similar. Patients received similar processes-of-care in the primary ICU and overflow ICU with the exception of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and gastrointestinal (GI) prophylaxis within 24 hours of admission, which were better adhered to in the primary ICU (74% vs 49%, P = 0.004, and 68% vs 44%, P = 0.012, respectively). There were no significant differences in hospital and ICU length of stay between the 2 units (9.68 days vs 9.73 days, P = 0.98, and 4.78 days vs 4.92 days, P = 0.97, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with sepsis admitted to the primary ICU and overflow ICU at our institution were managed similarly. Overflowing sepsis patients to non-primary intensive care units may not affect guideline-concordant care delivery or length of stay.