Background Proton pump inhibitors (PPI) are among the most common medications used in the US. Many patients (estimated at 63% in some studies) do not have a clear indication for PPI use. Recent literature supports association between PPI use and infection, hepatic decompensation, and liver-related mortality in patients with cirrhosis. Figure 1. Relative hazard of
Category: QI Efforts
Cellulitis-Image-Capture (1) Some of our hospital medicine faculty have been working on a system-wide PI project to standardize inpatient care for cellulitis, with the goal of reducing hospital length of stay. The key intervention for this project is a new Storyboard alert in Epic to remind physicians to upload a clinical image through Haiku or
Discharge Medication Price Checks – New Workflow Starting Sunday, March 6th – When e-prescribing discharge medications for a patient, Epic’s Real Time Prescription Benefits (RTPB) can be used to prescribe the most cost effective medication for the patient. Occasionally, RTPB may not provide cost information, prompting the need for an e-prescription to the Pharmacy for
Northwestern Medicine recently released its first set of quality equity metrics (both across the organization and for individual physicians), focused on influenza vaccination rates in the primary care setting. This is an important example of how QI can address disparities in care – more to come on this area in the future! Some key take-home
Hey everyone! You all recently received inpatient quality metrics as well as some email communication to accompany them. The slides attached to this post contain some information on the history of this initiative, specific information on how the metrics were defined, as well as your peer resident physicians from the quality committee in years
As you probably noticed, there have been multiple emails about the national blood collection tube shortage. What has led to this shortage? The pandemic not only increased demand for blood draws but also impacted national supply chains. The current national shortages are listed below. Increasing inventory supply will take time, and the best way for
Are you confused about how much fluid to give for a new pancreatitis diagnosis or if you really need that CT scan to confirm the diagnosis? Well, good news; Dr. Keswani and a multidisciplinary committee have developed an updated evidence-based order set for acute pancreatitis management in Epic. I have addressed four common topics and
Recent CDC guidelines have recommended considering naloxone for patients at high risk of an opioid overdose. Drs. Welter, Blankenship and Eisenstadt have done great work at Northwestern to raise awareness regarding this potentially lifesaving intervention. Please see their excellent tip sheet regarding the prescription of naloxone for those at risk for opioid overdose. A link
Diabetes is one of the most common and costly chronic diseases in the U.S, affecting more than 22.3 million people and costing more than $245 billion in 2012. Diabetic foot infections are a major complication of diabetes, affecting as many as 25% of patients with diabetes and resulting in $9-$13 billion in costs every year.
This recommendation went live in Fall of 2018: