Background: Antibiotics are frequently prescribed—and overprescribed—at hospital discharge, leading to adverse-events and patient harm. Antibiotic overuse at discharge varies widely across hospitals, with rates of overuse differing up to 5-fold.(1) Our understanding of what approaches optimize prescribing at discharge is limited. Recently, we published the ROAD (Reducing Overuse of Antibiotics at Discharge) Home Framework which […]

Background: Intubation is both an important outcome measure along the spectrum of all respiratory illnesses and a marker of disease severity. Time of intubation (TOI) is an important point to identify in the electronic health record (EHR) as it allows researchers to study the association of pre and post-intubation variables with mortality and other relevant […]

Background: Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is the most common infectious diagnosis necessitating adult hospitalization in the United States (US). Timely diagnosis of CAP is important to improve patient outcomes. However, overdiagnosis of CAP, or treatment of CAP despite inadequate signs or symptoms of CAP, may also pose a significant threat to patient safety. Potential harm of […]

Case Presentation: A 44-year-old male with a past medical history of psoriatic arthritis [on Guselkumab], asthma presented to the ED with worsening shortness of breath for 10 days and midsternal chest pain for 3 days. He tested positive for COVID-19 one week before and received monoclonal antibodies 2 days before presentation. He had COVID-19 infection […]

Background: Up to 10% of hospitalized patients report an allergy to penicillin, however studies have shown that the majority of these are not clinically significant reactions.1,2 Unverified penicillin allergies increase overall patient mortality as they lead to use of broad-spectrum antibiotics that are less effective and have more side effects.3 Recent studies have found that […]

Background: Syrian health system capacity has been devastated by a decade of conflict distinguished by frequent attacks on healthcare facilities and workers. The chronic nature of complex emergency created substantial gaps in formal training for what remains of the health system, leaving already impaired infrastructure vulnerable to the arrival of Covid-19 in mid-2020 to areas […]

Background: Antibiotics are frequently prescribed—and overprescribed—at hospital discharge, leading to adverse-events and patient harm. Antibiotic overuse at discharge varies widely across hospitals, with rates of overuse differing up to 5-fold.(1) Our understanding of what approaches optimize prescribing at discharge is limited. Recently, we published the ROAD (Reducing Overuse of Antibiotics at Discharge) Home Framework which […]