Background: Central nervous system medication (CNS med) use among older adults is associated with high morbidity and mortality. This study described patterns of CNS medication use, and identified people most likely to have CNS medications initiated or deprescribed around hospitalization. Methods: Retrospective cohort study using electronic health record data from 3-hospitals. Patients aged 65 years […]

Background: Duplicate as-needed (referred to hereafter as “PRN”) orders for common indications such as pain, nausea, insomnia, and constipation are frequent in hospitalized patients. Without explicit instructions for circumstances or order of administration, therapeutic duplication can cause confusion for nurses and violates both Join Commission and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) guidelines. […]

Background: Diabetes is an exceedingly common disease encountered by medical trainees, with over 8 million hospitalizations in 2018 listing type 1 or type 2 diabetes as a diagnosis (1). Evidence supports continuing certain oral diabetes medications during admission when safe, reflected in recent consensus statements from professional societies (2,3). Nevertheless, oral medications are often held […]

Background: Communication related to medications is an important metric on the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey to measure patient experience after discharge from the hospital. There are many factors which can lead to poor communication about medications (Figure 1). Over 20% of readmissions can be related to medications, and of […]