Background: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) exacerbations result in significant morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs. Understanding regional differences in clinical outcomes and healthcare utilization among patients hospitalized with COPD may provide insight into best practices in caring for this vulnerable patient population. Methods: Using the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database for the years 2016 to [...]

Background: Ischemic heart disease (IHD) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are significant causes of morbidity and mortality globally. Understanding temporal trends in mortality related to IHD among COPD patients in U.S. population is crucial for guiding clinical practice and public health interventions. Methods: Death certificates from the CDC WONDER (Centers for Disease Control and [...]

Background: The Reducing REVISITS study enrolled and randomized diverse hospitals to identify scalable solutions for reducing preventable acute care for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) utilizing Society of Hospital Medicine’s (SHM’s) award-winning mentored implementation model (MIM). MIM provides one year of expert advice and tools through virtual site visits and monthly meetings to [...]

Background: Concerningly, COPD exacerbations are the 3rd leading cause of readmissions nationwide, accounting for 60,000 readmissions annually. Patients hospitalized with COPD exacerbations have a 22.6% likelihood of readmission within 30 days, partially contributed to by their suboptimal disease awareness. However, there are educational tools that can be leveraged to improve treatment adherence, patient outcomes, and [...]

Background: In our NIH funded multi-site cluster randomized clinical trial (RCT), we used implementation science methods to develop and implement quality improvement programs consisting of evidenced-based interventions to improve care transitions for patients hospitalized with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Since the hospitals were the ‘subject’ of study, typical patient-level RCT enrollment practices were not [...]

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a leading cause of hospital readmissions, with national 30-day readmission rates reaching as high as 22.6% [1]. These readmissions place a significant financial burden on healthcare systems, with one study showing that the cost of a COPD readmission can exceed that of the initial admission by 18% [2]. [...]

Case Presentation: Here we present a case of a 63 year old female with a past medical history of COPD on 5L home oxygen and BiPAP with eight exacerbations in the past year who presented with shortness of breath and was admitted for acute hypoxic respiratory failure secondary to COPD exacerbation. When initially evaluated by [...]

Case Presentation: Clinical presentation: A 69-year-old female presented to the emergency for shortness of breath and bilateral low extremity edema. She had a history of chronic dyspnea and hypoxia on baseline 2 liters of oxygen and reported worsening dyspnea on minimal exertion for the week prior to admission. Review of symptoms was significant for wheezing [...]