Background: Vent withdrawal (VW) is a procedure offered when an intubated patient fails to demonstrate meaningful recovery, the patient is not likely to survive given the extent or burden of underlying medical conditions, or patient’s best anticipated outcome from ongoing ventilator support is inconsistent with patient’s known or presumed wishes. Comfort of the patient after [...]

Background: Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) comprises of approximately 15% of the total breast cancers. There is limited data on treatment outcome of these patients in elderly population. We report our experience with elderly patients with TNBC treated at our tertiary care center. Methods: With IRB approval, the Cleveland Clinic’s database was used to identify [...]

Background: The relation of a patient’s age to survival in cardiac arrest is often discussed at the bedside when clinicians, patients, and families are faced with the question of whether CPR is medically appropriate for elderly individuals. Few studies are available to help guide this conversation. This study sought to evaluate in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) [...]

Background: End Stage Renal Disease carries a poor prognosis. Only half of dialysis patients are still alive three years after the initiation of renal replacement therapy. Furthermore, dialysis patients are hospitalized more often compared to the general population, averaging two admissions per year. We hypothesized that outcomes in dialysis patients are worse when they require [...]

Background: Delays in treatment of in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) events are associated with lower survival and poor neurologic outcomes (1). For ward patients on centralized telemetry, telemetry technicians notify nursing staff of life-threatening arrhythmias immediately so nursing can verify a patient’s clinical status and determine whether code blue activation is necessary. Delays in this verification [...]

Background: Unplanned readmissions among cancer patients are common and gastrointestinal (GI) cancer has some of the highest readmission volumes. Under the Affordable Care Act, hospitals have been getting penalized for excessive readmission rates. For now, the medical treatment of cancer is exempt from this measure. This is because the readmission profile of the cancer patient [...]

Background: Code Blue events, or in-hospital patient emergencies, often require advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) and unfortunately can end in loss of life. Defining and measuring outcomes is an essential step for improvement in any process, but especially for a process as critical as Code Blues.  In our institution, Code Blues are run by a [...]