Background: Survivors of critical illness, such as acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) requiring invasive mechanical ventilatory support in an intensive care unit (ICU), commonly experience prolonged morbidity in multiple health domains: psychological distress, functional debility, cognitive impairment, and poorer quality of life. This resulting morbidity is now recognized broadly as post-intensive care syndrome (PICS). COVID-19 ICU survivors are at [...]

Background: Previous research has established that treating COVID-19 hospitalized patients with remdesivir (RDV) was associated with significantly lower hospital readmission rates. We extend prior research with an additional year of more recent data by examining the association between RDV use and 30-day readmission rates due to any cause as well as due to COVID-19 among [...]

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, studies have shown a possible association between dementia and adverse outcomes, with mortality rates reportedly as high as 2.4 times greater than compared to patients without dementia. Despite these preliminary findings, the relationship has not been conclusively established. Management of patients with dementia is complex, including a higher risk of [...]

Background: Studies addressing the utility of cardiac telemetry monitoring for patients hospitalized with COVID-19 pneumonia (PNA) is sparse. Patients hospitalized with COVID-19 PNA are at higher risk for cardiac complications (1-3), thus many hospitals instituted mandatory cardiac telemetry monitoring for patients hospitalized with COVID-19 PNA. However, there is scant data assessing the utility of cardiac [...]

Background: The global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been profound, with significant disparities in infection and mortality rates, particularly in high-risk populations. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease that complicates patient management in the context of COVID-19, given the increased risk of infections and limited guidance on pharmacological management. Methods: This [...]

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a profound impact on global health, economies, and society, further increasing strain on public healthcare, while exacerbating psychosocial stressors. Multiple single-center and regional studies have shown an overall increase in national rates of firearm injury-related emergency department (ED) visits (FIRE) during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study [...]

Background: Contemporary treatment for COVID-19 includes the use of SARS-2-CoV direct-acting antivirals (DAAs). An FDA assessment in the Medicare and Veterans Affairs population has suggested that individual agents in this class have significant differences in drug-drug interaction (DDI) potential based on their pharmacokinetic profiles; however, the clinical impact is not well established. We sought to [...]

Background: Thromboprophylaxis of hospitalized COVID-19 patients – including extended, post-discharge thromboprophylaxis in high-risk patients – has been evaluated in multiple randomized trials and incorporated into antithrombotic guidelines. Yet, provider adoption of best practices remains sub-optimal. Our aim was to assess whether an electronic health record (EHR)-agnostic clinical decision support (CDS) tool incorporating the validated IMPROVE-DD [...]

Background: Post-discharge phone calls to hospitalized patients have been associated with reduced 30-day readmissions.[1,2] But their impact during the COVID-19 pandemic is unknown. Further, whether the 30-day readmission metric is an accurate surrogate for care utilization remains a concern.[3-5] Since 2012, national all-cause readmissions have decreased while emergency department (ED) visits and observation status have [...]

Background: Our Academic Medical Center, (AMC), located near the US-Mexico border, began receiving and treating patients with COVID-19 beginning in February of 2020. After activating incident command to increase surge capacity and developing protocols for treatment of patients with COVID-19, we developed adequate capacity for the most likely scenarios of pandemic progression. By April of [...]