A hospital stay carries a 5.5% risk of an adverse drug reaction, 17.6% risk of infection, and 3.1% risk of ulcer for an average episode, and each additional night in hospital increases the risk by 0.5% for adverse drug reactions, 1.6% for infections, and 0.5% for ulcers.

Source: Medical Care

The journal, Spine published an article calling for more research for early management of whiplash injuries citing no improvement in recovery rates.

A study in Neurosurgery supported the recent guideline change calling for monitoring of brain oxygenation for those people with severe head injuries. Brain hypoxia was shown to adversely affect TBI independent of other factors. How does brain hypoxia affect mild TBI?

Most emergent intubations in the emergency department occur before all the facts can be determined. An article recently published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine discusses preoxygenation and peri-intubation oxygenation techniques to minimize risk of critical hypoxia.

Work groups from the American Dietetic Association and American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition are developing new definitions and diagnostic criteria for malnutrition in adults. Concepts serving as a foundation for these new definitions and criteria include starvation-related malnutrition, chronic disease-related malnutrition and acute disease-related malnutrition. These changes will impact all areas of healthcare, i.e. acute care, home care, long term care, etc

Depression is one of the most common diagnoses in the U.S. Consequently, many women become pregnant while undergoing antidepressant treatment. This brings up the question as to whether they should continue antidepressant medication. Stopping an antidepressant can bring on major depressive disorder. A study in Epidemiology looks at this issue.