Hospital Collaboration in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Kansas City Metropolitan Region

INTRODUCTION. The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2 aka COVID-19) virus has evolved into a WHO-declared pandemic which has strained our regional critical care and hospital resources.  METHOD. In response, we report the creation of a Critical Care Task Force in the Kansas City metro area and surrounding areas. We also report demographic and therapeutic factors affecting patients admitted to medical intensive care units in the Kansas City metro area using a retrospective case-control study examining gender, race, and therapeutic options including modes of ventilation, vasopressor requirements, renal-replacement therapy, and disposition. CONCLUSIONS. Hospitalized patients being treated for COVID-19 in the Kansas City Metropolitan area have similar demographics to those being reported in the U.S.  Additionally, we found establishing a Critical Care Task Force in response to the pandemic helpful in preparing for a potential surge, establishing capacity and disseminating timely information to policy makers and Critical Care workers in the front line.

Structural Competency: Curriculum for Medical Students, Residents, and Interprofessional Teams on the Structural Factors That Produce Health Disparities

Introduction: Research on disparities in health and health care has demonstrated that social, economic, and political factors are key drivers of poor health outcomes. Yet the role of such structural forces on health and health care has been incorporated unevenly into medical training. The framework of structural competency offers a paradigm for training health professionals to recognize and respond to the impact of upstream, structural factors on patient health and health care. Methods: We report on a brief, interprofessional structural competency curriculum implemented in 32 distinct instances between 2015 and 2017 throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. In consultation with medical and interprofessional education experts, we developed open-ended, written-response surveys to qualitatively evaluate this curriculum\u27s impact on participants. Qualitative data from 15 iterations were analyzed via directed thematic analysis, coding language, and concepts to identify key themes. Results: Three core themes emerged from analysis of participants\u27 comments. First, participants valued the curriculum\u27s focus on the application of the structural competency framework in real-world clinical, community, and policy contexts. Second, participants with clinical experience (residents, fellows, and faculty) reported that the curriculum helped them reframe how they thought about patients. Third, participants reported feeling reconnected to their original motivations for entering the health professions. Discussion: This structural competency curriculum fills a gap in health professional education by equipping learners to understand and respond to the role that social, economic, and political structural factors play in patient and community health

HIV transmission risk through anal intercourse: systematic review, meta-analysis and implications for HIV prevention

Background The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infectiousness of anal intercourse (AI) has not been systematically reviewed, despite its role driving HIV epidemics among men who have sex with men (MSM) and its potential contribution to heterosexual spread. We assessed the per-act and per-partner HIV transmission risk from AI exposure for heterosexuals and MSM and its implications for HIV prevention

Heterogeneous treatment effects of therapeutic-dose heparin in patients hospitalized for COVID-19

Importance Randomized clinical trials (RCTs) of therapeutic-dose heparin in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 produced conflicting results, possibly due to heterogeneity of treatment effect (HTE) across individuals. Better understanding of HTE could facilitate individualized clinical decision-making. Objective To evaluate HTE of therapeutic-dose heparin for patients hospitalized for COVID-19 and to compare approaches to assessing HTE. Design, Setting, and Participants Exploratory analysis of a multiplatform adaptive RCT of therapeutic-dose heparin vs usual care pharmacologic thromboprophylaxis in 3320 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 enrolled in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia between April 2020 and January 2021. Heterogeneity of treatment effect was assessed 3 ways: using (1) conventional subgroup analyses of baseline characteristics, (2) a multivariable outcome prediction model (risk-based approach), and (3) a multivariable causal forest model (effect-based approach). Analyses primarily used bayesian statistics, consistent with the original trial. Exposures Participants were randomized to therapeutic-dose heparin or usual care pharmacologic thromboprophylaxis. Main Outcomes and Measures Organ support–free days, assigning a value of −1 to those who died in the hospital and the number of days free of cardiovascular or respiratory organ support up to day 21 for those who survived to hospital discharge; and hospital survival. Results Baseline demographic characteristics were similar between patients randomized to therapeutic-dose heparin or usual care (median age, 60 years; 38% female; 32% known non-White race; 45% Hispanic). In the overall multiplatform RCT population, therapeutic-dose heparin was not associated with an increase in organ support–free days (median value for the posterior distribution of the OR, 1.05; 95% credible interval, 0.91-1.22). In conventional subgroup analyses, the effect of therapeutic-dose heparin on organ support–free days differed between patients requiring organ support at baseline or not (median OR, 0.85 vs 1.30; posterior probability of difference in OR, 99.8%), between females and males (median OR, 0.87 vs 1.16; posterior probability of difference in OR, 96.4%), and between patients with lower body mass index (BMI 90% for all comparisons). In risk-based analysis, patients at lowest risk of poor outcome had the highest propensity for benefit from heparin (lowest risk decile: posterior probability of OR >1, 92%) while those at highest risk were most likely to be harmed (highest risk decile: posterior probability of OR <1, 87%). In effect-based analysis, a subset of patients identified at high risk of harm (P = .05 for difference in treatment effect) tended to have high BMI and were more likely to require organ support at baseline. Conclusions and Relevance Among patients hospitalized for COVID-19, the effect of therapeutic-dose heparin was heterogeneous. In all 3 approaches to assessing HTE, heparin was more likely to be beneficial in those who were less severely ill at presentation or had lower BMI and more likely to be harmful in sicker patients and those with higher BMI. The findings illustrate the importance of considering HTE in the design and analysis of RCTs. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifiers: NCT02735707, NCT04505774, NCT04359277, NCT0437258

Diagnostic Yield of Endobronchial Ultrasound-guided Transbronchial Needle Aspiration for Sarcoidosis

Objective: Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) is a relatively safe and minimally invasive procedure frequently used to investigate mediastinal lymphadenopathy of unknown etiology. Due to its safety in comparison to mediastinoscopy, which is the diagnostic gold standard, EBUS-TBNA can be used as the first-line diagnostic modality for approaching mediastinal lymphadenopathy in suspected sarcoidosis. In this study, we evaluated the diagnostic yield and safety of EBUS-TBNA for sarcoidosis at our institution. Methods: A retrospective review was performed for all patients who presented with mediastinal lymphadenopathy and underwent EBUS-TBNA for presumed sarcoidosis for a three-year period and subsequently diagnosed with sarcoidosis. Twenty-five patients were included, and parameters such as nodal station sampled, radiographic stage, adverse events, alternative diagnosis method, and symptoms were recorded. Results: Thirteen of 25 patients had non-caseating granulomas on EBUS-TBNA with a diagnostic yield of 52%. Of 12 patients not diagnosed via EBUS-TBNA, a diagnosis was made in four patients (33%) via transbronchial lung biopsy, in three (25%) via mediastinoscopy, in one (8%) via video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery, in three (25%) with an elevated bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) CD4/CD8 ratio and response to therapy, and in one (8%) via muscle biopsy. The average BAL CD4/CD8 ratio was 5.4 for all patients with sarcoidosis. All patients tolerated the procedure without major complications. Conclusion: EBUS-TBNA is a useful and minimally invasive tool for the diagnosis of sarcoidosis. It should be used as the first-line diagnostic study in suspected sarcoidosis if mediastinal lymphadenopathy is present

Assessing Provider Utilization of COVID-19 Inflammatory Marker Trends in Hospitalized Patients and Implications in Optimizing Value-Based Care During a Pandemic

Introduction. Numerous inflammatory markers may serve a role in prognostication of patients hospitalized with COVID-19.  Our health system created an admission order set which included daily d-dimer, c-reactive protein (CRP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and ferritin.  Limiting ordering of studies that do not affect daily management could result in significant cost savings to the health system without adverse patient outcomes.  We aim to determine ordering and utilization patterns of inflammatory markers by physicians caring for patients hospitalized with COVID-19 infections. Methods. An anonymous 10-question survey was distributed to 125 physicians (Infectious Diseases, Hospitalist, and Intensivists).  Response values greater than 50% were assumed to be an accurate representation of the entire group. Results. In total, 77 (62%) physicians responded.  57.1% (44/77) of physicians reported ordering daily inflammatory markers for 3-10 days.  Another 31.2% (24/77) ordered markers until clinical improvement or hospital discharge.  D-dimer was used by 83.1% (64/77) of respondents, with 93.8% (60/64) of those reporting utilizing it in determining anticoagulation dose.  CRP was used by 61% (47/77) of physicians to identify a secondary infection or help determine steroid dose or duration.  LDH and ferritin were not used for management decisions by the majority of physicians.  Inflammatory markers were not routinely used after isolation precautions had been discontinued. Conclusions. Of the markers studied, both d-dimer and CRP were considered useful by the majority of respondents.  LDH and ferritin were not considered as useful in guiding medical decision making.  Discontinuation of daily LDH and ferritin would result in significant savings to the health care system