Best Practices
Original Research
Physician Responsiveness to Positive Blood Culture Results at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Hospital—Is Anyone Paying Attention?
A retrospective chart review analyzing empiric antibiotic use revealed that health care providers appeared to be adhering to best practices and...
Best Practices
A Stepwise Approach for Preventing Suicide by Lethal Poisoning
A strategy for reducing suicide deaths includes determining suicide risk, identifying substances strongly associated with fatalities, considering...
Original Research
Management of Do Not Resuscitate Orders Before Invasive Procedures
A template that allows rapid suspension of DNR status may improve providers’ DNR acknowledgments before invasive procedures.
Original Research
Minimizing Opioids After Joint Operation: Protocol to Decrease Postoperative Opioid Use After Primary Total Knee Arthroplasty
A retrospective chart review comparing before and after implementing a new postsurgical pain protocol found that it reduced opioid use without...
Original Research
Liquid Biopsies in a Veteran Patient Population With Advanced Prostate and Lung Non-Small Cell Carcinomas: A New Paradigm and Unique Challenge in Personalized Medicine
Minimally invasive liquid biopsy shows great promise as both a diagnostic and prognostic tool in the personalized clinical management of advanced...
Best Practices
Standardizing the Use of Mental Health Screening Instruments in Patients With Pain
Incorporating screening modalities for anxiety and depression during patient visits for pain may reduce disease burden for patients with all 3...
Program Profile
Implementation of a Protocol to Manage Patients at Risk for Hospitalization Due to an Ambulatory Care Sensitive Condition
A review and referral process for patients at risk for hospitalization due to an ambulatory care sensitive condition increased patient access to...
Program Profile
Creating an Intensive Care Unit From a Postanesthesia Care Unit for the COVID-19 Surge at the Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System
To address the surge of patients with COVID-19 in Southeast Michigan, the Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System engineered, built, and...
Original Research
Contrasting qSOFA and SIRS Criteria for Early Sepsis Identification in a Veteran Population
The quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment lacks sensitivity to be an effective replacement for the Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome...
Program Profile
Understanding Principles of High Reliability Organizations Through the Eyes of VIONE, A Clinical Program to Improve Patient Safety by Deprescribing Potentially Inappropriate Medications and Reducing Polypharmacy
The assessment of polypharmacy and reduction of potentially inappropriate medications using VIONE has benefited about 60,000 veterans with more...