The 2 Minute Update

Epigastric pain: antacids alone vs GI cocktail

August 19, 2020 • epigastric pain • gastritis • GI cocktail • hospital guidelines • Hospital medicine • journal review • journal study

What works better - and tastes better - for epigastric pain when you suspect gastritis? Researchers randomized antacids alone vs. antacids plus lidocaine.

How well do patients remember their medicaions?

July 7, 2020 • journal review • journal study • medication recall

Can patients accurately tell you what medications they are taking? This ED study evaluated that.

Does decreasing smoking frequency decrease mortality?

June 10, 2020 • journal review • journal study • mortality outcome • smoking

We know that quitting smoking decreases mortality. But what if someone decreases frequency, transitioning from smoking daily to smoking less frequently than every day? Does that save lives?

Does pulmonary rehab decrease mortality?

May 23, 2020 • COPD exacerbation • hospital guidelines • Hospital medicine • journal review • journal study • mortality outcome • pulmonary rehab

Mortality is greatly decreased if pulmonary rehab is started within 90 days of a COPD-related hospital admission. But only 1.5% of Medicare patients start pulmonary rehab shortly after being admitted for COPD.

Does paracentesis timing matter?

April 15, 2020 • hospital guidelines • Hospital medicine • journal review • journal study • mortality outcome • paracentesis

Paracentesis is recommended in patients with cirrhosis and ascites, but timing is not addressed. This study shows that early paracentesis - in the first 24 hours of admission - saves lives and prevents readmissions, especially in patients with encephalopathy of AKI.