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Sylvester FT, Williams VD. Evaluating Medical Decision-Making: Using the EHR to Assess and Structure Resident Autonomy. Hosp Pediatr 2022; 12:e42-e43. [PMID: 34904173 DOI: 10.1542/hpeds.2021-006416] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
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Atlas KR, Forbes M, Riches J, Maina E, Lim R, Johnson T, Niessen T, Desai N. The scope of hospital medicine practice at night: a national survey of night shift hospitalists. Hosp Pract (1995) 2021; 49:292-297. [PMID: 34030568 DOI: 10.1080/21548331.2021.1932507] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Introduction: Although in-person hospitalist presence, increasingly staffed by dedicated nocturnists, has become the norm overnight in the hospital, the scope of nocturnist practice and typical workload has not been defined. This study examines the clinical responsibilities and patient safety perceptions of hospitalists who work night shifts in the United States.Methods: In the fall of 2019, a cross-sectional, web-based survey was administered to physician and nurse practitioner/physician assistant (NP/PA) hospitalists who work night shifts. The questionnaire assessed night staffing structure, typical responsibilities, patient volume, perceptions of safety overnight, as well as demographic information. The survey was posted on the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) Hospital Medicine Exchange (HMX) Online Discussion Forum. Additionally, the survey was distributed by 'snowball method' by respondents to other night hospitalists. Responses were collected anonymously.Results: Of the 167 respondents, 157 reported working night shifts. There was at least one respondent from 32 different states. In addition to performing admissions to medicine services and covering inpatients, night hospitalists cover ICU patients, participate in RRT/Code teams and procedure teams, perform consults, participate in medical education, and take outpatient calls. Across institutions, there was a large distribution in numbers of patients covered in a night shift; however, patient volume fell into typical ranges: 5-10 admissions for physicians, 0-6 admissions for NP/PAs, and 25-75 patient cross-coverage census. When physicians perform more than five admissions per night, hospitalists were less likely to agree that they could provide safe care (88% vs. 63%, p = 0.0006).Conclusions: This is the first national study to examine the clinical responsibilities of hospitalists working overnight. Overnight responsibilities are heterogeneous across institutions. As hospitals are increasingly employing nocturnists, more research is needed to guide night staffing and optimize patient safety.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathleen R Atlas
- Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Meggan Forbes
- Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Jamie Riches
- Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Elizabeth Maina
- Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Richard Lim
- Department of Medicine, Our Lady of Fatima Hospital, North Providence, RI, USA
| | | | - Timothy Niessen
- Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Neil Desai
- Department of Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
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Bauer SC, McFadden V, Madhani K, Kaeppler C, Porada K, Weisgerber MC. Letting Residents Lead: Implementing Resident Admission Triage Call Curriculum and Practice. Hosp Pediatr 2021; 11:579-586. [PMID: 34001562 DOI: 10.1542/hpeds.2020-005199] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Graduating residents are expected to be competent in triaging patients to appropriate resources. Before 2017, pediatric residents were not involved in admission triage decisions. In 2017, after implementing an admission triage curriculum (ATC), residents had opportunities to be involved in overnight admission calls with the emergency department (ED), which were initially supervised (joint calls), and as skills progressed, residents conducted calls and admitted patients independently. We implemented and evaluated the impact of a graduated ATC intervention bundle on pediatric resident opportunities to participate in admission triage, while monitoring resident confidence, the ED experience, and patient safety. METHODS We evaluated the impact of our ATC using quality improvement methodology. The primary outcome was the frequency of resident participation in joint and independent triage calls. Other measures included resident confidence, the ED clinician experience, and patient safety. Resident confidence and the ED clinician experience were rated via surveys. Safety was monitored with daytime hospitalist morning assessments and postadmission complications documented in the medical record. RESULTS The percent of joint calls with the hospitalist increased from 7% to 88%, and 125 patients were admitted independently. Residents reported significant increases in adequacy of triage training and confidence in 3 triage skills (P < .001) after ATC. There were no complications or safety concerns on patients admitted by residents. ED clinicians reported increased admitting process efficiency and satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS Our ATC intervention bundle increased the number of admission decision opportunities for pediatric residents, while increasing resident triage confidence, maintaining safety, and improving ED clinician experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Corey Bauer
- Section of Pediatric Hospital Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Wisconsin and Children's Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin;
| | - Vanessa McFadden
- Section of Pediatric Hospital Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Wisconsin and Children's Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
| | - Kavi Madhani
- Section of Pediatric Hospital Medicine, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Stanford, California
| | - Caitlin Kaeppler
- Section of Pediatric Hospital Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Wisconsin and Children's Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
| | - Kelsey Porada
- Section of Pediatric Hospital Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Wisconsin and Children's Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
| | - Michael C Weisgerber
- Section of Pediatric Hospital Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Wisconsin and Children's Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
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Dunbar-Yaffe R, Wu RC, Oza A, Lee-Kim V, Cram P. Impact of an internal medicine nocturnist service on care of patients with cancer at a large Canadian teaching hospital: a quality-improvement study. CMAJ Open 2021; 9:E667-E672. [PMID: 34145049 PMCID: PMC8248558 DOI: 10.9778/cmajo.20200167] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Nocturnists (overnight hospitalists) are commonly implemented in US teaching hospitals to adhere to per-resident patient caps and improve care but are rare in Canada, where patient caps and duty hours are comparatively flexible. Our objective was to assess the impact of a newly implemented nocturnist program on perceived quality of care, code status documentation and patient outcomes. METHODS Nocturnists were phased in between June 2018 and December 2019 at Toronto General Hospital, a large academic teaching hospital in Toronto, Ontario. We performed a quality-improvement study comparing rates of code status entry into the electronic health record at admission, in-hospital mortality, the 30-day readmission rate and hospital length of stay for patients with cancer admitted by nocturnists and by residents. Surveys were administered in June 2019 to general internal medicine faculty and residents to assess their perceptions of the impact of the nocturnist program. RESULTS From July 2018 to June 2019, 30 nocturnists were on duty for 241/364 nights (66.5%), reducing the mean maximum overnight per-resident patient census from 40 (standard deviation [SD] 4) to 25 (SD 5) (p < 0.001). The rate of admission code status entry was 35.3% among patients admitted by residents (n = 133) and 54.9% among those admitted by nocturnists (n = 339) (p < 0.001). The mortality rate was 10.5% among patients admitted by residents and 5.6% among those admitted by nocturnists (p = 0.06), the 30-day readmission rate was 8.3% and 5.9%, respectively (p = 0.4), and the mean acute length of stay was 7.2 (SD 7.0) days and 6.4 (SD 7.8) days, respectively (p = 0.3). Surveys were completed by 15/24 faculty (response rate 62%), who perceived improvements in patient safety, efficiency and trainee education; however, only 30/102 residents (response rate 29.4%) completed the survey. INTERPRETATION Although implementation of a nocturnist program did not affect patient outcomes, it reduced residents' overnight patient census, and improved faculty perceptions of quality of care and education, as well as documentation of code status. Our results support nocturnist implementation in Canadian teaching hospitals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard Dunbar-Yaffe
- Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics (Dunbar-Yaffe, Wu, Cram), Sinai Health System and University Health Network; Division of General Internal Medicine (Dunbar-Yaffe, Wu, Cram), Department of Medicine, University of Toronto; Division of Medical Oncology and Hematology (Oza), University Health Network, Toronto, Ont.; School of Medicine (Lee-Kim), Queen's University, Kingston, Ont.
| | - Robert C Wu
- Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics (Dunbar-Yaffe, Wu, Cram), Sinai Health System and University Health Network; Division of General Internal Medicine (Dunbar-Yaffe, Wu, Cram), Department of Medicine, University of Toronto; Division of Medical Oncology and Hematology (Oza), University Health Network, Toronto, Ont.; School of Medicine (Lee-Kim), Queen's University, Kingston, Ont
| | - Amit Oza
- Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics (Dunbar-Yaffe, Wu, Cram), Sinai Health System and University Health Network; Division of General Internal Medicine (Dunbar-Yaffe, Wu, Cram), Department of Medicine, University of Toronto; Division of Medical Oncology and Hematology (Oza), University Health Network, Toronto, Ont.; School of Medicine (Lee-Kim), Queen's University, Kingston, Ont
| | - Victoria Lee-Kim
- Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics (Dunbar-Yaffe, Wu, Cram), Sinai Health System and University Health Network; Division of General Internal Medicine (Dunbar-Yaffe, Wu, Cram), Department of Medicine, University of Toronto; Division of Medical Oncology and Hematology (Oza), University Health Network, Toronto, Ont.; School of Medicine (Lee-Kim), Queen's University, Kingston, Ont
| | - Peter Cram
- Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics (Dunbar-Yaffe, Wu, Cram), Sinai Health System and University Health Network; Division of General Internal Medicine (Dunbar-Yaffe, Wu, Cram), Department of Medicine, University of Toronto; Division of Medical Oncology and Hematology (Oza), University Health Network, Toronto, Ont.; School of Medicine (Lee-Kim), Queen's University, Kingston, Ont
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Reza JA, Steve Eubanks W, de la Fuente SG. Clinical and Financial Implications of Consulting Physicians in the Management of Surgical Patients. Am Surg 2020; 88:578-586. [PMID: 33291943 DOI: 10.1177/0003134820952439] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The present study was designed to evaluate the immediate consequences that the number of consulting physicians has on length of stay (LOS), in-hospital mortality, 30-day readmission rates, direct health care costs, and contribution margins. METHODS A retrospective review of administrative databases for the years 2013 and 2014 was performed at the Florida Hospital Adventist Healthcare System. RESULTS 11 274 patients were included in the analysis. Total and variable costs increased by $1347 and $592, respectively, with each consulting physician service per patient. The contribution margin decreased by $354 per patient/consulting physician. Each consulting physician increased LOS by .72 days and increased odds ratio of mortality and 30-day readmission by 5% and 3%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Our research suggests that each consulting physician added to the care of an individual surgical patient negatively affected LOS, readmission rates, in-hospital mortality, and costs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph A Reza
- Department of Surgery, AdventHealth Orlando, FL, USA
| | - W Steve Eubanks
- Department of Surgery, AdventHealth Orlando, FL, USA.,University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA
| | - Sebastian G de la Fuente
- Department of Surgery, AdventHealth Orlando, FL, USA.,University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA
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Hategeka C, Ruton H, Karamouzian M, Lynd LD, Law MR. Use of interrupted time series methods in the evaluation of health system quality improvement interventions: a methodological systematic review. BMJ Glob Health 2020; 5:e003567. [PMID: 33055094 PMCID: PMC7559052 DOI: 10.1136/bmjgh-2020-003567] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2020] [Revised: 09/07/2020] [Accepted: 09/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND When randomisation is not possible, interrupted time series (ITS) design has increasingly been advocated as a more robust design to evaluating health system quality improvement (QI) interventions given its ability to control for common biases in healthcare QI. However, there is a potential risk of producing misleading results when this rather robust design is not used appropriately. We performed a methodological systematic review of the literature to investigate the extent to which the use of ITS has followed best practice standards and recommendations in the evaluation of QI interventions. METHODS We searched multiple databases from inception to June 2018 to identify QI intervention studies that were evaluated using ITS. There was no restriction on date, language and participants. Data were synthesised narratively using appropriate descriptive statistics. The risk of bias for ITS studies was assessed using the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care standard criteria. The systematic review protocol was registered in PROSPERO (registration number: CRD42018094427). RESULTS Of 4061 potential studies and 2028 unique records screened for inclusion, 120 eligible studies assessed eight QI strategies and were from 25 countries. Most studies were published since 2010 (86.7%), reported data using monthly interval (71.4%), used ITS without a control (81%) and modelled data using segmented regression (62.5%). Autocorrelation was considered in 55% of studies, seasonality in 20.8% and non-stationarity in 8.3%. Only 49.2% of studies specified the ITS impact model. The risk of bias was high or very high in 72.5% of included studies and did not change significantly over time. CONCLUSIONS The use of ITS in the evaluation of health system QI interventions has increased considerably over the past decade. However, variations in methodological considerations and reporting of ITS in QI remain a concern, warranting a need to develop and reinforce formal reporting guidelines to improve its application in the evaluation of health system QI interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Celestin Hategeka
- Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Centre for Health Services and Policy Research, School of Population and Public Health, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Hinda Ruton
- Centre for Health Services and Policy Research, School of Population and Public Health, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- School of Public Health, University of Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda
| | - Mohammad Karamouzian
- School of Population and Public Health, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- HIV/STI Surveillance Research Centre, and WHO Collaborating Centre for HIV Surveillance, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran
| | - Larry D Lynd
- Collaboration for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- Center for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences, Providence Health Research Institute, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Michael R Law
- Centre for Health Services and Policy Research, School of Population and Public Health, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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Kumar S, Gupta A. Resident doctors’ duty hours: A questionnaire-based study in national and international perspective. MGM JOURNAL OF MEDICAL SCIENCES 2020. [DOI: 10.4103/mgmj.mgmj_70_20] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022] Open
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Salim SA, Elmaraezy A, Pamarthy A, Thongprayoon C, Cheungpasitporn W, Palabindala V. Impact of hospitalists on the efficiency of inpatient care and patient satisfaction: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Community Hosp Intern Med Perspect 2019; 9:121-134. [PMID: 31044043 PMCID: PMC6484472 DOI: 10.1080/20009666.2019.1591901] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2019] [Accepted: 03/01/2019] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Over the past 20 years, hospitalists have assumed a greater portion of healthcare service for hospitalized patients. This was mainly due to reducing the length of stay (LOS) and hospital costs shown by many studies. In contrast, other studies suggested increased cost and resources utilization associated with hospitalist-run care models. Aim: We aimed to provide class 1 evidence regarding the effect of hospitalist-run care models on the efficiency of care and patient satisfaction. Design: Meta-analysis. Methods: Four electronic medical databases were searched to retrieve all relevant studies. Two authors screened titles and abstracts of search results for eligibility according to predefined criteria. Initially eligible studies were screened for full text inclusion. Included studies were reviewed for data on LOS, hospital cost, readmission, mortality, and patient satisfaction. Available data were abstracted and analyzed using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis. Results: Sixty-one studies were included for analysis. The overall effect size favored hospitalist-run care models in terms of LOS (MD = -0.67 day, 95% CI [-0.78, -0.56], p < 0.001). There was no significant difference in terms of hospital cost (MD = $92.1, 95% CI [-910.4, 1094.6], p = 0.86) whereas patient satisfaction was similar or even better in hospitalist compared to non-hospitalist (NH) service. Conclusion: Our analysis showed that hospitalist care is associated with decreased LOS and increased patient satisfaction compared to NH. This indicates an increase in the efficiency of care that does not come at the expense of care quality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sohail Abdul Salim
- Division of Nephrology, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA
| | - Ahmed Elmaraezy
- Global Clinical Scholars Research Training (GCSRT) Program, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.,Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.,Al-Razi Medical Research Academy, Cairo, Egypt
| | - Amaleswari Pamarthy
- Division of Nephrology, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA
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Morgan DJ, Ho KM, Kolybaba ML, Ong YJ. Adverse outcomes after planned surgery with anticipated intensive care admission in out-of-office-hours time periods: a multicentre cohort study. Br J Anaesth 2018; 120:1420-1428. [PMID: 29793607 DOI: 10.1016/j.bja.2018.02.063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2017] [Revised: 12/08/2017] [Accepted: 03/06/2018] [Indexed: 10/17/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Increasing mortality for patients admitted to hospitals during the weekend is a contentious but well described phenomenon. However, it remains uncertain whether adverse outcomes, including prolonged hospital length-of-stay (LOS), may also occur after patients undergoing major planned surgery are admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) out-of-office-hours, either during weeknights (after 18:00) or on weekends. METHODS All planned surgical admissions requiring admission to one of 183 ICUs across Australia and New Zealand between 2006 and 2016 were included in this retrospective population-based cohort study. Primary outcomes were hospital LOS and hospital mortality. RESULTS Of the total 504 713 planned postoperative ICU admissions, 33.6% occurred during out-of-office-hours. After adjusting for available risk factors, out-of-office-hours ICU admissions were associated with a significant increase in hospital LOS [+2.6 days, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.5-2.6], mortality [odd ratio (OR) 1.5, 95%CI 1.4-1.6], and a reduced chance of being directly discharged home (OR 0.8, 95%CI 0.8-0.8). The strongest association for adverse outcomes occurred with weekend ICU admissions (hospital LOS: +3.0 days, 95%CI 3.2-3.6; hospital mortality: OR 1.7, 95%CI 1.6-1.8). Clustering of adverse outcomes by hospitals was not observed in the generalised estimating equation analyses. CONCLUSIONS Despite a greater clinical staff availability and higher monitoring levels, planned surgery requiring anticipated out-of-office-hours ICU admission was associated with a prolonged hospital LOS, reduced discharge directly home, and increased mortality compared with in-office-hours admissions. Our findings have potential clinical, economic and health policy implications on how complex planned surgery should be planned and managed.
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Affiliation(s)
- D J Morgan
- Department of Intensive Care Medicine, St John of God Subiaco Hospital, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
| | - K M Ho
- Department of Intensive Care Medicine, St John of God Subiaco Hospital, Perth, Western Australia, Australia; School of Population Health, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia; School of Veterinary and Life Sciences, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - M L Kolybaba
- Department of Intensive Care Medicine, St John of God Subiaco Hospital, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Y J Ong
- Department of Intensive Care Medicine, St John of God Subiaco Hospital, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
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Mathews BK. Capsule Commentary on Gonzalo, et al., Impact of an Overnight Internal Medicine Academic Hospitalist Program on Patient Outcomes. J Gen Intern Med 2015; 30:1850. [PMID: 26014895 PMCID: PMC4636579 DOI: 10.1007/s11606-015-3414-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Benji K Mathews
- Department of Medicine, HealthPartners and University of Minnesota Medical School, Saint Paul, MN, USA.
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