Impact of the implementation of a pharmacist-driven chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbation orderset in an inpatient setting

Predictors of Readmission, for Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) - A Systematic Review

Introduction

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the third-leading cause of death globally and is responsible for over 3 million deaths annually. One of the factors contributing to the significant healthcare burden for these patients is readmission. The aim of this review is to describe significant predictors and prediction scores for all-cause and COPD-related readmission among patients with COPD.

Methods

A search was conducted in Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, from database inception to June 7, 2022. Studies were included if they reported on patients at least 40 years old with COPD, readmission data within 1 year, and predictors of readmission. Study quality was assessed. Significant predictors of readmission and the degree of significance, as noted by the p-value, were extracted for each study. This review was registered on PROSPERO (CRD42022337035).

Results

In total, 242 articles reporting on 16,471,096 patients were included. There was a low risk of bias across the literature. Of these, 153 studies were observational, reporting on predictors; 57 studies were observational studies reporting on interventions; and 32 were randomized controlled trials of interventions. Sixty-four significant predictors for all-cause readmission and 23 for COPD-related readmission were reported across the literature. Significant predictors included 1) pre-admission patient characteristics, such as male sex, prior hospitalization, poor performance status, number and type of comorbidities, and use of long-term oxygen; 2) hospitalization details, such as length of stay, use of corticosteroids, and use of ventilatory support; 3) results of investigations, including anemia, lower FEV1, and higher eosinophil count; and 4) discharge characteristics, including use of home oxygen and discharge to long-term care or a skilled nursing facility.

Conclusion

The findings from this review may enable better predictive modeling and can be used by clinicians to better inform their clinical gestalt of readmission risk.

Corticosteroid administration and glycemic outcomes during treatment of acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Background

While international guidelines recommend low doses of systemic corticosteroids for acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) clinical practice patterns show significant heterogeneity. Increasing doses of corticosteroids have inconsistently been associated with a greater risk of hyperglycemia.

Methods

Patients admitted to inpatient services for AECOPD were retrospectively enrolled. Hospitalization corticosteroid doses, daily blood glucose levels, and other markers of corticosteroid excess were collected. Correlative and regression analyses were conducted to assess the relationship between corticosteroid dose and average hospitalization blood glucose.

Results

Daily corticosteroid dose significantly predicted a higher blood glucose (rs=0.179, p=0.0095; p<0.0028 respectively) and cumulative corticosteroid dose predicted a longer hospital length of stay in bivariate and multivariate analyses (rs=0.679, p<0.0001; p<0.0001 respectively). Patients that experienced hypernatremia, hypokalemia, acute hyperglycemia, and acute hypertension received larger corticosteroid doses than patients that did not experience these complicating events.

Conclusions

We identified that increasing amounts of corticosteroids administered to inpatients experiencing AECOPD experienced higher average hospitalization blood glucose values, protracted hospitalizations, and other untoward effects.

The efficacy and safety of antibiotics and glucocorticoids in the treatment of elderly patients with chronic obstructive emphysema: systematic review and meta-analysis

Background

To systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) combined with antibiotics in the treatment of elderly chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients, and to provide some reference for the optimization of clinical treatment regimen for elderly COPD patients.

Methods

Combination of perfect search and keywords from the Chinese and foreign language databases, and the Cochrane Collaboration Center provided Review Manger 5.2 software [Cochrane Information Management System (IMS)] for statistical analysis, and the risk ratio (RR) of dichotic variables was adopted. RR and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were used as efficacy and side effects analysis statistics in metaanalysis.

Results

After independent screening by two researchers, 18 studies were included into the meta-analysis. After data analysis and statistics, the results of meta-analysis showed that the observation group (glucocorticoid combined with antibiotic treatment) and the control group (glucocorticoid therapy) first second forced expiratory volume (FEV1%) expected value (OR =1.21; 95% CI: 0.11–2.32; P=0.03), and 6-min walking distances (6-MWDs) (OR =12.92; 95% CI: 4.61–21.22; P=0.002), the COPD Assessment Test (CAT) score (OR =3.08; 95% CI: 2.58−3.57; P<0.00001) the improvement was statistically significant; incidence of adverse reactions (OR =1.24; 95% CI: 0.58–2.67; P=0.58), the incidence of acute exacerbation (OR =0.65; 95% CI: 0.39–1.08; P=0.10), FEV1 (OR =0.07; 95% CI: 0.01–0.15; P=0.09). There was no statistical difference.

Discussion

The combination of glucocorticoids and antibiotics in elderly patients with stable COPD can significantly improve their lung function and exercise ability with minimal adverse reactions.

Optimizing quality of care in patients admitted with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbation

Objectives: Adherence to Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) guidelines in acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) treatment is variable in the inpatient setting. This study evaluates appropriateness of therapy in patients admitted to an academic medical center for AECOPD. Methods: This was a single-center, retrospective, observational study. The primary endpoint was proportion of patients who received appropriate AECOPD treatment within 24 h. Secondary endpoints included mean length of stay (LOS) and time to administration (TTA) of pharmacotherapy, 30-day readmission rates, and proportions of various ancillary care received. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: Of 533 screened admissions, 163 were included. Of those included, 55% (n = 90) received guideline-based therapy within 24 h of presentation. This group had significantly shorter mean LOS (3.48 ± 2.61 vs 4.53 ± 3.40 days, p = .026), fewer COPD-related readmissions (7 vs 14, p = .036), and numerically fewer all-cause readmissions (14 vs 19, p = .11). Mean LOS and TTA were 3.95 ± 3.02 days and 8.47 ± 12.77 h, respectively. Discussion: Timely and guideline-based delivery of medications was associated with shorter length of stay and fewer COPD-related readmissions. Establishing a standardized care plan through order set implementation may be one strategy to improve care and outcomes in AECOPD patients.

Practice-enhancing publications about the medication-use process in 2020

DISCLAIMER

In an effort to expedite the publication of articles, AJHP is posting manuscripts online as soon as possible after acceptance. Accepted manuscripts have been peer-reviewed and copyedited, but are posted online before technical formatting and author proofing. These manuscripts are not the final version of record and will be replaced with the final article (formatted per AJHP style and proofed by the authors) at a later time.

PURPOSE

This article identifies, prioritizes, and summarizes published literature on the medication-use process (MUP) from calendar year 2020 that can impact health-system pharmacy daily practice.

SUMMARY

The MUP is the foundational system that provides the framework for safe medication utilization within the healthcare environment. The MUP is defined in this article as having the following components: prescribing/transcribing, dispensing, administration, and monitoring. Articles evaluating at least one step of the MUP were assessed for their usefulness in practice improvement. A PubMed search for articles published in calendar year 2020 was conducted in January 2021 using targeted Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) keywords, and the table of contents of selected pharmacy journals was searched, providing a total of 9,433 articles. A thorough review identified 49 potentially practice-enhancing articles: 15 for prescribing/transcribing, 10 for dispensing, 6 for administration, and 18 for monitoring. Ranking of the articles for importance by peers led to the selection of key articles from each category. The highest-ranked articles are briefly summarized, with a mention of why they are important within health-system pharmacy. The other articles are listed for further review and evaluation.

CONCLUSION

It is important to routinely review the published literature and to incorporate significant findings into daily practice. This article assists in identifying and summarizing the most impactful recently published literature. Health-system pharmacists have an active role in improving the MUP in their institution, and awareness of the moist significant published studies can assist in changing practice at the institutional level.