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Monica Zolezzi,1,* Athar Elhakim,2,* Iman A Qubaiah,1,* Doaa Elsayed Mahmoud,1,* Shorouq Homs,1,* Waad Elamin,1,* Engy Sherif Tawfik,1,* Oraib Abdallah,3,* Yassin Eltorki,3,* Noriya Al-Khuzaei3,* 1College of Pharmacy, QU Health, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar; 2College of Health Sciences, University of Doha for Science and Technology, Doha, Qatar; 3Pharmacy Department, Mental Health Services, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Monica Zolezzi, College of Pharmacy, QU Health, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar, Tel +974 4403 5623 (GMT +3hrs), Email mzolezzi@qu.edu.qaBackground: Drug-induced QTc interval prolongation (QTcIP) can lead to serious consequences and is often a concern for mental health practitioners, as access to experts such as cardiologists, for consultation is time-limiting and can delay treatment decisions. This research aimed at validating the content of an algorithm for the assessment, management and monitoring of drug-induced QTcIP in mental health practice.Methods: Following an initial face validity by content experts, a cross-sectional survey of mental health care practitioners with a 4-point Likert-type scale was used to assess the validity of the decision steps on the QTcIP algorithm (QTcIPA) by estimating the content validity index (CVI) and the modified kappa statistic (κ*). Participants’ open-ended comments were also thematically analyzed.Results: Mental health practitioners found the QTcIPA to be appropriate, safe, and evidence-based, as indicated by the high individual item CVI scores ranging from 0.89 to 1 for all of the steps/decision statements in the three domains assessed: appropriateness, safety and reliability of the references used. Five themes emerged from the qualitative analysis of the open-ended comments, of which three were identified as strengths, including practical usability, reliable references and beneficial for pharmacists. Two themes were recognized as limitations, namely, the need for additional clinical content and application barriers.Conclusion: These results suggest that the QTcIPA may be a useful tool for mental health clinicians at the time of prescribing medications with potential risk of QTcIP. Future research will explore the implementation of the QTcIPA into clinical practice using computerized decision support tools through web-based and mobile applications.Keywords: drug-induced arrhythmias, QTc interval prolongation, algorithm, mental health practice, clinical decision tool

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of clinical signs combined with the tongue blade test (TBT) to detect maxillary and mandibular fractures. METHODS: A cross-sectional study enrolled patients with maxillary and mandibular injuries in the emergency department. Physical examination and the TBT were performed, followed by radiological imaging (facial X-ray or computed tomography [CT]). The diagnostic accuracy was calculated for individuals and a combination of clinical findings at predicting maxillary and mandibular fractures. RESULTS: A total of 98 patients were identified, of whom 31.6% had maxillary fractures and 9.2% had mandibular fractures. The combination of malocclusion, tenderness on palpation and swelling with positive TBT had 100% specificity to detect maxillary and mandibular fractures. In the absence of malocclusion, the combination of tenderness on palpation and swelling with positive TBT produced a specificity of 97.8% for maxillary fracture and a specificity of 96.2% for mandibular fracture. A clinical decision tool consisting of malocclusion, tenderness on palpation, swelling and TBT revealed a specificity of 100% and a positive predictive value of 100%. CONCLUSION: The clinical decision tool is potentially useful to rule out mandibular fractures, thus preventing unnecessary radiation exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Los Angeles Motor Scale (LAMS) is a validated prehospital scoring tool to identify stroke patients with large vessel occlusions (LVOs). While some studies have reported conflicting data in regards to the diagnostic value of LAMS, this systematic review and meta-analysis aims to provide a more concrete evidence for the value of this clinical decision tool in the diagnosis of LVO in suspected stroke patients. Method Online databases of PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science were searched until the end of October 2022, for studies evaluating the diagnostic performance of LAMS in the detection of LVOs in suspected stroke patients. Results The results of our analysis demonstrated an AUC of 0.83 (95% CI: 0.79, 0.86), sensitivity of 0.65 (95% CI: 0.54, 0.74), and specificity of 0.83 (95% CI: 0.79, 0.86) for the diagnostic value of LAMS score with a cut-off value of ≥ 4. The diagnostic odds ratio of LAMS score was 8.81 (95% CI: 6.24, 12.45). Sensitivity analyses reveled that diagnostic performance of LAMS improves when utilized for detection of occlusion in the more proximal segments of large vessels, with a sensitivity of 0.75 and specificity of 0.83. Conclusion A high level of evidence showed that LAMS scale does not have a promising diagnostic value in the identification of LVOs in suspected stroke patients. The sensitivity of 0.65 for this tool makes it obsolete as a proper triaging tool. As a suggestion, LAMS could be utilized in conjunction with other additional factors to increase its diagnostic performance.

Introduction: Los Angeles Motor Scale (LAMS) is a validated prehospital scoring tool to identify stroke patients with large vessel occlusions (LVOs). While some studies have reported conflicting data in regards to the diagnostic value of LAMS, this systematic review and meta-analysis aims to provide a more concrete evidence for the value of this clinical decision tool in the diagnosis of LVO in suspected stroke patients. Method: Online databases of PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science were searched until the end of October 2022, for studies evaluating the diagnostic performance of LAMS in the detection of LVOs in suspected stroke patients. Results: The results of our analysis demonstrated an AUC of 0.83 (95% CI: 0.79, 0.86), sensitivity of 0.65 (95% CI: 0.54, 0.74), and specificity of 0.83 (95% CI: 0.79, 0.86) for the diagnostic value of LAMS score with a cut-off value of = 4. The diagnostic odds ratio of LAMS score was 8.81 (95% CI: 6.24, 12.45). Sensitivity analyses reveled that diagnostic performance of LAMS improves when utilized for detection of occlusion in the more proximal segments of large vessels, with a sensitivity of 0.75 and specificity of 0.83. Conclusion: A high level of evidence showed that LAMS scale does not have a promising diagnostic value in the identification of LVOs in suspected stroke patients. The sensitivity of 0.65 for this tool makes it obsolete as a proper triaging tool. As a suggestion, LAMS could be utilized in conjunction with other additional factors to increase its diagnostic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: There are established and validated clinical decision tools for cervical spineclearance. Almost all the rules include spinal tenderness on exam as an indication for imaging. Ourgoal was to apply GLASS, a previously derived clinical decision tool for cervical spine clearance, tothoracolumbar injuries. GLass intact Assures Safe Spine (GLASS) is a simple, objective method toevaluate those patients involved in motor vehicle collisions and determine which are at low risk forthoracolumbar injuries.Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study using the National Accident Sampling System-Crashworthiness Data System (NASS-CDS) over an 11-year period (1998-2008). Sampled occupantcases selected in this study included patients age 16-60 who were belt-restrained, front- seatoccupants involved in a crash with no airbag deployment, and no glass damage prior to the crash.Results: We evaluated 14,191 occupants involved in motor vehicle collisions in this analysis.GLASS had a sensitivity of 94.4% (95% CI [86.3-98.4%]), specificity of 54.1% (95% CI [53.2-54.9%]), and negative predictive value of 99.9% (95% CI [99.8-99.9%]) for thoracic injuries, and asensitivity of 90.3% (95% CI [82.8-95.2%]), specificity of 54.2% (95% CI [53.3-54.9%]), and negativepredictive value of 99.9% (95% CI [99.7-99.9%]) for lumbar injuries.Conclusion: The GLASS rule represents the possibility of a novel, more-objective thoracolumbarspine clearance tool. Prospective evaluation would be required to further evaluate the validity of thisclinical decision rule.

Benjamin D Horne,1,2 Matthew J Hegewald,3 Courtney Crim,4 Susan Rea,5 Tami L Bair,1 Denitza P Blagev3 1Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute, Salt Lake City, UT, USA; 2Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA; 3Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Intermountain Medical Center, Salt Lake City, UT, USA; 4Research and Development, GlaxoSmithKline, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA; 5Care Transformation, Intermountain Healthcare, Salt Lake City, UT, USACorrespondence: Benjamin D HorneIntermountain Medical Center Heart Institute, 5121 S. Cottonwood Street, Salt Lake City, UT 84107, USATel +1801-507-4701Email benjamin.horne@imail.org Twitter@DrBenjaminHorneIntroduction: Tobacco use and other cardiovascular risk factors often accompany chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This study derived and validated the Summit Score to predict mortality in people with COPD and cardiovascular risks.Methods: SUMMIT trial subjects (N=16,485) ages 40– 80 years with COPD were randomly assigned 50%/50% to derivation (N=8181) and internal validation (N=8304). Three external COPD validations from Intermountain Healthcare included outpatients with cardiovascular risks (N=9251), outpatients without cardiovascular risks (N=8551), and inpatients (N=26,170). Cox regression evaluated 40 predictors of all-cause mortality. SUMMIT treatments including combined fluticasone furoate (FF) 100μg/vilanterol 25μg (VI) were not included in the score.Results: Mortality predictors were FEV1, heart rate, systolic blood pressure, body mass index, age, smoking pack-years, prior COPD hospitalizations, myocardial infarction, heart failure, diabetes, anti-thrombotics, anti-arrhythmics, and xanthines. Combined in the Summit Score (derivation: c=0.668), quartile 4 vs 1 had HR=4.43 in SUMMIT validation (p< 0.001, 95% CI=3.27, 6.01, c=0.662) and HR=8.15 in Intermountain cardiovascular risk COPD outpatients (p< 0.001, 95% CI=5.86, 11.34, c=0.736), and strongly predicted mortality in the other Intermountain COPD populations. Among all SUMMIT subjects with scores 14– 19, FF 100μg/VI 25μg vs placebo had HR=0.76 (p=0.0158, 95% CI=0.61, 0.95), but FF 100μg/VI 25μg was not different from placebo for scores < 14 or > 19.Conclusion: In this post hoc analysis of SUMMIT trial data, the Summit Score was derived and validated in multiple Intermountain COPD populations. The score was used to identify a subpopulation in which mortality risk was lower for FF 100μg/VI 25μg treatment.Trial Registration: The SUMMIT trial is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov as number NCT01313676.Keywords: clinical decision tool, risk score, randomized controlled trial, Intermountain risk score, IMRS

Abstract Background Satisfactory tools to preclude low-risk patients from intensive diagnostic testing for primary aldosteronism (PA) are lacking. Therefore, we aimed to develop a decision tool to determine which patients with difficult-to-control hypertension have a low probability of PA, thereby limiting the exposure to invasive testing while at the same time increasing the efficiency of testing in the remaining patients. Methods Data from consecutive patients with difficult-to-control hypertension, analysed through a standardized diagnostic protocol between January 2010 and October 2017 (n = 824), were included in this cross-sectional study. PA was diagnosed by a combined approach: 1) elevated aldosterone-to-renin ratio (> 5.0 pmol/fmol/s), confirmed with 2) non-suppressible aldosterone after standardized saline infusion (≥280 pmol/L). Multivariable logistic regression analyses including seven pre-specified clinical variables (age, systolic blood pressure, serum potassium, potassium supplementation, serum sodium, eGFR and HbA1c) was performed. After correction for optimism, test reliability, discriminative performance and test characteristics were determined. Results PA was diagnosed in 40 (4.9%) of 824 patients. Predicted probabilities of PA agreed well with observed frequencies and the c-statistic was 0.77 (95% confidence interval (95%CI) 0.70–0.83). Predicted probability cut-off values of 1.0–2.5% prevented unnecessary testing in 8–32% of the patients with difficult-to-control hypertension, carrying sensitivities of 0.98 (95%CI 0.96–0.99) and 0.92 (0.83–0.97), and negative predictive values of 0.99 (0.98–1.00) and 0.99 (0.97–0.99). Conclusions With a decision tool, based on seven easy-to-measure clinical variables, patients with a low probability of PA can be reliably selected and a considerable proportion of patients with difficult-to-control hypertension can be spared intensive diagnostic testing.

The timely and appropriate IV to Oral Switch (IVOS) of antibiotics is beneficial to patient care and AMR strategies. However, a lack of prescriber confidence in deciding to switch often prolongs IV antibiotic use. The creation of a bite-size educational video and a smartphone application clinical decision tool, has brought the learning process closer to everyday practice, in an easy to access and understandable manner. Both have been very well received and shared with many acute NHS Trusts. The implementation was correlated with an improvement in audit findings. The multidisciplinary and collaborative approach in developing these tools has been the key to success.

Antimicrobial audits on A&E and acute admissions wards have highlighted deficiencies in prescribing practices, particularly the inappropriate use of broad-spectrum agents. A clinical decision-making tool was created to expedite and facilitate the process of selecting correct antimicrobial treatments based on the site and severity of an infection, and also included the consideration of penicillin allergy. Simple, efficient, and effective, this tool has already been shared with many NHS Trusts nationally. Further audits, after this tool was introduced, show improvements in some aspects of antimicrobial prescribing, despite limited opportunities to deliver an awareness campaign of this resource. Such action will be needed to drive further improvements in antimicrobial prescribing choices in sepsis.

The Ottawa subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) rule and the Emerald SAH rule are clinical decision tools to aid in the decision for computed tomography (CT) of the head in patients attending an emergency department (ED) with acute non-traumatic headache. The objective of this study was to analyse the performance of these rules in a contemporary UK cohort. Methods We performed a retrospective external validation study. Patients undergoing CT of the head for the evaluation and treatment of non-traumatic headaches over a 6-month period in the ED at two tertiary centres were assessed. Each patient's Ottawa rule and Emerald rule were calculated and compared with their final diagnosis. Results The cohort consisted of 366 patients and there were 16 cases of SAH (based on CT findings or the presence of xanthochromia in cerebrospinal fluid). The Ottawa rule identified 288 patients requiring CT of the head. The sensitivity of the Ottawa rule was 100% (95% confidence interval (CI) 71--100%) and the specificity was 22% (95% CI 18--27%). The Emerald rule identified 267 patients who required CT, and achieved a sensitivity of 81% (95% CI 54--96%) and a specificity of 27% (95% CI 23--32%). Conclusions The Ottawa SAH rule correctly identified all patients with SAH in this contemporary cohort. The Emerald rule did not perform as well in this cohort and is unsuitable for clinical use. The Ottawa rule is a useful tool to aid in the decision for CT of the head in patients presenting with acute non-traumatic headache to the ED. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite national guidelines recommending naloxone co-prescription with high-risk medications, rates remain low nationally. This was reflected at our institution with remarkably low naloxone prescribing rates. We sought to determine if a clinical decision support (CDS) tool could increase rates of naloxone co-prescribing with high-risk prescriptions., Methods:  An alert in the electronic health record was triggered upon signing an order for a high-risk opioid medication without a naloxone co-prescription. We examined all opioid prescriptions written by family and general internal medicine practitioners at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in outpatient encounters between November 30, 2020, and February 28, 2022. Once triggered by a high-risk prescription, the CDS tool had the option to choose an order set with an automatically selected co-prescription for naloxone along with patient instructions automatically added to the patient's after-visit summary (AVS). We examined the monthly percentage of patients receiving Schedule II opioid prescriptions ≥90 morphine milliequivalents (MME)/day who received concurrent naloxone prescriptions in the 12 months before the CDS went live and the three months following go-live., Results:  Concurrent naloxone prescriptions increased from 1.1% in the 12 months prior to implementation in November 2021 to 9.4% (p<0.001) during the post-intervention period across eight family medicine and internal medicine clinics., Discussion:  This single-center quality improvement project with retrospective analysis demonstrates the potential efficacy of a single CDS tool in increasing the rate of naloxone prescription. The impact of such prescribing on overall mortality requires further research., Conclusions: The CDS tool was easy to implement and improved rates of appropriate naloxone co-prescribing., Competing Interests: Human subjects: Consent was obtained or waived by all participants in this study. Animal subjects: All authors have confirmed that this study did not involve animal subjects or tissue. Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: All authors have declared that no financial support was received from any organization for the submitted work. Financial relationships: All authors have declared that they have no financial relationships at present or within the previous three years with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work., (Copyright © 2024, Cramer et al.)

Background: Satisfactory tools to preclude low-risk patients from intensive diagnostic testing for primary aldosteronism (PA) are lacking. Therefore, we aimed to develop a decision tool to determine which patients with difficult-to-control hypertension have a low probability of PA, thereby limiting the exposure to invasive testing while at the same time increasing the efficiency of testing in the remaining patients. Methods: Data from consecutive patients with difficult-to-control hypertension, analysed through a standardized diagnostic protocol between January 2010 and October 2017 (n = 824), were included in this cross-sectional study. PA was diagnosed by a combined approach: 1) elevated aldosterone-to-renin ratio (> 5.0 pmol/fmol/s), confirmed with 2) non-suppressible aldosterone after standardized saline infusion (≥280 pmol/L). Multivariable logistic regression analyses including seven pre-specified clinical variables (age, systolic blood pressure, serum potassium, potassium supplementation, serum sodium, eGFR and HbA1c) was performed. After correction for optimism, test reliability, discriminative performance and test characteristics were determined. Results: PA was diagnosed in 40 (4.9%) of 824 patients. Predicted probabilities of PA agreed well with observed frequencies and the c-statistic was 0.77 (95% confidence interval (95%CI) 0.70–0.83). Predicted probability cut-off values of 1.0–2.5% prevented unnecessary testing in 8–32% of the patients with difficult-to-control hypertension, carrying sensitivities of 0.98 (95%CI 0.96–0.99) and 0.92 (0.83–0.97), and negative predictive values of 0.99 (0.98–1.00) and 0.99 (0.97–0.99). Conclusions: With a decision tool, based on seven easy-to-measure clinical variables, patients with a low probability of PA can be reliably selected and a considerable proportion of patients with difficult-to-control hypertension can be spared intensive diagnostic testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We recently introduced a clinical practice pathway for the management of asthma that uses the Pediatric Respiratory Assessment Measure (PRAM) to guide emergency department (ED) treatment and disposition. The pathway recommends discharge for patients who achieve improvement to PRAM <4 at 1 hour after the last bronchodilator. We evaluated practice variation and patient outcomes associated with PRAM-directed disposition recommendations. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of children aged 2 to 17 years treated for moderate asthma (PRAM score 4–7) using our asthma clinical pathway. We measured 1) the proportion of children discharged per pathway criteria who returned to our ED within 24 hours and 2) the proportion of children observed beyond the pathway discharge criteria who deteriorated (PRAM =4). Results: We analyzed 385 patient records from September 2013 to February 2015. Among 145 (37.7%) patients discharged per pathway criteria, 4 (4/145; 2.8%) returned within 24 hours. The remaining 240 (62.2%) were observed beyond the pathway discharge criteria; 76/240 (31.7%) had a subsequent deterioration (PRAM score = 4) and 25/240 (10.4%) were hospitalized. Of those who deteriorated, 46/76 (60.5%) worsened within the first additional hour of observation. Conclusion: We observed significant deviation from our PRAM-directed pathway discharge criteria and that a significant proportion of observed patients experienced clinical deterioration beyond the first hour of observation. We recommend observing children with moderate asthma for 2 or 3 hours from last bronchodilator therapy if PRAM < 4 is maintained, to capture the majority (97.7% or 99.7%) of patients who require further intervention and hospitalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The timely and accurate adverse drug reactions (ADR) assessment is vital for effective patient management and healthcare delivery. The Naranjo Algorithm is a widely recognized tool for determining the probability that a drug induces a given ADR. However, the process can be time-consuming and susceptible to human error. This study introduces a Python-based console application (Python Software Foundation, Wilmington, Delaware, United States) designed to automate the Naranjo Algorithm for ADR causality assessment. The application was developed using Python 3.11.4 on a Windows 11 system (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Washington, United States) and compiled in Notepad (Microsoft Corporation), a basic text editor, highlighting its accessibility and ease of use in various settings. User input is solicited for each question in the Naranjo Algorithm, validated for acceptable entries, and subsequently scored. The final score categorizes the reaction into Doubtful, Possible, Probable, or Definite ADR, facilitating rapid clinical decision-making. Preliminary validation shows promising reliability and effectiveness, making it a valuable asset in research and clinical settings for assessment., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2023, Kumar et al.)

While most children with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) without intracranial injury (ICI) can be safely discharged home from the emergency department, many are admitted to the hospital. To support evidence-based practice, we developed a decision tool to help guide hospital admission decisions. This study was a secondary analysis of a prospective study conducted in 25 emergency departments. We included children under 18 years who had Glasgow Coma Scale score 13–15 head injuries and normal computed tomography scans or skull fractures without significant depression. We developed a multi-variable model that identified risk factors for extended inpatient management (EIM; defined as hospitalization for 2 or more nights) for TBI, and used this model to create a clinical risk score. Among 14,323 children with mTBI without ICI, 20% were admitted to the hospital but only 0.76% required EIM for TBI. Key risk factors for EIM included Glasgow Coma Scale score less than 15 (odds ratio [OR] = 8.1; 95% confidence interval [CI] 4.0–16.4 for 13 vs. 15), drug/alcohol Intoxication (OR = 5.1; 95% CI 2.4–10.7), neurological Deficit (OR = 3.1; 95% CI 1.4–6.9), Seizure (OR = 3.7; 95% CI 1.8–7.8), and Skull fracture (odds ratio [OR] 24.5; 95% CI 16.0–37.3). Based on these results, the CIDSS2 risk score was created. The model C-statistic was 0.86 and performed similarly in children less than (C = 0.86) and greater than or equal to 2 years (C = 0.86). The CIDSS2 score is a novel tool to help physicians identify the minority of children with mTBI without ICI at increased risk for EIM, thereby potentially aiding hospital admission decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths. Around 70% of patients first presenting to specialist care have advanced disease, at which point current treatments have little effect on survival. The issue for primary care is how to recognise patients earlier and investigate appropriately. This requires an assessment of the risk of lung cancer.Aim: The aim of this study was to systematically review the existing risk prediction tools for patients presenting in primary care with symptoms that may indicate lung cancer DESIGN AND SETTING: Systematic review of primary care data.Method: Medline, PreMedline, Embase, the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and ISI Proceedings (1980 to March 2016) were searched. The final list of included studies was agreed between two of the authors, who also appraised and summarised them.Results: Seven studies with between 1482 and 2 406 127 patients were included. The tools were all based on UK primary care data, but differed in complexity of development, number/type of variables examined/included, and outcome time frame. There were four multivariable tools with internal validation area under the curves between 0.88 and 0.92. The tools all had a number of limitations, and none have been externally validated, or had their clinical and cost impact examined.Conclusion: There is insufficient evidence for the recommendation of any one of the available risk prediction tools. However, some multivariable tools showed promising discrimination. What is needed to guide clinical practice is both external validation of the existing tools and a comparative study, so that the best tools can be incorporated into clinical decision tools used in primary care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: Significant practice variation exists in managing young infants with fever. Quality improvement strategies can aid in risk stratification and standardization of best care practices, along with a reduction of unnecessary interventions. The aim of this initiative was to safely reduce unnecessary admissions, antibiotics, and lumbar punctures (LPs) by 10% in low-risk, febrile infants aged 29 to 90 days presenting to the emergency department (ED) over a 12-month period., Methods: Using the Model for Improvement, a multidisciplinary team developed a multipronged intervention: an updated clinical decision tool (CDT), procalcitonin (PCT) adoption, education, a feedback tool, and best practice advisory (BPA) banner. Outcome measures included the proportion of low-risk infants that were admitted, received antibiotics, and had LPs. Process measures were adherence to the CDT and percentage of PCT ordered. Missed bacterial infections and return visits were balancing measures. The analysis was completed using descriptive statistics and statistical process control methods., Results: Five hundred and sixteen patients less than 90 days of age were included in the study, with 403 patients in the 29- to 90-day old subset of primary interest. In the low-risk group, a reduction in hospital admissions from a mean of 24.1% to 12.0% and a reduction in antibiotics from a mean of 15.2% to 1.3% was achieved. The mean proportion of LPs performed decreased in the intervention period from 7.5% to 1.8%, but special cause variation was not detected. Adherence to the CDT increased from 70.4% to 90.9% and PCT was ordered in 92.3% of cases. The proportion of missed bacterial infections was 0.3% at baseline and 0.5% in the intervention period while return visits were 6.7% at baseline and 5.0% in the intervention period., Conclusions: The implementation of a quality improvement strategy, including an updated evidence-based CDT for young infant fever incorporating PCT, safely reduced unnecessary care in low-risk, febrile infants aged 29 to 90 days in the ED., Purpose: To develop and implement a multipronged improvement strategy including an evidence-based CDT utilizing PCT to maximize value of care delivered to well-appearing, febrile infants presenting to EDs., Competing Interests: All authors: No reported conflicts of interest. All authors have submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. Conflicts that the editors consider relevant to the content of the manuscript have been disclosed.There are otherwise no recognized conflicts of interest to disclose., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Canadian Paediatric Society. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Introduction This case study aimed to enhance the traceability and retrieval accuracy of ChatGPT-4 in medical text by employing a step-by-step systematic approach. The focus was on retrieving clinical answers from three international guidelines on diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). Methods A systematic methodology was developed to guide the retrieval process. One question was asked per guideline to ensure accuracy and maintain referencing. ChatGPT-4 was utilized to retrieve answers, and the 'Link Reader' plug-in was integrated to facilitate direct access to webpages containing the guidelines. Subsequently, ChatGPT-4 was employed to compile answers while providing citations to the sources. This process was iterated 30 times per question to ensure consistency. In this report, we present our observations regarding the retrieval accuracy, consistency of responses, and the challenges encountered during the process. Results Integrating ChatGPT-4 with the 'Link Reader' plug-in demonstrated notable traceability and retrieval accuracy benefits. The AI model successfully provided relevant and accurate clinical answers based on the analyzed guidelines. Despite occasional challenges with webpage access and minor memory drift, the overall performance of the integrated system was promising. The compilation of the answers was also impressive and held significant promise for further trials. Conclusion The findings of this case study contribute to the utilization of AI text-generation models as valuable tools for medical professionals and researchers. The systematic approach employed in this case study and the integration of the 'Link Reader' plug-in offer a framework for automating medical text synthesis, asking one question at a time before compilation from different sources, which has led to improving AI models' traceability and retrieval accuracy. Further advancements and refinement of AI models and integration with other software utilities hold promise for enhancing the utility and applicability of AI-generated recommendations in medicine and scientific academia. These advancements have the potential to drive significant improvements in everyday medical practice., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2023, Hamed et al.)

Background: This study aimed to develop a novel clinical approach to predict intensive care unit (ICU) admission and mortality among coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients in the emergency department (ED)., Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted including adults ≥ 18 years diagnosed with COVID-19 in the emergency department and admitted to the ICU between March and July 2020 in an academic hospital. The outcome variables were mortality and ICU admission. Additional variables that were collected included sex, age, comorbidities, symptom phenotype, and laboratory (lymphopenia) and imaging findings. A logistic regression model was used to construct and validate the risk models., Results: A total of 808 patients were included in the study; 61.9% were men. The mean age was 57.8 ± 15.9 years, and high blood pressure (HBP) was the most prevalent comorbidity (31.8%). Seventy-six (9.4%) patients were admitted to the ICU. Age ≥ 60 years, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lymphopenia, and imaging findings correlated with mortality. Age ≥ 60 years, lymphopenia (<1,000 cells per microliter), and hypothyroidism correlated with ICU admission. These variables were incorporated into a scoring system (Comorbidities, Radiographic findings, Age, and Lymphopenia (CORAL) tool) to predict mortality and ICU admission., Conclusions: Our Comorbidities, Radiographic findings, Age, and Lymphopenia (CORAL) tool is a practical tool for different clinical settings independent of access to advanced medical resources or technologies. CORAL is suitable for emergency physicians in low- and middle-income countries., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2023, Castro-Vásquez et al.)

Objective: Post-myocardial infarction (MI) care is crucial to preventing recurrent major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), but can be complicated to personalise. A tool is needed that effectively stratifies risk of cardiovascular (CV) events 1-3 years after MI but is also clinically usable., Methods: Patients surviving ≥1 year after an index MI with ≥1 risk factor for recurrent MI (ie, age ≥65 years, prior MI, multivessel coronary disease, diabetes, glomerular filtration rate <60 mL/min/1.73 m 2 ) were studied. Cox regression derived sex-specific Intermountain Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events (IMACE) risk scores for the composite of 1-year to 3-year MACE (CV death, MI or stroke). Derivation was performed in 70% of subjects (n=1342 women; 3047 men), with validation in the other 30% (n=576 women; 1290 men). Secondary validations were also performed., Results: In women, predictors of CV events were glucose, creatinine, haemoglobin, platelet count, red cell distribution width (RDW), age and B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP); among men, they were potassium, glucose, blood urea nitrogen, haematocrit, white blood cell count, RDW, mean platelet volume, age and BNP. In the primary validation, in women, IMACE ranged from 0 to 11 (maximum possible: 12) and had HR=1.44 per +1 score (95% CI 1.29 to 1.61; P<0.001); men had IMACE range 0-14 (maximum: 16) and HR=1.29 per +1 score (95% CI 1.20 to 1.38; P<0.001). IMACE ≥5 in women (≥6 in men) showed strikingly higher MACE risk., Conclusions: Sex-specific risk scores strongly stratified 1-year to 3-year post-MI MACE risk. IMACE is an inexpensive, dynamic, electronically delivered tool for evaluating and better managing post-MI patient care., Competing Interests: Competing interests: BDH is an inventor of IMRS and two readmission risk scores that are licensed to CareCentra for integration into their products. BDH is PI of grants funded by Intermountain Healthcare’s Foundry Innovation Program, the Intermountain Research and Medical Foundation, CareCentra, AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline for the development and/or implementation of clinical risk scores. DB, GLH and NDK are employees of AstraZeneca.