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Physicians Are Often Incorrect About the Telemetry Status of Their Patients
Author(s) -
Patel Sajan,
De Silva Sayumi,
Dowling Erin
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of hospital medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.128
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1553-5606
pISSN - 1553-5592
DOI - 10.1002/jhm.2677
Subject(s) - medicine , telemetry , hospital medicine , medline , medical emergency , family medicine , emergency medicine , intensive care medicine , telecommunications , computer science , political science , law
Cardiac telemetry is overused in hospitals and continues to be a source of healthcare waste.1-4 Its overuse is considered a leading issue in quality initiatives, as highlighted by its presence in the top 5 recommendations by the Society of Hospital Medicine to the Choosing Wisely Campaign.5 There have been multiple published studies on efforts to curb telemetry overuse, including educational campaigns, hard-wiring guidelines into the electronic health record (EHR), and discontinuation protocols.6-9 Less studied, however, are the causes of telemetry overuse. While lack of knowledge of guidelines may contribute to inappropriate initial ordering of telemetry,1,4 physicians may forget to discontinue it when the original indication is no longer present, ie, a form of “clinical inertia.” The authors aimed to study how often inpatient clinicians were aware (or unaware) of the telemetry status of their patients.