Table of Contents

July 6, 2004; 141 (1)

Articles

  • Hand Hygiene among Physicians: Performance, Beliefs, and Perceptions

    • Didier Pittet,
    • Anne Simon,
    • Stéphane Hugonnet,
    • Carmen Lúcia Pessoa-Silva,
    • Valérie Sauvan,
    • and Thomas V. Perneger
    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:1-8

    The authors questioned physicians on their beliefs about hand-washing before examining a patient and observed their actual hand-washing practices. Predictors of adherence include being an internist, easy access to hand-washing materials, and belief that hand-washing was important for preventing infection.

  • Plasma Level of a Triggering Receptor Expressed on Myeloid Cells-1: Its Diagnostic Accuracy in Patients with Suspected Sepsis

    • Sébastien Gibot,
    • Marie-Nathalie Kolopp-Sarda,
    • Marie C. Béné,
    • Aurélie Cravoisy,
    • Bruno Levy,
    • Gilbert C. Faure,
    • and Pierre-Edouard Bollaert
    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:9-15

    In newly admitted critically ill patients with suspected infection, plasma levels of soluble TREM-1 (triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1) identified those with sepsis. For sepsis, the test for TREM-1 had a 96% sensitivity and an 89% specificity. The likelihood ratio was 8.6 when the test result was positive and 0.04 when it was negative.

  • Cross-Reactivity and Tolerability of Cephalosporins in Patients with Immediate Hypersensitivity to Penicillins

    • Antonino Romano,
    • Rosa-Maria Guéant-Rodriguez,
    • Marinella Viola,
    • Rosa Pettinato,
    • and Jean-Louis Guéant
    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:16-22

    Approximately 11% of patients with positive results on skin tests for penicillin had positive results for cephalosporins. When cephalosporin results were negative, patients uniformly tolerated a challenge with cefuroxime axetil and ceftriaxone. Physicians should avoid using cephalosporins in patients with positive results on penicillin skin tests unless results on skin tests for cephalosporins are negative.

  • Brief Communication: American Ginseng Reduces Warfarin's Effect in Healthy Patients: A Randomized, Controlled Trial

    • Chun-Su Yuan,
    • Gang Wei,
    • Lucy Dey,
    • Theodore Karrison,
    • Linda Nahlik,
    • Spring Maleckar,
    • Kristen Kasza,
    • Michael Ang-Lee,
    • and Jonathan Moss
    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:23-27

    American ginseng reduces the international normalized ratio (a measure of warfarin's anticoagulant effect) by 0.19. When prescribing warfarin, physicians should ask patients about ginseng use.

Improving Patient Care

  • Medical and Surgical Comanagement after Elective Hip and Knee Arthroplasty: A Randomized, Controlled Trial

    • Jeanne M. Huddleston,
    • Kirsten Hall Long,
    • James M. Naessens,
    • David Vanness,
    • Dirk Larson,
    • Robert Trousdale,
    • Matt Plevak,
    • Miguel Cabanela,
    • Duane Ilstrup,
    • Robert M. Wachter,
    • and the Hospitalist–Orthopedic Team Trial Investigators
    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:28-38

    A hospitalist–orthopedic surgeon comanagement team model reduced minor postoperative complication rates. Length of stay, cost, and major complications did not change. The nurses and surgeons preferred the comanagement model over standard care.

Review

  • Meta-Analysis: The Effect of Steroids on Survival and Shock during Sepsis Depends on the Dose

    • Peter C. Minneci,
    • Katherine J. Deans,
    • Steven M. Banks,
    • Peter Q. Eichacker,
    • and Charles Natanson
    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:47-56

    In randomized trials done before 1989, high-dose glucocorticoids reduced survival in patients with sepsis. In randomized trials done after 1997, a 5- to 7-day course of physiologic hydrocortisone doses increased survival in septic patients.

Perspectives

  • ALLHAT: Setting the Record Straight

    • Barry R. Davis,
    • Curt D. Furberg,
    • Jackson T. Wright, Jr.,
    • Jeffrey A. Cutler,
    • Paul Whelton,
    • and the ALLHAT Collaborative Research Group
    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:39-46

    This paper reviews key aspects of the design, analyses, findings, and conclusions of the Antihypertensive and Lipid-Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attack Trial (ALLHAT). The authors also address several frequent comments about heart failure and diabetes outcomes.

Clinical Guidelines

  • Evaluation of Primary Care Patients with Chronic Stable Angina: Guidelines from the American College of Physicians

    • Vincenza Snow,
    • Patricia Barry,
    • Stephan D. Fihn,
    • Raymond J. Gibbons,
    • Douglas K. Owens,
    • Sankey V. Williams,
    • Kevin B. Weiss,
    • Christel Mottur-Pilson,
    • and the ACP/ACC Chronic Stable Angina Panel*
    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:57-64

    This guideline is an update of the 1999 guidelines on chronic stable angina published by the American College of Physicians and the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association. It covers diagnosis and risk stratification for patients with symptomatic chronic stable angina who have not had an acute myocardial infarction or revascularization procedure in the previous 6 months.

Editorials

  • Hand Hygiene—Of Reason and Ritual

    • Robert A. Weinstein
    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:65-66

    After more than 150 years of prodding, cajoling, educating, observing, and surveying of physicians, hand hygiene adherence rates remain disgracefully low. As suggested by a study in this issue, we must change the rules so that health care workers expect to be observed and given direct, immediate feedback.

  • The Hospitalist Joins the Surgical Team

    • Geno J. Merli
    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:67-69

    In this issue, Huddleston and colleagues report on the first step toward a new approach to the perioperative care of surgical patients: the hospitalist–orthopedic surgeon comanagement team. The expansion of hospitalist care into comanagement of perioperative care is the direction of the future.

  • Physicians Should Administer Low-Dose Corticosteroids Selectively to Septic Patients until an Ongoing Trial Is Completed

    • John M. Luce
    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:70-72

    In this issue, the authors of a meta-analysis make two conclusions: 1) Low, but not high, doses of corticosteroids reduce the mortality from septic shock, and 2) all patients who have vasopressor-dependent sepsis should receive low-dose corticosteroids. This editorial discusses how the investigators reached these conclusions and why the author agrees with the first conclusion but not the second one.

  • Publishing Commentary by Authors with Potential Conflicts of Interest: When, Why, and How

    • The Editors
    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:73-74

    The opinion of an expert has value. The problem is finding a way to maximize the benefits of that expertise while minimizing the risk for harm resulting from real or perceived bias due to a potential conflict of interest. The safest place to try is a peer-reviewed journal with vigilant editors.

On Being a Doctor

  • Innocent

    • H. Joan Waitkevicz
    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:75

    She walked from somewhere, hatless in the sun. She was too polite to turn her back on a priest and nun, however long they spoke with her. She knew she wanted health care and went to considerable trouble to get it.

  • Off-Service

    • Boris D. Veysman
    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:76

    Today is the last day of yet another intensive care unit rotation, and I am writing my “off-service” notes. One patient stands out—“Mr. Jones,” an intensive care patient I “inherited” from the last intern. Every time I am in the intensive care unit, I care for at least one patient like him and I always leave his note until the end, dreading it because of what it is going to say. It will show that I am a failure and a criminal.

Letters

  • Impact of ALLHAT on the Role of Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors in the Primary Prevention of Heart Failure

    • Ali Ahmed
    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:W-9

  • Impact of ALLHAT on the Role of Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors in the Primary Prevention of Heart Failure

    • Franz H. Messerli
    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:W-9

  • ALLHAT, or the Soft Science of the Secondary End Point

    • David B. Neely
    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:77

  • Atorvastatin-Induced Polyneuropathy

    • Michael B. Jacobs
    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:77

  • Prevention of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

    • James J. Stark
    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:77

  • Prevention of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

    • Hashem B. El-Serag
    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:77-78

  • Managing Patients with Nonvariceal Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding

    • Angelo Andriulli,
    • Vito Annese,
    • and Gioacchino Leandro
    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:78-79

  • Managing Patients with Nonvariceal Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding

    • Kenneth M. Kessler
    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:79

  • Managing Patients with Nonvariceal Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding

    • Mohammed S. Khuroo and
    • Mehnaaz S. Khuroo
    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:79-80

  • Managing Patients with Nonvariceal Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding

    • Alan Barkun,
    • Marc Bardou,
    • and John K. Marshall
    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:80-81

  • The Crucial Link between Literacy and Health

    • David A. Nardone
    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:81

  • Screening for Family and Intimate Partner Violence

    • John C. Nelson and
    • Carden Johnston
    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:81

  • Screening for Family and Intimate Partner Violence

    • Christina Nicolaidis and
    • the American Medical Women's Association and The Physicians Against Violence Interest Group of the Society of General Internal Medicine
    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:81-82

  • Screening for Family and Intimate Partner Violence

    • Esta Soler and
    • Jacquelyn Campbell
    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:82

  • Screening for Family and Intimate Partner Violence

    • Ned Calonge and
    • Janet D. Allan
    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:82

  • Screening for Family Violence: What's an Evidence-Based Doctor To Do?

    • Ned Calonge
    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:82-83

  • Successful Management with Intravenous Immunoglobulins of Acquired von Willebrand Disease Associated with Monoclonal Gammopathy of Undetermined Significance

    • Neeraj Agarwal,
    • Mary M. Klix,
    • and C. Patrick Burns
    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:83-84

Ad Libitum

Book Listings

  • Book Listings

    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:0

Medical Notices

  • Medical Notices

    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:0

Summaries for Patients

  • Hand-Washing Practices and Beliefs of Physicians

    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:I-38

  • A Possible New Test for Diagnosing Sepsis

    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:I-46

  • Cephalosporin Allergy in Patients with Penicillin Allergy

    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:I-48

  • Ginseng Reduces the Effect of Warfarin in a Study of Healthy Volunteers

    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:I-58

  • Team Care by Hospitalists with Surgeons after Hip or Knee Surgery

    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:I-60

  • Low Doses of Steroids Improve Survival in Patients with Septic Shock

    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:I-64

  • Diagnosis and Evaluation of Patients with Chronic Stable Angina: Recommendations from the American College of Physicians

    Ann Intern Med July 6, 2004 141:I-84
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This Issue

July 6, 2004; 141 (1)
  1. Articles
  2. Improving Patient Care
  3. Review
  4. Perspectives
  5. Clinical Guidelines
  6. Editorials
  7. On Being a Doctor
  8. Letters
  9. Ad Libitum
  10. Book Listings
  11. Medical Notices
  12. Summaries for Patients

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