Presenter

Leonard Feldman, MD, SFHM

Session summary

In the current climate of increasing national health care expenditures, the Journal of Hospital Medicine continues to expand its series “Things We Do for No Reason” to shed light on areas for improvement in the delivery of high-value care. Physicians, however, continue to practice low value care because of practice habits and lack of cost transparency. In keeping with the spirit of the journal’s series, three low-value practices were highlighted in this HM18 session, including the benefits of high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) oxygen therapy, the value of serum albumin and prealbumin in malnutrition, and the use of nebulized versus inhaler albuterol.

HFNC oxygen therapy has become a widespread practice internationally, with large variations in implementation across all age ranges. In bronchiolitic infants, variations in time of implementation, duration of therapy, weaning policies, and outcome measures have yielded mixed results to date. Many studies are still underway, but current literature has not shown significant benefits of starting HFNC early in the illness process, and infants receiving HFNC have not had better outcomes than those who received standard therapy (low-flow nasal cannula).

Serum albumin and prealbumin are often cited as markers of malnutrition. In patients on tube feeds, such as those with cerebral palsy and complex medical conditions, current literature shows no benefit in the use of these lab markers for screening or for following to assess improvement. In addition, patients with eating disorders do not have significant correlation of their nutritive status with these markers. Therefore, the use of these labs for screening of malnutrition is of little if any value.

Finally, when comparing albuterol delivery systems, there has been no proof that nebulized albuterol is any better than metered dose inhalers (MDI) in its effect. As long as appropriate dosing of MDIs is done, the benefits are the same. In addition, side effects are fewer, and the length of stay in the ED is shorter. The more a family uses MDI inhalers, the better their technique. Studies have shown it takes approximately three attempts at using an MDI to get the technique correct, so inpatient MDI use would also decrease user error in the outpatient setting.

Key takeaways for HM

Practice habits, lack of transparency of costs, and regional training lead to low value care practices.
Early introduction of high-flow nasal cannula in hospitalization of an infant with bronchiolitis has not been shown to decrease length of stay or severity outcomes, according to currently available data.
Serum albumin and prealbumin have little to no benefit in screening of malnutrition.
Nebulized albuterol has not been proven to be more beneficial that MDI albuterol at appropriate doses.
Repeat MDI administration has been shown to positively affect user administration techniques.
MDI albuterol use has fewer side effects and decreased ED length of stay, compared with nebulized albuterol.

Dr. Schwenk is an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Louisville (Ky.) and a pediatric hospitalist at Norton Children’s Hospital, Louisville.

HM18: ‘Things we do for no reason’