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Objective: To determine whether trauma patients managed by an admitting or consulting service with a high proportion of physicians exhibiting patterns of unprofessional behaviors are at greater risk of complications or death. Summary Background Data: Trauma care requires high-functioning interdisciplinary teams where professionalism, particularly modeling respect and communicating effectively, is essential. Methods: This retrospective cohort study used data from 9 level I trauma centers that participated in a national trauma registry linked with data from a national database of unsolicited patient complaints. The cohort included trauma patients admitted January 1, 2012 through December 31, 2017. The exposure of interest was care by 1 or more high-risk services, defined as teams with a greater proportion of physicians with high numbers of patient complaints. The study outcome was death or complications within 30 days. Results: Among the 71,046 patients in the cohort, 9553 (13.4%) experienced the primary outcome of complications or death, including 1875 of 16,107 patients (11.6%) with 0 high-risk services, 3788 of 28,085 patients (13.5%) with 1 high-risk service, and 3890 of 26,854 patients (14.5%) with 2+ highrisk services (P < 0.001). In logistic regression models adjusting for relevant patient, injury, and site characteristics, patients who received care from 1 or more high-risk services were at 24.1% (95% confidence interval 17.2% to 31.3%; P < 0.001) greater risk of experiencing the primary study outcome. Conclusions: Trauma patients who received care from at least 1 service with a high proportion of physicians modeling unprofessional behavior were at an increased risk of death or complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and particularly heart failure (HF) have been associated with cognitive impairment in cross-sectional studies, but it is unclear how cognitive impairment progresses over time in older adults with these conditions. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to prospectively examine cognitive function in patients with HF versus other forms of CVD. METHOD: Seventy-five older adults (aged 53-84 years) with CVD underwent Doppler echocardiogram to evaluate cardiac status and 2 administrations of the Dementia Rating Scale (DRS), a test of global cognitive functioning, 12 months apart. RESULTS: Although DRS performance did not statistically differ between groups at either administration, a significant between-group difference in the rate of cognitive change emerged (lambda = 0.87; F = 10.50; P = .002; omega 2 = 0.11). Follow-up analyses revealed that patients with HF improved significantly on global DRS performance, whereas patients with other forms of CVD remained stable. More specifically, patients with HF showed improvement on subscales of attention, initiation/perseveration, and conceptualization. Exploratory analyses indicated that higher diastolic blood pressure at baseline was associated with improved DRS performance in patients with HF (r = 0.38; P = .02). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with HF exhibited modest cognitive improvements during 12 months, particularly in attention and executive functioning. Higher diastolic blood pressure at baseline was associated with improvement. These results suggest that cognitive impairment in patients with HF may be modifiable and that improved blood pressure control may be an important contributor to improved function. Further prospective studies are needed to replicate results and determine underlying mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a longitudinal study in which the cognitive performance in older adults with heart failure (HF) was examined. The connection between the progression of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and HF with the progression of cognitive impairment is studied, using the Dementia Rating Scale (DRS) to classify cognitive performance.