https://medicalxpress.com/hospital-medicine-news/ en-us Latest medical news and research in Hospital medicine A single episode of delirium—a state of confusion and agitation—in hospitalized older adults is a significant risk factor for other serious health complications including fractures, stroke and sepsis, a University of Queensland study has found. Delirium is often triggered by infection, surgery, pain, dehydration or medication, which affects up to 1 in 4 older adults during a hospital stay. However, many of its long-term health impacts have not been fully understood. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-hospital-delirium-red-flag-severe.html Tue, 14 Apr 2026 09:00:03 EDT news695374861 Despite increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) in health care, a new study led by Mass General Brigham researchers from the MESH Incubator shows that generative AI models continue to fall short in their clinical reasoning capabilities. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-ai-lacking-clinical-abilities-large.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 11:00:04 EDT news695293921 Just because a topical antiseptic is swabbed on the skin doesn't mean it stays on the skin. In a new study, Northwestern University scientists studied how a powerful antiseptic, called chlorhexidine, affects bacteria in hospital environments. To prevent infections, hospitals heavily rely on chlorhexidine wipes to sterilize patients' skin before procedures. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-disinfectants-microbes-hospital-rooms.html Thu, 02 Apr 2026 08:00:02 EDT news694253341 A new study led by investigators from Mass General Brigham and Yale School of Public Health reveals that red blood cell exchange transfusion (ET) may provide critical benefits for patients hospitalized with severe babesiosis. Babesiosis is a tick-borne parasitic disease that infects red blood cells and can have life-threatening complications. ET, a procedure sometimes used in severe cases, involves removing a patient's infected red blood cells and replacing them with healthy donor red blood cells. The study's results, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, have the potential to improve outcomes for patients with severe disease. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-severe-babesiosis-red-blood-cell.html Mon, 30 Mar 2026 11:00:01 EDT news693834791 Older adults who develop delirium during a hospital admission face a substantially higher risk of dementia in later years, even if they had no prior health conditions, according to a major new population study appearing in The Lancet Healthy Longevity. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-hospital-delirium-linked-dementia-healthy.html Fri, 27 Mar 2026 06:00:09 EDT news693745561 A Global Grand Challenges case study reveals the potential of large language models (LLMs) to close health gaps in South Asia, but only when they're adapted and fine-tuned using local data and expertise. The study, "Evaluating large language models for clinical note processing: local fine-tuning and internal–external validation using electronic health records from South Asia," has been published in BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making. A collaboration between Associate Professor Sara Khalid at NDORMS and Dr. Faisal Sultan from the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCH&RC) in Pakistan. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-fair-safe-medical-ai-local.html Mon, 16 Mar 2026 17:10:01 EDT news692896921 A new analysis in Oregon reveals a heightened incidence of severe burns requiring hospital-level care as illicit drug use nationwide has shifted from injection to smoking. Researchers analyzed Oregon Medicaid data and found that over half of people treated for burns in hospitals and emergency rooms over nearly a decade also used smokable drugs other than tobacco. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-severe-threat-overdose-epidemic.html Mon, 16 Mar 2026 15:40:07 EDT news692891642 A new study found that a multifaceted infection prevention and control intervention could at least temporarily thwart outbreaks of infections from the Klebsiella pneumoniae bacterium, a leading cause of neonatal sepsis and mortality in Africa and South Asia. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-mitigate-bacteria-neonatal-mortality.html Sun, 15 Mar 2026 15:00:01 EDT news692448116 As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more common in health care, from managing records to assisting with medication decisions, researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai are asking an important question: How well does AI hold up when the workload gets intense at a health system scale? https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-orchestrated-multi-agent-ai-outperform.html Wed, 11 Mar 2026 13:00:05 EDT news692448111 A University of Queensland study has found that almost 90% of people killed and injured by landmines and similar weapons are civilians. Dr. Stacey Pizzino from UQ's School of Public Health, together with her research team, collated information on 105,931 casualties in 17 countries and regions across Asia, Europe, Africa and South America. The research is published in the journal Communications Medicine. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-civilians-deadly-explosive-weapons-country.html Wed, 25 Feb 2026 18:20:04 EST news691259041 Telemedicine visits are five times less costly than in-person appointments for the most common conditions able to be treated by both forms of visits, new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania shows. On average, telemedicine patient visits were billed $400 less, and they also resulted in fewer follow-up visits after the initial appointment. The analysis is published in JAMA Network Open. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-telemedicine-office.html Tue, 24 Feb 2026 19:00:01 EST news691174622 There's an unsung success story about the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. At its outset, U.S. hospitals faced huge challenges, as influxes of patients strained resources, while doctors were uncertain about what treatments would work against the novel infection. It's remarkable that even before vaccines were widely deployed, hospitals were able to drastically reduce COVID-19 mortality rates, from 7.46% in April 2020 to 1.76% a year later. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-hospitals-advanced-trial-covid-mortality.html Tue, 17 Feb 2026 16:39:33 EST news690568741 A new study conducted by clinician-scientists at a dozen neonatal intensive care units, or NICUs, across North America found that enhanced infection prevention measures were highly effective in reducing viral spread among patients. Researchers say the study, published in JAMA Network Open, underscores the importance of infection control efforts within hospitals, especially during times of high viral activity. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-infection-important-nicu.html Thu, 12 Feb 2026 16:52:43 EST news690137521 Nurses can safely deliver many services traditionally performed by doctors, with little to no difference in deaths, safety events, or how patients felt about their health, according to a new review, appearing in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. In some cases, nurse-led care even outperformed doctor-led care. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-nurses-hospital-doctors.html Wed, 11 Feb 2026 20:00:01 EST news690023282 A long-standing Medicare policy meant to manage rehabilitation services in nursing homes may keep older Americans in hospitals longer than necessary without improving patient health or saving Medicare money, new research finds. Established in 1965, the rule was intended to manage the use of skilled nursing facilities, which provide short-term medical and rehabilitative care to Medicare beneficiaries. Known as the "three-day rule," it requires patients to spend at least three consecutive days in the hospital before Medicare will cover care in a nursing facility. Skilled nursing facilities are used as a post-hospital benefit by one in five Medicare beneficiaries after hospitalization, and Medicare pays an average of about $15,000 for each stay. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-outdated-medicare-delays-nursing-hospital.html Mon, 09 Feb 2026 11:00:07 EST news689599973 Patients with duplicate medical records are five times more likely to die after being admitted to hospital and three times more likely to require intensive care than those with a single medical record, reveals US research published online in the journal BMJ Quality & Safety. The findings prompt the researchers to call for improvements in data integrity and policy changes in health information management to boost patient safety. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-duplicate-medical-linked-heightened-inpatient.html Tue, 03 Feb 2026 18:30:05 EST news689319361 An artificial intelligence (AI) tool accurately predicted which patients would need a skilled nursing facility after leaving the hospital, a new study shows. Led by researchers from NYU Langone Health, the study suggests that quickly identifying these patients would help hospitals plan earlier for complex care and avert stressful situations where patients are medically ready to leave the hospital but have no safe place to go, say the study authors. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-ai-tool-patients-hospital.html Thu, 29 Jan 2026 11:33:22 EST news688908781 More children with medically complex conditions are surviving into adulthood, but researchers have had limited visibility into how these conditions influence adult hospital care. Young adults with complex chronic childhood-onset conditions such as sickle cell disease and cystic fibrosis experience longer hospital stays, higher readmission rates, and greater use of resources in adult hospitals, according to a new study. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-longer-hospital-stays-higher-readmissions.html Wed, 28 Jan 2026 11:00:02 EST news688751642 Nearly one in four U.S. physicians with an active license is over the age of 65. This has spurred a small minority of hospitals to enact policies to assess these caregivers' cognitive and physical health, with the aim of reducing lapses that harm patients. Doctors whose assessments show deficits could be asked to change their clinical schedule or to shift to administrative or teaching duties. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-policies-screen-doctors-lacking-fairness.html Thu, 22 Jan 2026 12:02:29 EST news688305722 For more than a decade, hospitals have worked to help older adults avoid repeated inpatient stays, incentivized by a federal program that cuts Medicare reimbursements if hospitals have higher-than-expected rates of readmissions for people with certain conditions. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-omitting-medicare-skews-hospital-readmission.html Thu, 22 Jan 2026 11:00:01 EST news688295401 When Arinze Nkemdirim Okere, PharmD, MBA, worked as the pharmacist for a hospital in Tallahassee, Florida, he noticed that discharged patients would regularly return, often for issues that could have been easily treated. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-pharmacy-professor-ai-hospitalization-cardiac.html Wed, 21 Jan 2026 12:20:01 EST news688220341