Update in Outpatient General Internal Medicine: Practice-changing Evidence Published in 2014

• Published in: The American journal of medicine Vol. 128; no. 10; pp. 1065 - 1069
• Main Authors: Sundsted, Karna K., MD, Wieland, Mark L., MD, MPH, Szostek, Jason H., MD, Post, Jason A., MD, Mauck, Karen F., MD, MSc
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01-10-2015; Elsevier Sequoia S.A
• Subjects: ACE inhibitor; Alcohol use disorder; Alzheimer disease; Ambulatory Care - methods; Cancer screening; Evidence-Based Medicine; General internal medicine; General Practice - methods; Hepatitis C; Humans; Internal Medicine; Internal Medicine - methods; Literature update; Lung cancer; Novel anticoagulant; Outpatient; Outpatient care facilities; Practice Guidelines as Topic; Practice Patterns, Physicians; Statin; Stool DNA test; United States; United States; General internal medicine; Alcohol use disorder; Alzheimer disease; Lung cancer; Literature update; Outpatient; Statin; Stool DNA test; Hepatitis C; Novel anticoagulant; ACE inhibitor; Cancer screening
• ISSN: 0002-9343; 1555-7162
• DOI: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2015.04.033

Abstract The practice of outpatient general internal medicine requires a diverse and evolving knowledge base. General internists must identify practice-changing shifts in the literature and reflect on their impact. Accordingly, we conducted a review of practice-changing articles published in outpatient general internal medicine in 2014. To identify high-quality, clinically relevant publications, we reviewed all titles and abstracts published in the following primary data sources in 2014: New England Journal of Medicine , Journal of the American Medical Association ( JAMA ), Annals of Internal Medicine , JAMA Internal Medicine , and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews . All 2014 primary data summaries from Journal Watch-General Internal Medicine and ACP JournalWise also were reviewed. The authors used a modified Delphi method to reach consensus on inclusion of 8 articles using the following criteria: clinical relevance to outpatient internal medicine, potential for practice change, and strength of evidence. Clusters of important articles around one clinical question were considered as a single-candidate series. The article merits were debated until consensus was reached on the final 8, spanning a variety of topics commonly encountered in outpatient general internal medicine.