Scholars@Duke
Nitin Lee Mehdiratta

Nitin Lee Mehdiratta

Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology
Anesthesiology, Critical Care Medicine

Selected Publications

Optimizing Blood Culture Draws Through Use of an Algorithm Can Reduce Utilization in a Community ICU.

Journal Article J Intensive Care Med · January 2026 ObjectiveTo evaluate the implementation of a blood culture algorithm in a mixed medical-surgical ICU at a community hospital, and examine the association with blood culture utilization rate and patient outcomes. Design: A quasi-experimental study examining ... Full text Link to item Cite

Assessing blood culture appropriateness in solid organ transplant recipients: a diagnostic stewardship approach.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · September 29, 2025 OBJECTIVE: Diagnostic stewardship of blood culture utilization is important to mitigate the risks associated with unnecessary culturing. Although blood culture algorithms have been studied previously, there is a lack of data on their application among soli ... Full text Link to item Cite

ICU outcomes following a Central Line Associated Blood Stream Infections (CLABSI) reduction quality improvement project.

Journal Article Curr Med Res Opin · October 2024 BACKGROUND: Central Line Associated Blood Stream Infections (CLABSI) are significant complications for hospitalized patients. Several different approaches have been used to reduce CLABSI. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to (1) describe a systematic approach us ... Full text Link to item Cite

Implementation of a diagnostic stewardship intervention to improve blood-culture utilization in 2 surgical ICUs: Time for a blood-culture change.

Journal Article Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · April 2024 OBJECTIVE: We compared the number of blood-culture events before and after the introduction of a blood-culture algorithm and provider feedback. Secondary objectives were the comparison of blood-culture positivity and negative safety signals before and afte ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Quality Improvement Fellow: Educating on Making the Difference.

Journal Article A A Pract · September 1, 2023 The critical care medicine (CCM) fellowship is an opportunity for advanced anesthesiology trainees to refine their quality improvement (QI) skills. However, the short training period and inconsistent curricula make this challenging. The QI fellow (QIF) is ... Full text Link to item Cite

An Analysis of Outcomes Following a Central Line Associated Blood Stream Infections (CLABSI) Reduction Quality Improvement Project in a Tertiary Care Center.

Journal Article Cureus · July 2023 Central Line Associated Blood Stream Infections (CLABSI) continue to be a significant complication for hospitalized patients. Hospitals have used various strategies to reduce CLABSI events due to the significant complications and associated costs. In this ... Full text Link to item Cite

The QI Fellow: Educating on Making the Difference

Conference ANESTHESIA AND ANALGESIA · 2023 Cite

Novel Airway and Ventilator Management of Tracheobronchial Disruption After Blunt Trauma.

Journal Article Ann Thorac Surg · November 2017 Tracheobronchial injuries can be difficult to diagnose and manage, especially in the presence of polytrauma. A 50-year-old woman presented as a Level I trauma activation after being struck by a motor vehicle. Initial evaluation demonstrated intracranial he ... Full text Link to item Cite

Postoperative Pulmonary Complications, Early Mortality, and Hospital Stay Following Noncardiothoracic Surgery: A Multicenter Study by the Perioperative Research Network Investigators.

Journal Article JAMA Surg · February 1, 2017 IMPORTANCE: Postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs), a leading cause of poor surgical outcomes, are heterogeneous in their pathophysiology, severity, and reporting accuracy. OBJECTIVE: To prospectively study clinical and radiological PPCs and respirat ... Full text Link to item Cite

Lichen sclerosus in men is associated with elevated body mass index, diabetes mellitus, coronary artery disease and smoking.

Journal Article World J Urol · February 2014 PURPOSE: To elucidate disease associations and possible etiology of lichen sclerosus (LS), we identified comorbidities present in men with LS. LS is a chronic inflammatory disease of unknown etiology affecting genitals and urethra of men commonly resulting ... Full text Link to item Cite

Distal urethroplasty for isolated fossa navicularis and meatal strictures.

Journal Article BJU Int · February 2012 OBJECTIVE: • Urethral strictures located in the fossa navicularis are common and are often managed with meatotomy or meatoplasty. • Few data have described the outcomes for men after urethroplasty or patient satisfaction following these procedures. METHODS ... Full text Link to item Cite

Urethroplasty for radiotherapy induced bulbomembranous strictures: a multi-institutional experience.

Journal Article J Urol · May 2011 PURPOSE: Radiotherapy induced urethral strictures are often difficult to manage due to proximal location, compromised vascular supply and poor wound healing. To determine the success of urethroplasty for radiation induced strictures we performed a multi-in ... Full text Link to item Cite

Developmental increases in effective connectivity to brain regions involved in phonological processing during tasks with orthographic demands.

Journal Article Brain Res · January 16, 2008 Developmental differences (9- to 15-year-olds) in effective connectivity in left hemisphere regions were examined using dynamic causal modeling (DCM) of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. Children completed spelling tasks in the visual and ... Full text Link to item Cite