Background: Clinical documentation is challenging when patients are admitted with many diagnoses of varying severity. Documentation of chronic or low-acuity conditions on the History and Physical (H&P) note can feel less salient than primary admission diagnoses. This can lead to under-documentation of comorbid conditions and an underrepresentation of the complexity of care. Capturing this overlooked […]

Background: Distrust of the healthcare system is longstanding in Black communities. This may especially threaten the health of the population when a highly contagious infection strikes. Perceptions, knowledge, and personal safety practices related to COVID-19 are unknown among hospitalized Black patients who distrust the healthcare system. Methods: Black patients hospitalized patients were surveyed between November […]

Background: Choosing a career in hospital medicine is becoming increasingly common among residents and medical students in the United States (US). Little is known about the factors associated with choosing a hospitalist medicine career among fourth-year medical students. Methods: We collected demographic and survey responses from the Graduating Questionnaire (GQ) survey administered by the Association […]

Background: People living with HIV (PLWH) are now anticipated to have near-normal life expectancies. With increased longevity comes the higher burden of non-infectious comorbidities related to the chronic immune activation and premature telomere shortening in PLWH, ranging from dyslipidemia to osteoporosis [1]. Increased comorbidity burden can lead to polypharmacy, defined as the concurrent use of […]

Background: Of the many complications associated with COVID-19 infection, hypercoagulable states with subsequent thrombosis are some of the most feared implications. When trying to uncover a potential relationship between COVID-19 infection and risk for cerebrovascular ischemic events, knowing whether there is an increased risk for these events in those with other respiratory viral pathogens at […]

Background: Intense inflammatory response and the releasing of cytokines are one of the known inflammatory responses in COVID19. Activation of inflammatory cascade increases the production of cytokines and chemokines such as IL-1, IL-6, IL-8, which can increase the risk of the perioperative complication rate.1,2,3 Therefore, we hypothesized that the intense inflammatory response due to COVID19 […]

Background: Hospitalized COIVD-19 patients are complex and heterogenous with regards to socio-demographics and comorbidities and many patients are at heightened risk for adverse clinical outcome. Early risk stratification enables clinical decision making for appropriateness and timeliness of interventions. Since the pandemic began, more than 100 models to forecast prognosis for hospitalized patients with COVID 19 […]

Background: Peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) are becoming increasingly popular due to their ease of insertion through upper extremity veins, although they are not complications-free. PICCs can be irritating and cause endothelial injury and inflammation resulting in venous thrombosis. Estimates suggest that more than a third of all deep venous thrombosis (DVT) in the upper […]

Background: Internist trainees have traditionally acquired radiology skills in a piecemeal manner, either through elective rotations or through informal “radiology rounds” on inpatient medicine rotations. here is no comprehensive curriculum for teaching basic radiology to internal medicine (IM) residents, and their image interpretation skills are limited (1). Additionally, the rise of the electronic medical record […]

Background: The advent of internal medicine procedure services within academic medical centers has had a profoundly positive impact on patient care, patient safety, and resident training (1-4). In general, these teams focus on performing invasive bedside procedures, including paracenteses, lumbar punctures, central venous catheter placements, thoracenteses, and ultrasound-guided peripheral intravenous catheter placements. Recently, the procedure service at […]