Background: Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a growing health crisis in the United States (US). Buprenorphine treatment for OUD has been found to improve outcomes and reduce mortality, although disparities in access to treatment and outcomes for OUD exist. Previous studies have shown that those retained in treatment for longer durations are more likely to [...]

Background: Transportation is a social determinant of health that can be a barrier to care and exacerbate disparities. During the COVID pandemic, access to transport was further diminished.Monoclonal antibodies (Mab) are associated decreased hospitalization in high-risk COVID patients. Until 9/2022, the $2000 cost per dose of Mabs was paid by the federal government. However transportation [...]

Background: Hospital Medicine has grown rapidly as a clinical specialty, but the specialty’s inroads in research have been more limited. We sought to understand the current state of research in adult Hospital Medicine. Methods: We repeated a 2018 survey of leaders in the field with changes to improve the response rate and representativeness of surveyed [...]

Background: D-dimer is clinically useful for its high sensitivity and negative predictive value as a useful “rule out” test for venous thromboembolism. Nevertheless, the D-dimer assay is not specific and often elevated in states of systemic inflammation or illness.Stasis of blood flow, Endothelial injury, and hypercoagulability are the tenets of thrombus formation. When any one [...]

Background: Physician burnout has been alarmingly high with over 50% of practicing physicians in the U.S. reporting burnout. Of which, general internal medicine displays some of the highest rates. A recent study was published in December 2021 examining the topic of burnout from the perspective of academic hospitalists at Froedtert Hospital and the Medical College [...]

Background: Stroke is the leading cause of mortality worldwide. However, available treatment options are limited due to the narrow treatment time window and reperfusion injury after revascularization. New treatment modalities to overcome these challenges are in need. Chlorpromazine and promethazine (C+P) have been utilized for cerebral edema, central high fever with restlessness, and delirium [1, [...]

Background: Stroke is one of the most common causes of adult mortality. With changes in lifestyle, the increase in risk factors is leading to an increase in the number of cases. Mean platelet volume (MPV) is associated with an increase in platelet size and hence increased production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and increased expression of platelet [...]

Background: Most medical centers have limited ICU beds to directly admit high acuity patients from the emergency department. This is compounded by the trend towards increased medical acuity. Thus, rising numbers of patients with higher acuity are being admitted to general medical units and later requiring transfer to ICU. These patients have higher in-hospital mortality [...]

Background: Adequate documentation of patient diagnoses is essential for hospitals to capture the extent of services provided, to submit bills, and ultimately receive payment. These diagnoses are used to calculate hospital performance as part of the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program. Diagnoses taken from medical record documentation are also used to place patients in diagnosis-related groups [...]

Background: Panel-based Nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) are laboratory tools that are used to detect small quantities of RNA or DNA to rapidly identify a multitude of infectious organisms. A systematic review and meta-analysis looking at the diagnostic accuracy of the BioFire® FilmArray® meningitis-encephalitis (ME) panel which is used at our institution showed that it [...]