Background: Patient‐centered care is an aim of quality care identified by the Institute of Medicine. The American Academy of Pediatrics has issued recommendations for family‐centered care, including conducting rounds with the family present. To date, there have been few published studies examining the experiences of nonacademic hospitals with family‐centered rounds (FCRs). Methods: A cross‐sectional survey [...]

Background: Despite the strength of the 2005 AHRQ recommendations for the use of the Gertie‐Marx® spinal needle (GM) for lumbar punctures (LPs), the use of this device has not reached critical mass at our institution. This delay in adaptation mirrors the path of other technological advances that initially failed to be embraced by physicians (ultrasound [...]

Background: The “champagne tap” is still considered the gold standard for lumbar puncture (LP) success. The Gertie‐Marx® (GM) atraumatic LP needle has been shown in multiple studies to be superior to the standard Quinke needle (QN) for reducing post‐lumbar puncture headache. In addition, the blunt‐tip design of the GM results in less tissue trauma, which [...]

Background: ER physicians tend to be risk averse. Out of fear for what cannot be determined in a short time and concerns over litigation, many ER doctors believe they are erring on the side of caution by admitting a patient. However, with growing concerns over in‐house medication errors, risk of iatrogenic events, and the danger [...]

Background: Patients recently discharged from inpatient medicine services often require hospital readmission and often are readmitted to a different physician or team, potentially without the knowledge of the prior caregivers. Thus, physicians may lose the opportunity to share valuable information about readmitted patients, which may be detrimental to continuity of care, patient safety, and resident [...]

Background: Although stating both the names and roles of physicians is considered an important part of physicians' introductions, patients frequently complain that doctors do not introduce themselves and that they are not sure who they were seeing or what his or her role was within the team. Improving patients' ability to identify their inpatient physicians [...]

Background: In recent decades, patient “rounds” have largely shifted from the bedside to the conference room. The literature suggests that one reason may be the fear of provoking patient anxiety with the use of medical jargon. Several studies have examined patient preference for bedside rounding, but few have effectively gauged the physicians' perspective, particularly at [...]

Background: Data from the medical literature suggest a benefit of glycemic control during acute illness. Glycemic control can be accomplished easily by use of IV insulin infusions. However, IV insulin is often discontinued during a patient's recovery because of a host of factors, and postinfusion insulin therapy is often less effective at achieving glycemic control. [...]

Background: Research in hospital care delivery has yet to elucidate a transferable strategy to deliver optimal care on a consistent basis. Most hospitals struggle even to generate the regular data flow necessary to track performance. We hypothesized that both these problems could be solved simultaneously through a daily harvest of electronic data that identified quality [...]

Background: Conivaptan hydrochloride injection (Vaprisol) is an arginine vasopressin ViA/V2‐receptor antagonist approved for the treatment of euvolemic or hypervolemic hyponatremia in hospitalized patients. Overly rapid increases in serum sodium concentration ([Na+]), regardless of treatment, may cause severe adverse neurological events. Reported here is an evaluation of the frequency of overly rapid serum [Na+] increases during [...]