Background: To implement an automated system that will identify impending and latent adverse drug events (ADEs) in hospitalized patients and to (1) assess the effectiveness of the system at identifying true‐positive ADEs and (2) assess the time it takes physicians to address the episodes of true‐positive ADEs. Specifically, our study will focus on ADEs that [...]

Background: In 1999, the Institute of Medicine's To Err is Human reported that nearly 100,000 people die from medical errors each year in the United States. One proposed solution was detailed root cause analyses of errors, emphasizing system flaws rather than human failings (root cause analyses). However, there was little guidance on which cases merited [...]

Background: Annual influenza vaccination is the most effective method for preventing influenza virus infection and its potentially severe complications, which account for 200,000 hospitalizations and 36,000 deaths in the United States each year. Patients age 50 and over who are hospitalized during influenza season should be offered influenza vaccine before they are discharged. To facilitate [...]

Background: It is known that 60% of American patients die in the hospital. As our population ages and technology advances, in‐patient management becomes more complex in the hospital. It is unknown how much of inpatient mortality and nosocomial morbidity is related to our complex health care delivery systems. Purpose: The Mayo Clinic Hospital leadership recognized [...]

Background: The ABIM recently developed a series of Web‐based practice‐focused self‐evaluation instruments called Practice Improvement Modules (PIM) as a requirement of its maintenance of certification program. PIMs facilitate the implementation of quality improvement (QI) processes through medical record abstraction, patient surveys, and a review of physicians' clinical microsystems. The primary goal is to promote QI [...]

Background: Transitioning care from hospitalization to ambulatory care can be a stressful and confusing experience for patients. The Society of Hospital Medicine has been charged to develop quality measures around the processes of appropriate and timely transition to postdischarge care. As hospitalists, we are poised to guide patients and to determine the most appropriate and [...]

Background: VTE prophylaxis is a core component of inpatient care and an established quality and safety measure. Measuring rates of appropriate VTE prophylaxis in medical patients is difficult and has previously required the use of labor‐intensive chart review in order to appropriately risk‐stratify patients. A more efficient yet accurate method of risk stratification and monitoring [...]

Background: During their fledgling state, many hospitalist programs have struggled from a lack of acceptance among primary care physicians. Multiple stereotypical reasons exist for this problem including financial incentives and personal physician/patient preferences. We present a unique method for the acceptance of a new hospitalist group in a community hospital via the innovation of “social [...]

Background: The literature on hospital medicine emphasizes length of stay, resource utilization, and readmission rates. However, investigation into reasons for readmissions to hospital medicine services remains minimal. Purpose: To describe the ongoing experience of a hospital medicine program with respect to readmissions within 7 days of discharge. Description: Readmissions to our hospital medicine service within [...]

Background: Improving inpatient glycemic control is challenging. Institutional insulin management protocols and structured order sets are commonly advocated but are not well studied as methods to improve glycemic control. Integration of protocol guidance into the insulin ordering process is needed. Purpose: To describe the development of a computerized provider order entry (CPOE) order set for [...]