Background: We previously reported on the deployment of a computerized note‐writing system, eNote on our Hospitalist Service.[1] Since its launch in February 2004, over 25,000 Hospitalist notes have been entered via eNote. Since our last report, we also developed a module in eNote for discharge summaries (DSUM Writer).[2] These documentation tools support a variety of […]

Background: Diabetic foot infections (DFI) account for more hospital days than any diabetes‐related diagnosis. Many patients with DFI are Medicare‐eligible, and hospitals are motivated to decrease costs without altering patient outcomes. A large, multicenter, randomized, double‐blind trial (SIDESTEP) comparing ertapenem (1 g QD) and piperacillin/tazobactam (3.375 g QID) found equivalent efficacy in the treatment of […]

Background: Hospital throughput, which is defined as the volume of services provided in a unit time, may be targeted for quality improvement as a means of facilitating better utilization of existing inpatient bed capacity, expediting turnover, discharges, and reducing length of stay. We sought to identify factors associated with delays in hospital throughput at an […]

Background: Recent limitations on resident duty hours aim, in part, to reduce medical errors. Residents' perceptions of the impact of decreased hours on errors are unknown. Method: We surveyed internal medicine residents at the University of California, San Francisco after duty hours were reduced. Residents were asked to report the frequency and causes of sub‐optimal […]

Background: In 2004 The Surviving Sepsis Campaign Guidelines (SSCG) published specific recommendations to establish guidance to clinicians in the management of sepsis. We sought to determine the frequency that our physicians follow practices outlined in the SSCG before and after their publication and we surveyed the physician's own perception of adherence to the guidelines. Method: […]

Background: Inpatient physicians frequently transfer patient information to cross‐covering physicians. Although there is an increasing interest in formalizing this information transfer, there is little scientific information about the types of problems that cross‐covering physicians are asked to address, or which types of information they need to efficiently solve them. Method: We performed a standardized observation […]

Background: The leadership on traditional medical surgical floors has traditionally been nurse managers. Some hospitals have contracted with physicians to serve as medical directors for their intensive care units and emergency room, to provide oversight with the nursing leadership. Despite this, there is a void of physician leadership on most medical surgical floors. Hospitals are […]

Background: A hospitalization can affect not only the patient but family members and friends. Uncertainty about symptoms, treatments, and outcomes are major predictors of stress and anxiety, especially in life‐threatening situations. The hospitalist caring for these patients may be dealing with a particular patient for the first time and have no prior relationship with the […]

Background: Little is known about patients' perceptions of hospitalist care. Patient satisfaction surveys traditionally have focused on hospital services and nursing care but not on specific elements of hospitalist care, such as communication, care coordination, explanation of disease and management, and post‐hospital care follow‐up. Purpose: We developed a survey tool to assess patients' evaluation of […]

Background: Our hospitalist group felt that achieving 100% compliance with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) indicators for pneumonia, AMI, and CHF was important not only to patient care but also for financial gain for the hospital. We did not have a standard policy in place and were falling short of our goal of […]