Background: Read mission to the hospital soon after discharge is a significant burden to patients and our health care system, We aimed to study the predictors of readmissions within 30 days of discharge from our hospitalist service in 1 year. Methods: All readmissions within 3D days of discharge from hospitalist service in 2007 were identified […]

Background: Unfractionated and low‐molecular‐weight heparins are widely used for venous thromboembolism prophylaxis (VTEP). Heparin‐induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) is a rare but potentially devastating reaction to heparins, with an incidence of 0%‐5% of exposed medical and surgical patients. National guidelines advise improving VTEP rates, and the Joint Commission has added VTEP rates to the National Hospital Quality […]

Background: Increasing the use of computed tomography (CT) imaging over the past 10 years has been accompanied by rising concerns about the effects of radiation exposure, especially in children. One approach to limiting radiation exposure is to minimize the number of referrals for CT imaging. Understanding the patterns of use for CT imaging may help […]

Background: Ethical obligations and patient safety principles support prompt and full disclosure of harmful medical errors. In an era of high malpractice premiums, debate on whether disclosure increases or decreases liability claims and costs persists. Empirical data to help answer the question remain sparse. Since 2001, the University of Michigan Health System (UMHS) has operated […]

Background: African Americans suffer nearly double the annual estimated mortality rate of whites in acute lung injury (ALI), and genetic factors may be involved The Duffy blood group antigen is a chemokine receptor on red blood cells, and although present almost universally in whites, it is absent in two thirds of African Americans. This so‐called […]

Background: Venous thromboembolism prophylaxis (VTEP) decreases rates of deep vein thrombosis among inpatients, and increasing VTEP use is a common target for quality improvement initiatives. However, little is known about the balance of appropriate versus inappropriate use, which results from efforts to increase VTEP use. We studied the effect of a standard admission order form […]

Background: Language barriers present a major challenge to patient education in the rapidly growing population with limited English proficiency. Although professional translations of standard educational material can help to address this challenge, clinicians often encounter situations that require giving brief written instructions tailored to the needs of an individual patient. Automated online translation tools present […]

Background: Blood cultures are one of the most commonly performed and valuable diagnostic procedures in hospitalized patients. Contaminated blood cultures, however, result in significant resource utilization and potential complications from exposure to unnecessary therapies. Various antiseptic agents have been studied in clinical settings, but there is no consensus in the literature regarding which agent is […]

Background: Project BOOST (Better Outcomes for Older Adults Through Safe Transitions) is a SHM‐mentored quality improvement program targeted at improving the discharge transition process and now has 30 participating sites. Our hospital, one of the first sites, has adopted many elements of BOOST'S discharge planning tool kit on our nonleaching, nurse‐practitioner (NP)–supported hospitalist unit. The […]

Background: Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United Stales, accounting for approximately 440,000 deaths from smoking‐attributable illness each year. Smokers hospitalized for acute illnesses may be more receptive to smoking cessation counseling, and prior research has shown that smoking cessation interventions initiated in the inpatient setting can increase a hospitalized […]