Background: Acute pancreatitis may manifest as mild to severe disease. Severe acute pancreatitis requires management in an intensive care unit, whereas mild acute pancreatitis may only need brief supportive care. Because it is difficult to predict the course of pancreatitis on presentation, various algorithms have been devised to predict the severity of disease. The Harmless [...]

Background: Falls are the leading cause of accidental death in the elderly older than 65 years of age in the United States. Many factors lead to falls in the elderly, with a common etiology being medications Diuretics have shown a weak association with an increased risk of falls. The goal of this study was to [...]

Background: Little is known about the type of research done by hospitalists. The Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) has selected abstracts for presentation at its annual meeting since 2006. Methods: Three academic hospitalists independently reviewed all abstracts selected for presentation in the research and innovations categories at the 2006 and 2010 SHM meetings. Using predetermined [...]

Background: Platelet distribution width (PDW) is a quantitative measure of variability in platelet size. It has been hypothesized that increased PDW may be a predictor of mortality. However, this hypothesis has not been examined in a community‐based population. Kaplan‐Meier survival curves of participants in the lowest (first) and uppermost (fourth) quartiles of platelet distribution width. [...]

Background: Elevated platelet count is frequently reported to be associated with iron deficiency. However, the causes underlying iron deficiency vary with age and may have differential effect on platelet count. Therefore, we hypothesized that the effect of body iron stores (BIS) on platelet count varies between younger and older individuals. Methods: Participants (N = 14,440) in the [...]

Background: The eighth National Patient Safety Goal, developed by the Joint Commission in 2009, emphasizes the significance of reconciliation of medications during the entire period of hospitalization. Inaccuracies in the home medication list may lead to medication errors and possible adverse drug events which often persist across transitions in care. Prior study at our institution [...]

Background: Prevalence of anemia is increasing in the general population along with other comorbidities. Anemia is associated with higher morbidity and mortality in a variety of settings. Most studies have analyzed elderly patients or specific comorbidities, and the independent impact of anemia on outcomes in general hospitalized patients (including younger patients) has not been clearly [...]

Background: Sickle cell disease (SCD) patients are overre‐presented in emergency department and inpatient settings, requiring more than $2 billion annually for hospitalization. Average length of stay (LOS) is 5.3 days, whereas 14‐day readmission rates can be as high as 30%. We describe a new service aimed at improving SCD patient outcomes in the hospital. Methods: [...]

Background: Although concerns have been raised about the effect of the hospitalist model on the doctor–patient relationship, hospitalists now care for many hospitalized patients. How hospitalists explain their role may influence patients’ perception of the hospitalist. Methods: To characterize how hospitalists describe their role to patients, we performed a qualitative analysis of audio‐recorded admission encounters [...]

Background: New ACGME duty‐hour requirements limiting intern shifts to fewer than 16 continuous hours go into effect July 1, 2011. Little is known about how this work‐hour reduction might affect patient outcomes. Our objective was to test the hypothesis that length of stay and cost of hospitalization would decrease for general pediatrics patients on a [...]