Background: Atrial Fibrillation is the most common cardiac arrhythmia in medical practice. In 2010, the RACE II trial demonstrated that lenient rate control (resting bpm < 110) in patients with permanent A-fib was just as effective as strict rate control (resting bpm < 80 and < 110 with moderate exercise) in the prevention of major [...]

Background: Medical patients with comorbid psychiatric illness comprise 20-40% of general medicine inpatient admissions. These patients often have multiple providers involved in their care which can lead to poor communication, longer lengths of stay, and increased resource utilization. Despite substantial need, no standard model of care exists for this patient population. At our academic medical [...]

Background: The advent of the Electronic Health Record (EHR) has changed the face of medical documentation. Illegibility and absence of data have all but disappeared, and EHRs can foster thoughtful assessments by providing a platform to craft differential diagnoses. However, EHRs have also introduced features like “copy and paste” and “blow in” templates that can [...]

Background: Adverse drug events (ADE’s) are a major problem in healthcare and can lead to increased hospital admissions, length of stay, and healthcare costs. With appropriate intervention, ADE’s are largely preventable. The purpose of this study is to ascertain risk factors for ADE’s and hospital readmissions in inpatients on a general medicine service at a [...]

Background: Inpatient hospital care cost $971.8 billion in 2014 and costs are projected to rise by 5.8% per year. Inpatient operational efficiency and waste reduction have become the focus of cost-reduction measures. A recent study found that nearly one in four patients in a pediatric hospital experienced a medically unnecessary prolonged length of stay with [...]

Background: With gender inequalities decreasing in the Western Hemisphere, the number of women physicians has increased. However, women are not equally represented in leadership roles in academic medicine. One heoryabstract?te referenc es  isubmissionseukocytosiser’petition were selected. ors than female mentors. l then be determined iOOn theory in literature to explain this discrepancy is that women have [...]

Background: In 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a guide to preventing readmissions among diverse patient populations. According to CMS, once the health system effectively picks up the root causes and characteristics that are linked to readmissions – then a process can be initiated that focuses on addressing barriers and developing [...]

Background: It has been detailed in the literature that a patient’s socioeconomic status (SES) may play a role in their risk of readmission for specific diseases. For instance, factors such as low income, low educational level, and Medicaid status have all been associated with significantly higher rates of readmission in patients initially admitted for congestive [...]

Background: The standard of care for the treatment of alcohol withdrawal is symptom triggered treatment using the Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment for Alcohol (CIWA-Ar) scale. However, this 10-item scale is cumbersome to use.   Purpose: To develop and implement a symptom-triggered alcohol withdrawal treatment protocol utilizing a simplified withdrawal scale.   Description: We piloted a [...]

Background: The 2011 the updated IDSA guideline on Community Acquired Pneumonia (CAP) in children recommends a blood culture in children with moderate to severe bacterial CAP requiring hospitalization.  This recommendation was included in the Seattle Children’s Hospital (SCH) Clinical Standard Work (CSW) CAP pathway, for several reasons: (1) blood culture results would drive treatment decisions, [...]