Background: Many hospitalized patients have difficulty understanding what their care team tells them about medications and how to comply with medications. Communication failures about medications can have devastating consequences for hospitalized patients. Patients who report good physician communication, clear directions about how to take their medications, and more medication information are more compliant with their [...]

Background: Medical errors in hospitals are a significant threat to patient safety and often result from poor communication or poorly-activated interprofessional teams. Despite a recent focus on interprofessional education (IPE) in pre-clinical years and simulation settings, formal curricula for teaching medical trainees interprofessional communication and teamwork skills in clinical settings are lacking. Purpose: To create [...]

Background: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recommends against the use of Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) for determining patient satisfaction with physicians, however, hospital administrators often use HCAHPS scores as one metric for determining physician incentives. Such use of HCAHPS likely results from its easy availability and lack of [...]

Background: Internal medicine residents face multiple barriers to participating in and documenting goals of care (GOC) meetings in the intensive care unit (ICU). Barriers include heavy workloads, need for urgent stabilization of critically ill patients, and inadequate communication skills training. Guidelines recommend regularly conducting and documenting GOC meetings for critically ill patients, to facilitate communication [...]

Background: For several years, patient evaluations of their physician has been utilized as a metric to evaluate physician performance and now it has been included as a parameter utilized to calculate reimbursement. Despite the routine use of these evaluations by most hospitals and agencies, little research has been done to evaluate the accuracy and characteristics [...]

Background: For several years, patient evaluations of their physician has been utilized as a metric to evaluate physician performance and now it has been included as a parameter utilized to calculate reimbursement. Despite the routine use of these evaluations by most hospitals and agencies, little research has been done to evaluate the metrics of patient [...]

Background: Hospital readmissions continue to remain prevalent despite their negative impact on patient outcomes and economic cost. One in five Medicare beneficiaries is expected to be readmitted within 30 days. As a result, strategies to reduce readmissions is a point of emphasis for all healthcare systems. Guidance regarding reducing readmissions differs and is not abundant. [...]

Background: Electronic health applications that aim to share personalized medical information with patients are not frequently found in hospital settings. These inpatient applications can empower patients and caregivers to review and monitor their most updated medical information and improve communication between patients and their providers (such as clinicians, nurses, case managers etc.). However, these applications [...]

Background: Hospitalists increasingly rely upon electronic handoff tools to communicate important patient care information. Our institution transitioned from a paper/verbal handoff process to a completely electronic system in April 2017 for day-to-night patient care handoff. In the fall of 2016, the same system had been adopted for end-of-week service change. Purpose: This study set out [...]

Background: Many patients and their surrogates have a poor understanding of the process of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), its limitations, and its complications. Lack of knowledge about CPR may lead patients to choose a code status that does not align with their goals and values. Studies have shown that showing patients an educational video about code [...]