Background: Opioid overdose in the United States continues to rise. Naloxone is an opioid antagonist that is FDA-approved for reversing opioid overdose. Current CDC guidelines recommend prescribing naloxone to patients at high risk of opioid overdose, including patients with concurrent benzodiazepine use, a prior history of overdose, and those receiving high doses of opioids (>50 [...]

Background: Food insecurity (FI) is “the limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or…to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways.” FI, a social determinant of health (SDOH), is associated with worse health, education, and socioeconomic outcomes. A validated 2-question survey with high sensitivity and specificity in identifying food insecure families exists. [...]

Background: During the COVID19 pandemic, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and US Department of Health and Human Services liberalized guidelines to allow for broader access to telehealth services. Previously the use of telehealth platforms in hospital and by the hospitalists has been limited. Purpose: Describe rapid implementation of an interprofessional, inpatient, secure telehealth [...]

Background: Diagnostic errors are often attributed to cognitive and systems factors, including breakdowns in patient-clinician communication. The COVID-19 pandemic has limited this communication due to institutional infection control policies and physical distancing mandates, potentially increasing risk of diagnostic error. Virtually administered questionnaires that engage patients in assessing their experience with the diagnostic process have potential [...]

Background: Advance care planning (ACP) helps patients plan end of life care in accordance with their goals and values, but is often performed too late and infrequently. Hospitalists play an important role in delivering ACP for patients admitted for serious illnesses, but often cite competing inpatient priorities, lack of time and training, and uncertainty about [...]

Background: The electronic health record (EHR) is a contributing factor to healthcare worker associated stress and burnout. In f most EHRs, users cannot provide feedback and suggest improvements. To capture potential solutions at the point of care, the University of Chicago Medicine’s (UCM) Clinical Excellence team launched a program to provide physicians and advanced practice [...]

Background: The possibility of outpatient evaluation of suspected transient ischemic attack has previously been considered in studies, and some have suggested that outpatient evaluation of suspected TIA may be safe and cost-effective in patients at lower risk of stroke as measured by the ABCD2 score. However, no consensus has been reached on the optimal strategy [...]

Background: In March 2020, with a precipitous surge of cases within a three-week period, the hospital infrastructure crumbled–COVID-19 impacted New York with unparalleled intensity. The unrelenting volume of patients coupled with the prolonged intensive care unit (ICU) stays of COVID patients led to a rapid expansion from two medical ICUs at our two academic centers [...]

Background: Internal medicine and hospital medicine providers are under pressure to move patients quickly through the hospital and decrease length of stay. Providers spend most of their clinical time seeing patients, documenting or coordinating care and have minimal time to disrupt workflow to perform common bedside procedures such as paracentesis, lumbar punctures, central lines, arthrocentesis [...]

Background: COVID-19 has drastically changed medical school curriculum across the country. In March, the AAMC recommended pausing clinical activities for all medical students [1]. In response, the University of New Mexico School of Medicine (UNM SOM) transitioned to a virtual curriculum and implemented a four-week virtual public health course on COVID-19, followed by virtual clerkships [...]