Background: Hospital Medicine (HM) programs are struggling with providing care for existing patients while responding to multiple surges of COVID-19. The COVID crisis has challenged HM programs to learn and develop expertise in a new pathogen, while facing the emotional and social difficulties of being the primary responders to the pandemic. At our institution, the [...]

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic brought considerable stress to all healthcare providers. The inpatient setting has brought unique challenges to Hospitalists. As we were all adjusting to our new reality both at work and at home, the Division of Hospital Medicine at UC San Diego Health saw the importance of listening in a time of chaos. [...]

Background: In the 2016 United States presidential election, only 55.7% of eligible voters participated in the general election. Illness and disability were the most commonly cited barrier to election participation among Americans making less than $30,000 (20%) and Americans 65 years and older (42%). In the week leading up to election day, millions of Americans [...]

Background: Social determinants of health (SDH) are living and work conditions which affect health and functioning. [1] Unmet social needs may contribute to increased medical utilization and worse health outcomes. For example, patients with sickle cell who report financial strain have more admissions and readmissions. [2] Adults with cancer and housing insecurity are more likely [...]

Background: The SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to challenging staffing situations for health systems. Rapid increases in patient volumes, coupled with clinician illness, need for quarantine/isolation as well as other workforce restrictions, have required systems to become nimble in clinician staffing. To overcome these challenges, novel approaches have been utilized including the employment of non-traditional [...]

Background: When COVID-19 first appeared in the U.S., few imagined the impact it would have on wellness and resilience of healthcare workers. The stress and uncertainty created by the pandemic increased secondary traumatic stress and burnout among individuals and the organization as a whole. The University of Chicago Section of Hospital Medicine came together to [...]

Background: Throughout medical training future hospitalists have many opportunities to observe the teaching techniques of a variety of clinical instructors to inform the development of their own teaching skills. In contrast, after starting a career as an academic hospitalist there are few chances for ongoing observation of clinical teachers to refine their practice. Peer rounding [...]

Background: In April 2020, New York was the global epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. With as many as 12,000 new COVID-19 cases reported each day, many hospital beds and intensive care units were at capacity. As a part of Operation Gotham, the US Army Corps of Engineers transformed the Jacob K Javits Center in Manhattan [...]

Background: Preventable medical errors are currently the third leading cause of death in the United States following heart disease and cancer (1). In light of this, integration of formal patient safety education into undergraduate medical education has been encouraged by the World Health Organization in order to address issues of quality of care (2). Early [...]

Background: Noninvasive ventilation (NIV) is frequently used to treat patients admitted with acute respiratory failure in both the intensive care and progressive care settings. While often perceived to be safer than invasive mechanical ventilation, many pitfalls and technical difficulties can arise when this modality is used in a setting that is less monitored than the [...]