Background: Early risk stratification scores utilizing data available at the bedside have been used regularly to identify patients at greatest risk of poor outcomes from rapidly evolving conditions like sepsis. Little is known about how point-of-care scores developed for sepsis perform at predicting outcomes in large, heterogeneous cohorts of patients with COVID-19. Our objective was [...]

Background: Oropharyngeal dysphagia affects up to 86% of hospitalized patients with dementia. Texture-modified food and thickened fluids are the mainstay of dysphagia management in patients with dementia, yet data on whether these diets improve clinical outcomes is lacking. Using a mixed methods approach, this study aimed to evaluate the following: 1) adherence to dysphagia diets [...]

Background: As of April 2020, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends one-time Hepatitis C testing for all adults age 18 and over and all pregnant women during every pregnancy. Previous research shows that Emergency Departments (ED) are effective settings for screening and diagnosing individuals for Hepatitis C Virus (HCV). The purpose of this [...]

Background: Advances in complex congenital cardiac care have promoted the survival of greater than 90% of pediatric patients. As adults with congenital heart disease (ACHD) have lifespans approaching that of the general population, there is a growing call to understand the experience of living with this childhood-onset chronic condition. Hospitalists are often the primary inpatient [...]

Background: We compared 1) monthly rates of hospitalizations by disease severity and heart failure types, 2) measures of in-hospital care process, 3) and 30-day clinical outcomes of patients with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) hospitalized during COVID-19 pandemic with those admitted in pre-pandemic periods. Methods: Retrospective study of 8989 ADHF hospitalizations (6769 unique patients, mean [...]

Case Presentation: A 76-year-old male with metastatic renal cell carcinoma presented to the hospital due to multiple syncopal episodes. The patient was prescribed pembrolizumab by infusion every 3 weeks (last dose was a week and a half prior). His presenting vitals were significant for a heart rate of 30 beats per minute and systolic blood [...]

Background: International VTE management guidelines recommend outpatient management for appropriate patients with low-risk deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or pulmonary embolism (PE)[1-3]. Despite the evidence and recommendations, previous studies reported low prevalence of outpatient management, especially for PE[4, 5]. This analysis aimed to characterize trends in outpatient vs. inpatient management of VTE in the last 5 [...]

Case Presentation: A 63 year old African American female with history of hypertension was admitted to the hospital for COVID-19 and hypoxia. She was treated with Remdesivir, dexamethasone and convalescent plasma in January 2021. Symptoms improved and she was discharged on steroids and anticoagulation. Six weeks later she started complaining of shortness of breath. CTA [...]

Case Presentation: 39-year-old African American male presented with dyspnea and hematuria for one week. His past medical history includes stage 3 CKD and hypertension. In the emergency room he was found to be severely hypertensive with systolic blood pressures hovering around 240 mmHg. Initial laboratory tests revealed significantly elevated creatinine level from baseline and new-onset [...]

Case Presentation: A 34-year-old female with a history of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and SLE presented with acute substernal tightness associated with nausea and vomiting. She denied fever, chills, diaphoresis, or palpitations. Her EKG showed sinus rhythm with new T wave inversions in anterior leads. Troponin elevation was noted with a peak of 4.48. Echocardiogram showed normal [...]