Background: Racism is a public health crisis impacting patients and healthcare workers. Antiracist education is not typical in undergraduate or graduate medical education curriculum. Discriminatory practices in health care result in worse patient outcomes in Black, Indigenous, & People of Color (BIPOC). Committing to antiracist work is the first step in addressing racism and must […]

Background: Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is a common, often nosocomial infection associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. Antibiotics are the most important modifiable risk factor, but empiric antibiotics remain appropriate for many patients with severe acute illness. Which antibiotics minimize the risk of CDI remains an important unanswered question. Because protective equipment and isolation were […]

Background: The availability of beds within healthcare systems has been stressed during each wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Healthcare systems with tertiary hospitals have had increasing patient volumes and face limitations of specialized urgent (e.g., ECMO) and routine (e.g., Percutaneous Coronary Intervention) functions during critical inpatient surge volumes. Reserving the limited capacity at a tertiary […]

Background: Microbiota-based treatments have shown promise to reduce recurrence for recurrent Clostridioides difficile infections (rCDI), but consistent and reliable safety data are needed to support regulatory approvals and broaden patient access. Here we provide cumulative safety data from 5 prospective clinical studies evaluating RBX2660—a standardized, microbiota-based investigational live biotherapeutic—for reducing rCDI. Methods: This analysis included […]

Background: Patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) experience inferior health outcomes. The end-of-life period represents a particularly vulnerable time for LEP patients who may not receive optimal symptom management due to language barriers and other factors. There is limited data on disparities in provider practices around opioid administration based on patient LEP status, particularly at […]

Background: Over the last few decades, roles and specialties in medicine have proliferated, complicating inpatient care. Care teams can include multiple types of clinicians, whose roles and responsibilities may be unclear. This can impact how patients understand who is in charge and various aspects of their care. We sought to examine these questions:1. How well […]

Background: For the academic hospitalist, rounds are the cornerstone of teaching, learning, and patient care. At our institution, a study found that internal medicine residents on the inpatient wards spent an average of 3.4 hours rounding daily. However, most residents and attendings described rounds as “inefficient” and “low value.” With the importance of ACGME work […]

Background: Evidence-based COVID-19 management has evolved with unprecedented speed; however, the rate and fidelity with which institutions have adopted new evidence into practice is unknown. Methods: We surveyed members of the Hospital Medicine Reengineering Network (HOMERuN) from 12/17/20-2/10/21 and compared their institutional COVID-19 management recommendations to available evidence from pivotal randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and […]

Background: Acknowledging that a successful career in hospital medicine (HM) may require specialized skills, residency programs have developed hospital medicine-focused education (HMFE) programs. Surveys of internal medicine residency leaders have described HMFE curricula but are limited to that specialty and lack input from early career hospitalists (ECHs) who recently completed this training. Therefore, we surveyed […]

Background: Recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection (rCDI) is an urgent public health threat. RBX2660 is a standardized, stabilized, investigational microbiota-based live biotherapeutic that has been evaluated in 5 prospective clinical trials. Eligibility criteria in clinical trials are often narrowly defined, excluding broader patient populations. Herein, we report a retrospective analysis of safety and efficacy of RBX2660 […]