Background: Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is a growing interest in pediatric hospital medicine, however few Pediatric Hospital Medicine (PHM) fellowships incorporate POCUS training formally into their curriculum. In addition to its ability to expedite care, POCUS can improve the ability of pediatric hospitalists to take care of patients in resource-limited settings or when specialists are not […]

Background: The onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic created innumerable challenges and demanded rapid innovation for perioperative medicine. In March 2020, in response to our institution’s expectations, our hospitalist-led preoperative medicine clinic rapidly pivoted to patient care via telehealth. Purpose: Before the pandemic, our hospitalist-led preoperative medicine clinic was already in the early planning stages […]

Background: Observation Units (OUs) are a common healthcare delivery model for health systems across the United States. OUs vary from a type 1 to type 4 based on several factors[1]. Another category of OUs – second-level OUs – does not fit this traditional classification due to a different patient population composition and staffing model. The […]

Background: Perioperative medicine is a complexed area of hospitalist medicine, with many nuanced clinical management scenarios. At Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin, Hospital medicine and perioperative medicine are two separate sections within the division of general internal medicine. The sections share some clinical services, including night coverage and sick (“jeopardy”) call. Perioperative medicine […]

Background: The use of metered-dose inhalers (MDIs) with spacers for delivering bronchodilator therapy is established as equivalent to the use of nebulizers (nebs) for symptom response.[1-3] Additional well-documented benefits to using MDIs in place of nebs include fewer systemic side effects, better long-term patient adherence to therapy, and, in the era of COVID-19, decreased use […]

Background: Constraints on resources require healthcare systems to implement alternative and innovative means for delivering care. The COVID-19 pandemic amplified this issue throughout the world, leading to shortages of ventilators, hospital beds, and healthcare personnel. We report the results of an Acute Care at Home (ACH) program’s response to COVID-19, providing in-home hospital-level care to […]

Background: Imagine opening your patients’ electronic medical record (EMR) and seeing their stories, as told by them. Would that help you understand your patients better, both their resilience and the barriers they have faced? Systemic structures of oppression and health provider unconscious bias are root causes of racial, gender and class-based health disparities. Storytelling is […]

Background: In 2017, Emory University Hospital Midtown (EUHM) instituted fast track dialysis (FTD) which identified low risk patients in the emergency department (ED) in need of hemodialysis (HD) and provided it efficiently. The FTD development team consisted of hospital medicine, emergency medicine, nephrology, dialysis unit nursing, and ED nursing. This program showed a reduction in […]

Case Presentation: A 90-year-old-male with history of hypertension, coronary artery disease and chronic lymphocytic lymphoma presented with shortness of breath that had been getting worse over the previous few weeks, particularly at night and with lying down. He also reported increased cough and worsening leg swelling. In the ED, he was hypoxic (84% on room […]

Background: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has required healthcare systems around the world to rapidly innovate and adapt to unprecedented operational and clinical strain. Anticipated limitations in healthcare resource allocation is coupled by the strife caused by the variable clinical course of COVID-19 and the isolation of families inevitable with an inpatient admission. Many healthcare systems have […]