Background: Diagnostic consultations between the General Internal Medicine (GIM) departments and specialty departments are becoming increasingly important to achieve team-based diagnosis and diagnostic excellence, but there have been limited studies on the appropriateness of the GIM diagnostic consultations with specialty departments. We conducted this study to clarify the appropriateness of diagnostic consultations from the GIM [...]

Background: The US faces a worsening epidemic of substance use-associated morbidity and mortality. In 2021, over 46 million people had a substance use disorder (SUD) and over 109,000 overdose deaths occurred. Furthermore, an estimated 1 in 7 hospital admissions are for patients with SUDs. Stigma is pervasive among these patients’ hospital providers, and SUD management [...]

Background: The traditional Morbidity and Mortality Conference (MMC) is known for its punitive aspects. Some programs have met the ACGME Internal Medicine (IM) requirement for MMC or Quality Improvement (QI) conferences by focusing on general principles of patient safety. We describe the impact of a QI-based MMC on resident perceptions of psychological safety and the [...]