Background: The Institute of Medicine includes patient-centeredness as an essential component of high-quality patient care. One dimension of patient-centeredness is the need for physicians to provide clear communication to patients (1). The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey also measures physician communication skill.Patient perception of physician communication is complex. Visual aids [...]

Background: Existing research describe older adults’ sub-optimal experiences of the hospital to skilled nursing facility (SNF) transition. However, these studies do not explore the causes of these poor experiences and neglect the complex clinical system in which these transitions occur. Therefore, the aims of this study were to identify the causes of patient experiences during [...]

Background: Millions of patients are discharged to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) each year. In teaching hospitals, resident physicians are often responsible for organizing this transition. Understanding residents’ knowledge and experiences of this care transition has the potential to inform residency training, education, and clinical experience. This study aimed to explore residents’ attitudes and experiences in [...]

Background: Older adults are commonly discharged to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) after hospitalization. It is not known how patients anticipate SNF discharges and what they prioritize. The aims of this study are to explore what matters most to older adults during their hospital to SNF care transition. Methods: We conducted a grounded theory qualitative study. [...]

Background: Many academic hospitalists begin their careers directly after residency and are expected to become teaching attendings without additional training or experience. Early attendings must quickly learn how to balance autonomy and supervision, advance patient care, and educate a wide spectrum of learners. Although tools such as faculty development workshops or peer observation programs are [...]

Case Presentation: A 64-year-old woman presented to the Emergency Department (ED) with widespread exanthem that started weeks prior to presentation. She reported having had similar exanthems at the same time the previous two years, which resolved with oral steroid therapy on both occasions. However, they were not as extensive as the present rash. 6 weeks [...]

Case Presentation: A 28-year-old Caucasian male of European descent presented to the emergency department with a four day history of left upper quadrant abdominal pain that occurred following a day of skiing at 11,000 feet. On initial examination, he was afebrile, hemodynamically stable, and in distress from abdominal pain that localized to his left upper [...]

Case Presentation: A 70-year-old woman with hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES) complicated by recurrent organizing pneumonia (OP) was admitted to a hospital medicine service with four weeks of involuntary spasms of her abdominal wall muscles and hypoxemia. She reported having similar episodes during past OP flares which resolved quickly with prednisone. Notable admission vitals included a heart [...]

Case Presentation: The case represents a 74-year-old female who presented to the emergency room with constitution of symptoms including headache, fatigue, Upper extremity/Neck pain and worsening of “skin rash”. For the past 10 years, the patient had suffered from Compulsive Skin picking disorder, necessitating multiple visits to PCP and Dermatologist with recurrent courses of antibiotics [...]

Case Presentation: A 42-year-old male with a history of intravenous (IV) drug abuse presented with four weeks of skin lesions on his bilateral dorsal forearms and one week of associated right-hand swelling and anesthesia. Prior to the development of the skin wounds, the patient had been frequently injecting fentanyl into the veins of both forearms; [...]