Background: Efforts to advance health equity in the outpatient setting include routine screening for social determinants of health, expanded access to addiction treatment, and addressing pharmaco-equity. However, the question of how to advance health equity for patients who are hospitalized has been underexplored. We sought to understand hospitalists’ perspectives on health equity needs and innovations. [...]

Background: Growth faltering or failure to thrive is a common cause of admission in infancy and early childhood. In the United States, approximately 2-10% of children experience lower-than-expected growth associated with malnutrition (Tang et al). Growth faltering accounts for 3-5% of pediatric hospitalizations (Mazze et al, 2019). Malnutrition is associated with complications of increased risk [...]

Background: Regionalization of pediatric healthcare has led to an increased proportion of hospitalizations at tertiary care centers and freestanding children’s hospitals. For some of these patients, transfer from another hospital is required to access inpatient care. There are known disparities in access to care for historically marginalized races/ethnicities, but it is unclear if these disparities [...]

Background: Patient portals are a digital health technology that help caregivers engage with their child’s healthcare. Unfortunately, significant disparities in portal use exist, with caregivers who speak languages other than English (LOE) having lower usage rates compared with their English-speaking counterparts. No pediatric study has sought to understand why and how LOE caregivers use patient [...]

Background: Many U.S. emergency departments (EDs) and hospitals experience critical overcrowding and capacity challenges which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.(1) ED boarding has been associated with a range of adverse outcomes, and pre-pandemic data suggests that racial minority patients may be disproportionately impacted.(2-4) We aim to identify the effects of patient race and [...]

Background: Patient portals are intended to engage caregivers with their child’s healthcare by allowing them to read clinical notes, access test results, make appointments, and message providers, and they are often used during hospitalization. While patient portals typically offer multiple language options, the extent to which medical information is translated remains limited. Understanding how caregivers [...]

Background: Medical education regarding health systems science and health equity is variable, often with limited opportunities for students to apply foundational concepts and skills in quality improvement and health equity. Equipping future hospitalists with critical skills and change frameworks is one way to meet the needs of both patients and health systems. Purpose: To create [...]

Background: A patient’s hospitalization encounter is a valuable opportunity to align potential social and structural barriers with the healthcare multidisciplinary team’s (MDT) resources for intervention. Teaching learners to assess and address social determinants of health (SDH) is a key objective of medical education and becoming a physician. Few studies describe curricula implementing these skills during [...]

Background: The year 2020 was pivotal for physician trainees. The harrowing disparities in SARS-CoV-2 infection and deaths left many trainees with a sense of anguish and urgency for working towards health equity. However, surveys of Internal Medicine residents have shown that their knowledge of healthcare disparities is poor, with minimal improvement and exposure during training. [...]

Background: Although hospitals and hospitalists often engage in work to improve patient care and quality, rarely does such work directly seek engagement from patients and communities. Even when direct to patient surveys are distributed, historically marginalized populations are often underrepresented. Understanding how to authentically engage with communities is integral to improving patient experience and ensuring [...]