Background: There is growing interest in point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) for addressing clinical questions at the bedside, particularly in the intensive care unit (ICU), where it is widely used by intensivists. This trend has prompted education initiatives for residents across various specialties, including internal medicine, emergency medicine, anesthesia, and pediatrics. While several studies focus on training [...]

Background: Physical activity is crucial for the health and well-being of older adults. This study aims to investigate physical activity goals, expectations, and barriers among older adult patients to improve interventions and health outcomes. Methods: We conducted a mixed methods study at a large tertiary academic medical center from July to August 2024. We screened [...]

Background: Pediatric Hospital Medicine (PHM) is one of the newest subspecialties and was recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties in 2016, with its first fellowship programs accredited in 2020. While research barriers in academic medical practice have been identified in prior studies, the facilitators and barriers to research productivity for PHM faculty in [...]

Background: Identifying discharge barriers, reducing length of stay (LOS) and optimizing the observed over expected (O/E) ratio for LOS are crucial in healthcare management. Addressing obstacles—DME needs, medical issues, diagnostic/procedure delays, administrative hurdles—can streamline discharge, enhancing outcomes, optimizing resources, cutting costs, and improving hospital efficiency. Effective discharge planning, interdisciplinary collaboration, and patient education are vital [...]

Background: Discharge delays are associated with excessive costs to healthcare systems and poor patient outcomes. We sought to identify perceived barriers to timely discharge within and outside the control of hospitalists from the multidisciplinary team pivotal to the discharge process, and if different professionals noted different barriers. Methods: In June 2024, we surveyed hospitalist physicians/advanced [...]

Background: Length of stay is an important marker for quality of care in the hospital. Increased length of stay can affect patient flow through the hospital and can lead to overcrowding, increased boarding in the emergency department, delays in inter-hospital transfer, and cancellation of elective procedures due to bed availability (1). In addition, longer hospitalizations [...]

Background: Patients who complete a primary care provider (PCP) follow-up visit within 7 days of hospital discharge have lower odds of 14-day readmission (p=0.002) OR= 0.45 (95% CI: 0.27 – 0.73) compared to patients who do not at our academic institution. However, only 44% of patients complete this visit. Patients who were scheduled with their [...]

Background: Discharging complex patients at an academic tertiary care center requires comprehensive evaluation, interprofessional coordination, and meticulous planning to address what is needed to ensure safe and timely discharges. Misalignment across care team members on discharge needs and barriers can lead to a delayed discharge which may result in poor patient satisfaction, increased task burden [...]

Background: Since 2020, UNC Hospitals has increasing numbers of patients who no longer require acute level of care. A portion of these patients have longer length of stay exceeding 30 days while awaiting disposition. This is noticeable in our percentage of long length of stay patients hospitalized 31-60 days (6.8% in 2022 vs 6.0% in [...]