Background: Systemic racism contributes to health disparities. Innovative educational strategies are needed to develop competency in addressing manifestations of racism that impact patients. While the MD program at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai addressed racism in the preclerkship curriculum, a gap was identified in the clerkship year. The authors developed an antiracist clinical [...]

Background: Sepsis is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among hospitalized patients. Previous studies have demonstrated that rates of sepsis and its complications – including organ failure, readmission, and death – are higher among Black patients than white patients (1, 2). While some of these differences can be explained by socioeconomic inequities, comorbidities, and [...]

Background: The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) enables Medicare-certified hospitals to provide inpatient-level care at home through their Acute Hospital Care at Home (AHCAH) initiative. A CMS report on 9/30/24 revealed demographic differences between AHCAH patients and traditional inpatients from the same hospitals. AHCAH patients were more likely to be white, live in [...]

Background: Hospital at Home (HaH) delivers hospital-level care to eligible patients in their homes, offering an alternative to traditional inpatient hospitalization. Longitudinal research has demonstrated that HaH can enhance patient outcomes, increase satisfaction, and decrease rates of hospital readmissions. Patients are first identified for HaH program enrollment through referrals by inpatient providers or our internal [...]

Background: Handoffs are critical for conveying essential information about the patient’s care, yet they often lack structure and completeness, which increases the risk of adverse events and medical errors. Patients with LEP are especially vulnerable due to communication barriers, which can exacerbate disparities in care quality and outcomes. Despite the rising number of patients with [...]

Background: Prior studies have shown that miscommunication between providers and families with a non-English language preference (NELP) has been associated with medication errors, inadequate follow-up, increased ED usage, and hospital readmissions. They have also noted barriers to providing translated instructions, such as difficulty with translation, limited resources, and inconsistent use of services. Specifically, our institution [...]

Background: Innovation in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) across medical institutions is an area of growing focus. However, some national medical societies struggle to connect with learners and faculty who are members of groups traditionally underrepresented in medicine (URiM). URiM learners in college and medical schools may face additional financial barriers when attending conferences that [...]

Background: In the United States, vulnerable communities experience significant health disparities, which are largely driven by various social, economic, and environmental factors. Addressing these disparities requires a multifaceted approach and reinforces the need to equip healthcare providers with the needed awareness, competence, and expertise. Given that resident physicians represent a significant proportion of frontline healthcare [...]