Background: Frailty is linked to poor outcomes in older patients, especially those with multiple conditions. The electronic frailty index (eFI) is a validated tool based on the cumulative deficit model used to screen hospitalized patients at risk for poor outcomes1. The eFI relies on 35 ICD-10 codes associated with encounters across four domains (morbidity, sensory, [...]

Background: Frailty is linked to poor outcomes in older patients, especially those with multiple conditions. The electronic frailty index (eFI) is a validated tool based on the cumulative deficit model used to screen hospitalized patients at risk for poor outcomes1. The eFI relies on 35 ICD-10 codes associated with encounters across four domains (morbidity, sensory, [...]

Background: Patient-centered communication, defined as delivering information simply and accurately, is a critical component of health literacy. However, curricula to teach patient-centered communication are not standardized in medical school or residency.  The objective of this study was to evaluate whether a brief educational session can improve the use of patient-centered communication among medical students and [...]

Background: Self-directed discharge, also known as Against Medical Advice (AMA) discharges, comprise 1–2% of hospital discharges (1). The AMA process poses safety risks to patients and emotional strain on providers, potentially leading to implicit biases in documentation (2). While stigmatizing language in medical records has gained attention (3), its prevalence in AMA documentation remains underexplored. [...]

Background: Growth faltering (or failure to thrive) is a common paediatric problem, found in approximately 3-5% of hospitalized children1,2. Inpatient evaluation of growth faltering generally focuses on identifying the underlying etiology of poor weight gain, but complex genetic conditions can be difficult to identify during a short hospital admission. In a recent study that followed [...]

Background: Functional status plays a major role in determining discharge disposition in hospitalized adults such as need for nursing care facility vs home. (1-4) No specific diagnosis codes exist to capture functional status, limiting our ability to study its impact further. Some clinicians document functional status components in their clinical notes. Large language models (LLMs) [...]

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: Encounters with families and patients that speak a language other than English (LOE) are at high risks for worse outcomes: higher readmission rates, less health education, and increased adverse events. In contrast, concordant language use is associated with increased patient satisfaction, treatment adherence, and decreased adverse events. Purpose: To address outcome inequality for LOE, [...]

Background: Efficiently identifying clinically appropriate patients is integral to the operation and growth of a hospital at home program. Given the nuances of a home-based care delivery model, this task typically relies on a specifically trained small group of experienced providers, significantly limiting the number of patients able to be screened. The Hospital at Home [...]

Case Presentation: A 70-year-old Spanish speaking female was admitted to the hospital with unstable angina. Chart review confirmed that the patient was followed in the cardiology clinic for months for unstable angina and found to have elevated coronary calcium score. Cardiac catheterization was not offered to the patient due to concerns around compliance with dual [...]