Background: Clinicians face an overwhelming volume of communication through various channels, including phone calls, text messages, emails, in-person interruptions, and secure messaging systems. This information overload is increasing[1] and poses significant challenges. Despite the availability of communication tools, failures in communication remain the leading cause of preventable medical errors [2]. Secure messaging systems, while essential, [...]

Background: Work engagement has been an ongoing subject of interest within many organizations as it reflects employee well-being and can affect productivity, work outcomes, emotional health, and physical health (1). Stress levels in the work environment can lead to deterioration of sleep and work engagement and increase burnout (2). Heartfulness meditation is a simple heart-based [...]

Background: Diagnostic errors (DEs), or the failure to accurately identify or provide timely explanations of a patient’s health problem, are a significant source of patient harm. DEs occur in up to 23% of adult inpatients who transfer to intensive care units (ICU) or die. Few studies have examined how clinician team composition impacts DE risk. [...]

Background: Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonists are increasingly prescribed for obesity and type 2 diabetes, demonstrating efficacy in weight loss and glycemic control [1-3]. Beyond metabolic effects, these medications show protective effects against renal disease progression and reduce major adverse cardiovascular events [4]. GLP-1 agonists influence body composition through effects on both fat mass and fat-free [...]

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: Poor coordination between hospital and outpatient care worsens health outcomes, and increases preventable hospitalization and health care expenditures, especially for socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. Evidence of the effects of current programs to improve care coordination is mixed, and there is little data on how their impact may differ for hospitalizations for ambulatory care-sensitive conditions (ACSCs) [...]

Background: Hospital discharges can be complex for patients, and ensuring patient comprehension of their clinical records and discharge summaries is critical for improving health-related outcomes. However, studies suggest that 88% of discharge instructions are not readable to the population served. In our prior study we demonstrated that generative AI (AI) has the potential to transform [...]

Background: Ten to twenty percent of U.S. hospitalizations are avoidable, driven by clinical uncertainty, social factors, or lack of access to ambulatory care [1-3]. These unnecessary admissions result in significant human and financial costs, including in-hospital errors, wasteful spending, and medical debt [4-7]. With hospital occupancy reaching critical levels, we designed and launched the Olive [...]

Background: Hospitalized patients and their families often face challenges in accessing and understanding developments in care plans, test results, and interdisciplinary decisions made during their stay. This knowledge gap causes anxiety, confusion, and missed opportunities for shared decision-making. Enhanced interdisciplinary communication and transparency with patients positively impacts patient satisfaction, readmission rates, patient safety and adherence [...]

Background: In a time when rural hospitals across the United States are closing for various reasons and local residents are left with limited access to healthcare, our academic medical center successfully built one of the few new rural facilities in the country and opened it in January 2023. The new hospital is a seventeen bed [...]