Background: Early diagnosis and treatment of sepsis improves patient outcomes. Diagnosis requires an objective component (currently at least two Systemic Inflammatory Response Criteria, SIRS) and a subjective, clinical suspicion of infection.  While much attention has been placed recently on the ideal objective criteria to accurately identify sepsis, little is known about the agreement among providers [...]

Background: Diagnostic MR imaging of osteomyelitis in the hospital setting continues to guide patient care and treatment when plain films are inconclusive. However, even MRI with gadolinium can be non-specific in patients with other forms of sterile inflammation, leading to overtreatment in the form of invasive procedures and lengthy antibiotic regimens. Ferumoxytol is an iron [...]

Background: The observation unit is frequently a destination for patients with yet undifferentiated conditions.  The goal of the observation stay is to complete a crucial diagnostic test or treatment trial that should help specify the diagnosis, but that is not always the case.  Understanding the frequency of diagnoses that remain unspecified after an observation visit [...]

Case Presentation: Ms. S is a 64 year old woman recently diagnosed with multiple myeloma following a hip fracture and repair, who was transferred from an outside hospital for hematochezia. She was admitted to the outside hospital from a skilled nursing facility for presumed post-operative ileus complicated by nausea and vomiting. During that stay, she [...]