Background: The hospitalist role is gaining increasing presence for inpatient care, with the opportunity to care for a variety of higher acuity patient across a breadth of specialties in the hospital setting. Further examination into the types and amount of MS-DRG categories seen by hospitalists and their ordering volumes can provide a better picture of [...]

Background: Alcohol use disorder (AUD) and alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS) are common problems in hospitals. Benzodiazepines are considered the standard for treating and preventing AWS. Numerous review articles and guidelines have recommended that benzodiazepine dosing be based on objectively measured symptoms of withdrawal rather than a fixed dose regimen. The most commonly used scale for [...]

Background: Over 6 million people in the US have a diagnosis of atrial fibrillation. Given the increased risk for stroke and systemic embolism, many patients are treated with direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) to reduce their risk. In the major trials comparing to DOACs to warfarin for stroke and systemic embolism prevention in atrial fibrillation, DOACs [...]

Background: Severe hypertriglyceridemia (triglyceride >1000 mg/dl) occurs at a rate of 0.4% and is associated with a range of medical complications including severe pancreatitis and its complications like acute kidney injury . Hypertriglyceridemia (HTG) is the third most common cause of acute pancreatitis especially in levels above 1000 mg/dl. It has been suggested that insulin [...]

Background: Background: Geographic cohorting (GCh) of clinicians to a single unit may improve teamwork and improve outcomes. The physical proximity between the care team is purported to mediate these positive effects. We conducted an exploratory time-and-motion study of physicians to assess differences in daily activities between GCh and traditionally dispersed or ‘At-Large’ (AL) physicians. We [...]

Background: Breast cancer is the most common malignancy and the second leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States. Disparities in screening mammography use persists among low income women, even those who are insured, despite the proven mortality benefit. More than a third of hospitalized women are both overdue for breast cancer [...]

Background: Over 160,000 PEG placement procedures are performed each year in the US and 8.1% of all long-term care residents receive feeding via PEG tube. The objective of the study was to explore reasons for hospital re-admissions of long-term care residents with a PEG-tube. Methods: A one-year retrospective study of long-term care PEG-fed residents over [...]

Background: Reversing the life trajectory of hospitalized patients can be challenging. Sixty percent of Americans die in acute care hospitals. Identification of the patient care goals and directives frequently happens after many days of aggressive, uncomfortable and costly interventions at the hospital. We aimed to elucidate if identification of care goals earlier in Intensive Care [...]

Background: Acute alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS) is a common complication in hospitalized patients, but its occurrence and severity is difficult to predict based on clinical indicators alone. Phosphatidylethanol (PEth) is an abnormal phospholipid incorporated into erythrocyte lipid bilayers in proportion to levels of alcohol exposure, with a half-life of 5 to 10 days. We sought [...]

Background: Approximately one million people are hospitalized for pneumonia (PNA) every year resulting in approximately 50,000 deaths. The Infectious Diseases Society of America and the American Thoracic Society recommend that in addition to clinical features, a demonstrable infiltrate by chest radiograph (CXR) or other imaging technique, with or without supporting microbiological data, is required for [...]