Background: Hospital Medicine groups are often called upon to lead initiatives that require access to high-quality data from their local health system. These include quality and value improvement (QI) efforts as well as health services and outcomes research. Although these efforts can be important for clinical operations as well as academic advancement, clear mechanisms to [...]

Background: Optimal patient care requires excellent patient communication skills. These skills are associated with improved patient satisfaction and adherence and may positively impact overall patient care and reduction in readmissions. Standardized patients (SPs) are commonly used in Undergraduate and Graduate Medical Education; however, their use for faculty education is uncommon, despite being considered an effective [...]

Background: The prevalence of gout has risen in recent decades despite advancements in therapeutic options due to several reasons, including lack of adherence to treatment guidelines by physicians and patients’ poor perception and adherence to therapy. We aim to assess the beliefs and knowledge of gout management in Internal Medicine residents, to investigate the gaps, [...]

Background: Residents in Internal Medicine have traditionally taken electives that prepare or position them well for fellowships. Another purpose of elective time during residency is to expose the learner to career opportunities. As Hospital Medicine grows as a specialty, more training programs are offering electives for residents in this field. However, most elective descriptions that [...]

Background: We are a large academic Hospital Medicine Group comprised of over 100 hospitalists at two tertiary care hospitals in an urban-suburban setting. Our group serves as the inpatient attendings for a large internal medicine residency program, leads robust co-management services (trauma surgery, ENT, neurology, neurosurgery, orthopedic surgery, psychiatry, & urology), and cares for a [...]

Background: The 2016 State of Hospital Medicine report showed that the average hospitalist compensation model is composed of 80% base pay, 15% productivity, and 5% performance. Much variation exists by region in the make-up of the performance component with a rise in measures focused on patient satisfaction and readmission and significant differences in weight given [...]

Case Presentation: A 62 year old woman with a history of hypertension suddenly developed a headache starting 3 days after receiving the influenza vaccine. The headache worsened and was associated with nausea, photosensitivity and vomiting. The next day she was lethargic, and that night, her husband states she sat up in bed and started “speaking [...]