Background: Community acquired severity scores are well known and used routinely in predicting mortality and risk of inpatient and ICU admission in suspected bacterial pneumonia patients. However such scores have not been studied in patients with influenza infection and influenza pneumonia. We attempted to validate one such score, CURB65 and and identify other scores that [...]

Background: Community acquired severity scores are well known and used routinely in predicting mortality and risk of inpatient and ICU admission in suspected bacterial pneumonia patients. However such scores have not been studied in patients with influenza infection and influenza pneumonia. We attempted to validate one such score, CURB65 and and identify other scores that [...]

Background: The Institute for Healthcare Improvement tells us that successful discharge planning starts at admission; however, when that admission occurs to a closed Intensive Care Unit (ICU), traditional discharge planning can be delayed until the patient transfers to a general floor. This delay can be exacerbated as a hospital’s adult medical-surgical bed occupancy rises, increasing [...]

Background: Medical errors in hospitals are a significant threat to patient safety and often result from poor communication or poorly-activated interprofessional teams. Despite a recent focus on interprofessional education (IPE) in pre-clinical years and simulation settings, formal curricula for teaching medical trainees interprofessional communication and teamwork skills in clinical settings are lacking. Purpose: To create [...]

Background: Quality improvement and patient safety (QI/PS) methods are being used to drive positive change in healthcare. To date, these efforts have led to slow and inconsistent change. Insufficient expertise remains a significant rate-limiting step at many institutions. To address this barrier, trainees need opportunities to learn about and participate in QI/PS. At the University [...]

Background: A recent study showed over 80 percent of internal medicine residents reported being uncomfortable or very uncomfortable with dermatologic issues. Formalized teaching in dermatology in medicine residency may be prudent. This teaching could occur in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Our objective was to study the effect of a dermatology curriculum on knowledge and [...]

Background: Quality improvement (QI) has been recognized as a core component of medical resident training and progressive engagement with QI is required by the American Council of Graduate Medical Education’s Clinical Learning Environment Review. Prior to 2015, no formal QI education was provided within our internal medicine residency program. This deficiency prompted residency program leadership [...]

Background: According to the CDC, at least 300,000 people older than 65 are hospitalized for hip fractures annually. Society of Hospital Medicine recognizes geriatric care as one of the core competencies, and hospitalists frequently provide care to geriatric hip fracture patients. Clearly hospitalists need to be competent providing care to such patients. Our goal was [...]

Background: Our goal was to evaluate the group of patients that are admitted to the Medicine service under the care of our hospitalist team and then transferred to the medical intensive care unit (MICU) within 12 hours of admission, to see if this was a result of incorrect triage or progression of the underlying disease [...]

Background: Previous studies demonstrate patient readmissions to the Medical Intensive Care unit (MICU) from the ward are potentially associated with worse outcomes due to breakdowns in communication during ICU-ward transfer. Though previous work highlights the importance of shared mental models (whether clinicians have a mutual understanding) during handoffs, no studies examined the prevalence of a [...]