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 [...]

Background: Previous work suggests that hospitals’ teaching status is correlated with readmission rates, cost of care, and mortality. This research has focused on conditions closely tracked by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The extent to which hospitals’ teaching status impacts care processes for syncope has not been extensively studied. Methods: We merged [...]

Background: With standard diagnostic methods, the etiologic pathogen of community acquired pneumonia (CAP) is detected in ≤ 50% hospitalized CAP patients. In our previous studies using a diagnostic “bundle”, we were able to detect etiologic pathogens in ≥ 70 % of the patients. Our bundle consisted of a nasopharyngeal swab for Biofire film array, that [...]

Background: Warfarin and other anticoagulants increase the risk of hemorrhagic complications, including upper gastrointestinal hemorrhages (UGIB). Warfarin is commonly used in the management of atrial fibrillation to reduce the risk of ischemic stroke, and frequently resumed following UGIB. However, optimal timing of reinitiation remains unclear. Theory suggests that resuming warfarin immediately after UGIB would lead [...]

Background: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) in hospitalized medically ill patients is a leading preventable cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States. About half of VTE events occur following discontinuation of standard-duration in-hospital prophylaxis and hospital discharge. The APEX study evaluated Betrixaban for in-hospital to home VTE prophylaxis and is the first FDA approved anticoagulant [...]