Background: On the 2016 ACGME survey, our Internal Medicine residents indicated that our service vs. education rating was at 47% compared to the national average of 69%. Purpose: To decrease resident physician workload to improve our education on inpatient wards, decrease the amount of non-physician level tasks to improve efficiency and to improve patient communication. [...]

Background: The use of whiteboards in the inpatient setting has become increasingly prevalent as a potentially effective tool for prevention of communication failures and improved multidisciplinary care. Provider and nursing surveys indicate that this tool is useful when utilized, however the true impact on patient satisfaction outcomes remains unclear. Moreover, little is known about the [...]

Background: Deployment of Electronic Medical Records (EMR) consumes significant enterprise-wide resources. Hospitals may be reluctant to introduce further changes during the same year, including patient experience improvement initiatives. Deployment efforts may stretch clinical leaders who provide oversight on patient experience efforts. Lastly, EMR is noted to be a major source of provider burnout and deployment [...]

Background: Recurrent hospitalizations are responsible for considerable health care costs. This retrospective observational study was undertaken to determine whether timely communication of care (COC), such as direct phone call or voicemail notice, following a hospitalization is effective at increasing clinic follow-up rates and reducing readmissions within 30 days after discharge. Methods: We analyzed 237 patients [...]

Case Presentation: A 61-year-old man with stage 5 chronic kidney disease was admitted to the hospital with four days of new, uncontrollable muscle twitching. One week prior, he had undergone incision and drainage of a gluteal abscess and was prescribed levofloxacin. Two days later, he began to experience twitching of his face and jerking of [...]