Background: Early palliative care can be beneficial for patients and the health system alike. The principle of palliative care is to improve quality of life through patient-centric treatment goals and comfort measures. However, many patients are identified and receive palliative care in their last days of life where hospice is more appropriate. Hospitalists are routinely [...]

Background: There is an estimated 160,000 individuals that have been diagnosed with Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) in New Jersey. HCV is a well-known and widespread challenge to personal, societal, and governmental resources and ultimately, human life. Current guidelines from the USPSTF recommend offering a 1-time screening for HCV infection to adults born between 1945 and [...]

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: Palliative care (PC) has been shown to be cost-effective and improve the quality of life for patients facing incurable and life-threatening illness. However, identifying patients benefiting from PC consultation remains a challenge in the inpatient setting. As part of a quality improvement initiative, we created a PC screening tool by adapting elements from existing outpatient [...]

Background: Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), defined as aortic diameter ≥ 3.0 cm, affects an estimated 1.5% to 1.7% of men aged 65 or older. It was estimated that a ruptured AAA has a mortality rate of 75% – 90%. Screening for AAA with an abdominal ultrasound is relatively cost-effective. It was noted that screening for [...]

Case Presentation: This is the case of a 39-year old, G3P1001 woman with fetal aneuploidy identified on prenatal screening. Her pregnancy was conceived via anonymous sperm donor, whom had been used for two previous healthy and uncomplicated pregnancies. The mother underwent non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) at 10 weeks gestation, which was reported as positive for [...]

Case Presentation: A 22 year old man with no past medical history presented to our emergency department with three weeks of nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. He also reported subjective fevers, hematochezia, hematemesis, oral ulcers, gum bleeding, dark colored urine and 30 pound weight loss over the past month. The patient was not forthcoming with [...]