Background: Inpatient margins and hospital reimbursement have become increasingly dependent upon improving key metrics, such as length of stay and 30-day readmissions. Hospitalists typically lack access to credible, timely, and insightful metrics that inform their practice. In addition, individualized metrics, when available, struggle to properly normalize for patient complexity, warranted variations in care, shared decision-making, [...]

Background: Inpatient margins and hospital reimbursement have become increasingly dependent upon improving key metrics, such as length of stay and 30-day readmissions. Hospitalists typically lack access to credible, timely, and insightful metrics that inform their practice. In addition, individualized metrics, when available, struggle to properly normalize for patient complexity, warranted variations in care, shared decision-making, [...]

Background: Implementing technology with the goal of eliminating preventable hospital-acquired conditions (e.g., CAUTI, CLABSI, etc.) in the acute care setting is an ongoing challenge, but it is crucial to creating a safer healthcare system. Increasingly, organizations are collaborating with systems engineering, human factors, and data analytic experts to ensure successful design, development, and implementation of [...]

Background: Mobile health applications have the potential to support patients via improved engagement and self-management. While the use of this technology has been developed for patients with chronic diseases, there is limited evidence to guide the development of this technology for patients with acute conditions. Patients diagnosed with acute venous thromboembolic disease (VTE) are at [...]

Background: Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) has become an integral part of the physical examination and a valuable diagnostic tool. POCUS is unique among medical technologies in that it requires physical co-location of the provider and patient. Previous studies have shown the value of shared decision-making between patients and providers requiring a mutual understanding of [...]

Background: Physicians are increasingly using the social media outlet, Twitter, as a medium to connect and engage. Specifically, Twitter-based journal clubs have created a space for clinicians, educators and researchers to disseminate and discuss recent research. Recognizing this developing landscape, the Journal of Hospital Medicine (JHM) began producing a CME-accredited Twitter-based journal club, called #JHMChat [...]

Background: Adverse drug events are common during transitions of care and often due to patient misunderstanding of the medication regimen or non-adherence. Challenges exist that may influence the ability of new interventions to address this issue. As part of the Smart Pillbox study, a randomized controlled trial of an electronic pillbox, we explored barriers and [...]

Background: Peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) are an increasingly popular choice in the acute care setting for intravenous therapy. However, compared to other catheters, PICCs are associated with a higher risk for venous thromboembolism and blood stream infection, with multi-lumen PICCs having higher complication rates than single lumen. Midline catheters are associated with a much [...]