Background: Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders (SSRD) is an umbrella term for a wide variety of disorders commonly encountered in the inpatient pediatric setting, including conversion disorder, amplified pain syndrome, and psychogenic non-epileptiform seizures. These patients can be high utilizers of medical resources. The hospitalist is often charged with ruling out a medical diagnosis and [...]

Background: Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders (SSRD) is an umbrella term for a wide variety of disorders commonly encountered in the inpatient pediatric setting, including conversion disorder, amplified pain syndrome, and psychogenic non-epileptiform seizures. These patients can be high utilizers of medical resources. The hospitalist is often charged with ruling out a medical diagnosis and [...]

Background: Over the course of several months, five adolescent patients were admitted to the hospital after intentional self-injurious behaviors involving foreign body ingestion. These patients were previously living in residential treatment centers, and via social media alerted each other of the benefits of being admitted to a children’s hospital including: private rooms/bathrooms, individualized attention, attendance [...]

Background: Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality in the United States. Hospitalization is known to be an opportune time to initiate cessation interventions, and interventions with sustained postdischarge contact may increase the relative likelihood of cessation by 65% compared to usual care. Additionally, compared to physicians and nursing staff, clinical [...]