Background: The ACGME has developed competencies for systems-based practice and problem-based learning and improvement to encourage trainees to integrate quality and safety into their everyday practice. Furthermore, the AAMC has a call to action for US Medical schools and teaching hospitals to successfully align clinical and education missions in order to have quality improvement and [...]

Background: The number of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) in the U.S is projected to reach 16 million by 2050. Currently, they account for 3.2 million hospital admissions per year and over 75% of hospitalized persons with ADRD display Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia (BPSD). The study aimed to evaluate management [...]

Background: Chronic pain is a healthcare problem that significantly affects the physical and mental health of patients and impact their quality of life. It can complicate many disorders and represents a common symptom of rheumatologic diseases. Patients with Scleroderma report pulmonary and gastrointestinal symptoms as the limiting factor on their daily functioning, however pain remains [...]

Background: Women make up 78.7% of the workforce in healthcare and healthcare-associated fields; further, nearly a third of practicing physicians and surgeons and roughly half of all medical students are women. Whether they are physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses, interprofessional staff members, students, patients or visitors, healthcare facilities have opportunities to improve gender equity. When [...]

Background: A previous project targeting Medicine residents’ high-value care practices prompted evaluation of the non-resident hospitalist teams ordering practices. Would exposure to residents (receiving education on high-value care) translate to changes in attending physician ordering on hospitalist-only teams? Purpose: Participants included Medicine physicians attending on the non-resident and resident inpatient services. Data collected from the [...]

Background: Diabetes is common, present in up to one third of hospitalized patients and up to 50% of critically ill patients. Studies have shown that hyperglycemia among hospitalized patients leads to worse clinical outcomes and increases readmission rates by over 30% relative to normo-glycemic patients. Insulin is the only medication recommended for treatment of diabetes [...]

Background: Regardless of specialty or discipline, healthcare professionals are tasked with addressing high value care (HVC). It is therefore crucial that hospitalists and other members of the interprofessional team have training in addressing HVC, specifically around education and incorporating HVC into clinical practice and health systems improvement activities. Purpose: We developed a longitudinal curriculum at [...]

Case Presentation: A 57 year old male with HIV/AIDS was transferred to our hospital for acute onset of lethargy and incoherent speech. He intially presented with a few weeks of headaches, slurred speech, and intermittent confusion, and was diagnosed with toxoplasmosis. He was started on atovaquone and sulfadiazine for taxoplasmosis and levetiracetam for seizure prophylaxis, [...]

Case Presentation: A 54-year-old Japanese man presented to his primary care physician with a 3-month history of epigastric pain, fever, and unintentional weight loss. Upper endoscopy showed only a gastric polyp. Abdominal computed tomography showed small intestinal dilatation accompanied by adhesion to the sigmoid colon, and perianal abscess. Crohn’s disease was suspected and he was [...]

Case Presentation: A 34-year-old man with history of injection (IV) heroin misuse, anxiety, and homelessness presents with dyspnea and pleuritic chest pain. He was recently hospitalized with Methicillin-Sensitive Staph Aureus (MSSA) tricuspid valve (TV) endocarditis complicated by acute heart failure and septic pulmonary emboli but left against medical advice. On admission he was afebrile, tachycardic [...]