Background: Prognostic risk scores allow clinicians to rapidly identify patients with acute pulmonary embolism (PE) at a low risk for mortality and morbidity. Current guidelines recommend that these patients be considered for outpatient treatment. Despite this, most patients with low-risk PE are still hospitalized for monitoring and initiation of anticoagulation. Interventions to improve provider awareness [...]

Background: Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a frequent cause of hospitalization. It results in significant mortality and morbidity. Several studies have examined the mortality associated with PE and improvements seen with different modalities of treatment. However, other outcomes of PE hospitalization such as length of stay and ICU utilization have not been well-examined. The objective of [...]

Background: The U.S. healthcare system has a poor safety record when compared to other major industries. For example, at 250,000 per year, medical errors are the 3rd leading cause of death according to the CDC. This is in stark contrast to the safety record of commercial jet airlines. With zero fatalities, fiscal year 2017 was [...]

Case Presentation: A 70 year-old female with hypertension and diabetes presented to the hospital with a one-day history of non-positional, left-sided chest pain associated with shortness of breath and subjective fevers. Physical exam and vitals were unremarkable. Work up included three negative troponins, EKG in normal sinus rhythm (Figure 1), and D-Dimer of 1100 ng/mL. [...]

Case Presentation: We present a case of a 62 year old woman with past medical history of HTN, CAD, bipolar disorder, osteoporosis and vertebral compression fractures, who presented to the ER 8 days after T6-T10 vertebroplasties, with pleuritic interscapular pain radiating toward the sternum. She had no dyspnea, palpitations, cough, hemoptysis. Had no tachycardia or [...]