Background: The Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) identifies repetitive CBC & chemistry testing as low-value, and they selected this as a Choosing Wisely Recommendation. Overuse of phlebotomy is associated with hospital-acquired anemia, decreased patient satisfaction and increased hospital costs. Process improvement techniques have been utilized to reduce inpatient phlebotomy, but prospectively identifying a cohort of [...]

Background: Over the past 50 years, observation status patients have been cared for in a variety of settings: in the emergency department, on inpatient floors, and in dedicated observation units. At our medical center, inpatient teams have traditionally cared for observation patients on medical wards. Patients were often unaware of their admission status until they [...]