Background: Effective discharge planning requires early identification of patients’ post-acute care needs as well as potential barriers to placement. Housestaff receive little formal training on discharge planning and are instead expected to learn “on-the-go”. At the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs (WLAVA) Medical Center there exists many disposition options that aren’t available to our housestaff […]

Case Presentation: A 21‐month‐old previously healthy girl presented with 5 days of cough, rhinorrhea, and fever. One day prior to presentation, she also developed emesis and diarrhea, followed by a decrease in oral intake and urine output. On presentation, she had a temperature of 38.7°C, a respiratory rate of 60 breaths/minute, a pulse of 160 […]

Case Presentation: A 41‐year‐old man with no medical history presented for a second opinion for chest pain, cough, fevers, and an 80‐pound weight loss in 2 months. Previous evaluation revealed peripheral eosinophilia, pericarditis, and pneumonia. On presentation to our facility, his WBC count was 28,000/μL with an eosinophil count of 12,600 cells/μL. A workup was […]

Background: Telemetry beyond 48 hours is indicated for a select patient population and when used inappropriately has risk. This includes increased cost of care, skin irritation, delirium contribution, and more likely to have false positives resulting in errors or extending length of stay.To encourage care that is truly necessary, free of harm, not duplicative, and […]