Case Presentation: A 52‐year‐old man with a history of psoriasis presented with a 1‐week of gradually worsening and throbbing headache over both his temples. He found little relief from nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs, and his headache was different from prior headaches. The pain did not radiate. He did not experience any neck pain, photophobia, phonophobia, rigors, […]

Background: Identification of pathogens causing community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in hospitalized patients has improved with the utilization of nasopharyngeal (NP) polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Literature shows that 20-25% of pathogens are identified when using urine antigens, sputum and blood cultures, and can improve up to 70% when adding NP PCR for viruses, Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus […]

Background: In 2011, ~3.3 million adult 30-day US hospital readmissions generated $41.3 billion in hospital costs. $8.26 billion (20%) of this was considered preventable. Numerous studies demonstrate relationships between hospital readmissions and social determinants of health (SDoH). Lack of education, socioeconomic status, and lack of social support have all been cited as core contributors to […]

Case Presentation: A 77‐year‐old African American man with no significant medical history was admitted for progressive memory loss and confusion. A CT without contrast was performed as part of the dementia workup, which showed bilateral parietal lobe masses versus venous infarcts. CT with contrast and MRI were performed, which were unable to differentiate mass from […]

Case Presentation: A 37‐year‐old woman presented with complaint of 2 days of severe generalized muscle weakness. The weakness was described as more proximal rather than distal. She reported associated palpitations, diarrhea, and heat intolerance. She denied any weight loss, paresthesias, numbness, tingling, difficulty finding words, or dysphagia. She had a heart rate of 117 beats […]

Background: On January 1st, 2017, the Joint Commission antibiotic stewardship accreditation standard came into effect, requiring hospital wide antibiotic stewardship programs. In West Virginia, per the CDC, in 2014, less than 28% had a stewardship program that met all 7 of the CDC core elements. In a May 2017 article of Clinical Infectious Diseases, authors […]