Background: Health care worker (HCW) uniforms become contaminated with bacteria during normal use, and this may contribute to hospital‐acquired infections. Antimicrobial uniforms are currently marketed as a means of reducing this contamination. Our objective was to compare the extent of bacterial contamination of HCW uniforms and skin when they wore 1 of 2 antimicrobial scrubs […]

Background: Legionella pneumophilia is typically transmitted via inhalation aerosols derived from water or soil during outbreaks or be acquired sporadically, commonly causing community-acquired or nosocomial pneumonia1,2. Death occurs through progressive respiratory failure, shock and multiorgan failure3,4. Epidemiological data for in-patient Legionella in the United States (U.S.) is lacking. The objective of the study is to […]

Background: There is literature to suggest there is a subtype of COPD patients in which eosinophils may play an important role. Data suggests that this subset of patient are more prone to develop exacerbations, but also have a higher likelihood of responding to inhaled corticosteroid therapy. The objective of this study is to determine if […]

Background: On the nonteaching service at a large metropolitan teaching hospital, hospitalists were frustrated by inefficient pager‐based communication from nurses frequently consisting of “call back number only” pages in which no other information was communicated such as the person calling, the patient name, the reason for call, or the urgency of the issue at hand. […]

Case Presentation: A 57‐year‐old man with previously untreated Rai stage IV chronic lymphocytic leukemia presented with severe dyspnea on exertion over the last 3 months. He also noted pulsatile tinnitus, lower leg pains with walking, easy bruising, and lower‐extremity edema. Vital signs were normal. He had splenomegaly with the spleen extending 16 cm below the […]

Background: Hospital discharge is a complex process that requires coordination from various parties. There still remains a significant rate of readmission, with a reported 30 day readmission of roughly 20% and annual cost of $18 Billion to Medicare. Patients with adequate discharge planning have a decreased readmission rate. Recent studies that demonstrated that high risk […]

Background: COPD is the third leading cause of death and hospital readmissions. Inpatient care for patients with COPD exacerbations varies widely across the US which can lead to patients failing to receive recommended evaluation, treatment, education, and follow-up to reduce the likelihood of recurrent exacerbations and unnecessary acute care utilization. In an effort to innovate […]

Case Presentation: A 30‐year old woman presented to the emergency department with chest discomfort and shortness of breath along with heavy menstrual bleeding for 3 days. She noted a history of 2 late first (?) trimester fetal losses. Her laboratory studies were remarkable for hemoglobin of 6 g/dL, platelet count 90,000/mm3, which dropped to as […]

Case Presentation: This is an unusual case of a 62 y/o man with past medical history of DM Type II, HTN, and Chronic renal insufficiency who initially presented with symptoms of weight gain, abdominal distension, altered mental status, worsening fatigue and diarrhea over a period of 3 weeks. He was found to have hepatomegaly and […]

Case Presentation: A 56-year-old male with WHO Group I/III pulmonary hypertension (PH), Gold Stage III COPD, and right ventricular failure presented with several weeks of gradually worsening dyspnea. One month prior, he was hospitalized for an acute exacerbation of PH and was discharged on an increased dose of ambrisentan after excluding intra-atrial shunting. On the […]