Background: Assessing severity of illness using available electronic medical record (EMR) data on admission and predicting inpatient mortality is very challenging. Lacking standardized practices around end of life issues, hospitalists use their clinical judgment in making these crucial decisions. Prolonged discussions may be needed in medically complex patients to direct an optimal plan of care […]

Background: The prevalence of poor vision among hospitalized patients has not been well characterized. Hospitalized patients who lack appropriate vision correction may be at risk for vision‐related hazards, thus leading to worse patient outcomes. For instance, poor vision may impede hospitalized patients' ability to read important documents, including informed consents, education materials, or other care […]

Background: Sexual harassment and gender discrimination are common in medical practice. Hospital medicine is a relatively young and evolving specialty and less is known about their prevalence in this field. This study aims to evaluate the experiences of academic hospitalists regarding this topic. Methods: An anonymous Qualtrics Survey was emailed to hospitalists in the participating […]

Background: Trust has long been considered an important element in the doctor-patient relationship, and historically physicians have been considered one of the most trusted professions in the US. However, recent data suggests that patient trust in the healthcare system has eroded. One hypothesized cause of this loss of trust is the breakdown of the doctor-patient […]

Background: Patients discharged to a skilled nursing facility (SNF) are at significantly higher risk of readmission within 30 days. For hospitalists at the Cleveland Clinic, the rate in 2012 to date is 25.8%. The physician communication during this transition for the patient can be suboptimal because of poor understanding of the reality of care in […]

Background: In surgical co-management (SCM), surgeons and hospitalists share responsibility of care of the surgical patients. In August 2012, we implemented SCM in Orthopedic and Neurosurgery services at our institution (Ann Surg 2016;264(2):275-282). This model is innovative because the same Internal Medicine hospitalists are dedicated year round to the same surgical service. After the first […]

Case Presentation: A 78‐year‐old African American woman with a medical history of hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and type 2 diabetes was brought to ED with change in mental status. Patient was living by herself and the family found the patient to be confused. Patient had not been taking her medications for the past 3 days. Physical examination […]