Background: Depression is considered an independent risk factor for coronary artery disease. Post-myocardial infarction (PMI) depression, is an increasingly recognized clinical entity with a prevalence of 10%. Compared with other ethnic groups, African Americans (AA) are more likely to be depressed and have higher coronary artery disease (CAD) burden. Few studies have evaluated the implications of […]

Background: Heparin‐induced‐thrombocytopenia (HIT) is a life‐threatening immunologic reaction that develops as a result of the formation of platelet‐activating antibodies that recognize platelet factor 4 and heparin complexes (PF4/heparin). Subsequent thrombocytopenia and thrombus formation can lead to life‐ or limb‐threatening complications. Commercially available enzyme immunoassays (EIAs) that detect PF4/heparin antibodies are used in most hospital settings […]

Background: Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States. Approximately every 40 seconds, an American will have a myocardial infarction. The aim of this project is to assess the progress of the prevention and management of myocardial infarction by using the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) data. Methods: This is a retrospective […]

Background: Care transitions occur between providers on a single team, between teams on a service, and between services. They also occur between inpatient and ambulatory providers. As this discontinuity introduces potential for error, care transitions are a major focus for education and quality improvement. Most published interventions target transitions during hospitalization, specifically handoffs. Purpose: To […]

Background: ACGME Milestones and Entrustable Professional Activities (EPA) have emerged as benchmarks for the professional development of house staff. Residents must demonstrate expertise in these patient care activities in order to progress in training, and thus, programs will require tools for direct observation in order to evaluate these skills. These tools must evaluate milestone‐specific performance […]

Background: Postmyocardial Infarction Syndrome (PMIS), also called Dressler syndrome or Post-pericardiotomy Syndrome, refers to a heterogeneous group of autoimmune-mediated conditions of pericardial, epicardial and myocardial inflammation following myocardial infarction. Generally considered to be rare in the reperfusion era, the features and risk factors of PMIS are less well characterized in the contemporary era. This study […]

Case Presentation: A 69‐year‐old male veteran with a history of diabetes and cardiovascular disease presented to the hospital with a several week history of slurred speech and imbalance, and was admitted to the neurology service for an acute stroke evaluation. His vital signs were unremarkable. Neurologic exam was notable for decreased attention, left‐sided pronator drift, […]

Case Presentation: A 47-year-old Hispanic female smoker presented with aone-week history of severe, intermittent substernal chest pain radiating tothe left arm. The pain was associated with palpitations and shortness ofbreath. She was afebrile with a heart rate of 100, a blood pressure of119/59, a fine tremor, and brisk reflexes. No lid lag or proptosis wasappreciated. […]

Case Presentation: A 70 year old man with lung cancer presented from home to the emergency department after a bout of massive hematemesis. Four months ago, he was diagnosed with lung cancer spreading to mediastinal and hilar lymph nodes. He subsequently underwent radiation therapy which was directed at left hilar lymph nodes. He then developed worsening […]

Case Presentation: 25-year-old male with a past medical history of von Willebrand disease, thrombocytosis presented to an outside hospital (OSH) with acute onset chest pain. An EKG there showed ST-segment elevation in anterior leads after which he was emergently taken to the cardiac catheterization laboratory. He was found to have an left anterior descending (LAD) […]