Background: Acutely-ill and multimorbid patients are frequently exposed to unintended medication errors after admission and their impacts on patient safety are profound. Designated ward-pharmacists as team members of our Hospital Medicine Center reconcile medications of hospitalized patients by identifying discrepancies in patients’ current medications and the medication used in acute care in emergency departments or […]

Case Presentation: An 81‐year‐old man presented with a 4‐ to 5‐day history of increasing confusion, combativeness, and personality changes. There were no associated fevers or chills. Patient denied photophobia, neck stiffness, headache, trauma, or recent intoxication. On presentation he was afebrile and had no focal neurological signs, nuchal rigidity, otorrhea, or rhinorrhea. His lung exam […]

Case Presentation: A 42‐year‐old woman with a history of Graves' disease status post thyroidectomy and type II diabetes presented with a 3‐day history of dyspnea on exertion. The patient has also had right‐sided chest pain that was sharp in nature. The chest pain was aggravated by lying down and relieved by sitting up. The patient […]

Background: Obtaining the Best Possible Medication History (BPMH) is the protocolized gold standard in obtaining medication histories and well known to decrease the total number of medication errors during transitions in care. Trained technicians require an average of 15-30 minutes to collect a BPMH [2]. Our facility conducted a categorical analysis and within subject study […]

Case Presentation: A 55‐year‐old African American man with a medical history of abdominal aortic aneurysm repair with aortobiiliac reconstruction was admitted with a chief complaint of dark‐colored stools and fever. On examination, abdominal bruits were heard. An aortoenteric fistula was suspected and an upper endoscopy was performed; this revealed graft material in the third portion […]

Background: With growing importance placed on patient safety, it has become necessary to elevate past processes and rethink rolls for experienced healthcare professionals. One of the primary goals identified by The Joint Commission is to “maintain and communicate accurate patient medication information” to “safely prescribe medications in the future” [1]. This task is often complicated […]