Case Presentation: This is a 53‐year‐old African American woman with a history of hypothyroidism and active cocaine and alcohol abuse who presented to the emergency department with acute‐onset altered mental status, hypotension, and tachycardia. She appeared pale and disheveled, was confused, and had poor attention span. Her examination was otherwise unremarkable. Admission labs revealed profound […]

Background: There is a paucity of literature examining length of stay for medical patients requiring discharge to subacute rehabilitation facilities (SAR). At our institution, this subset of patients had an average length of stay (ALOS) of 8.2 days while medical patients being discharged to home had ALOS of 4.2 days during the first half of […]

Case Presentation: A 23‐year‐old man had fever and palpitation on the second day following uncomplicated laparoscopic appendectomy. His medical history was significant for rheumatoid arthritis, which was well controlled with methotrexate and folic acid. Family history was not significant. On examination, temperature was 102.30°F, pulse was 120/minute, respiratory rate was 19/minute, and blood pressure was […]

Background: Physical therapy (PT) is a valuable tool to help prevent the functional decline and loss of mobility hospitalized patients experience. Yet, it is a constrained resource in most hospital settings. The AM-PAC score is a validated tool that has been used to predict discharge destination within 48 hours of admission. It has also been […]

Background: As the aging population with multiple comorbidities continues to grow in our country, appropriate resource utilization and efficiency of care remain a priority for many acute care facilities to reduce hospital acquired debility, healthcare costs, and improve patient experience. The physical therapist’s assessment of the patient’s functional capacity plays a crucial role in discharge […]

Case Presentation: A 36‐year‐old man with no known medical history presented to a Georgia hospital after returning from a fishing trip to Florida complaining of severe watery diarrhea, perioral paresthesias, intense pruritis, dizziness, and chest pain. Symptoms were heralded by an episode of profuse vomiting that began hours after consuming wild‐caught barracuda. Three others with […]

Case Presentation: A 63‐year‐old man with a history of locally advanced (T4 — deep muscle invasion, N2b — multiple ipsilateral neck lymph nodes, M0), left‐sided base‐of‐tongue squamous cell cancer presented to the emergency room with multiple episodes syncope over several weeks. He was treated with chemoradiation 6 months prior to current admission. Follow‐up imaging after […]

Background: Over 35 million patients are hospitalized annually in the United States, with patients experiencing functional deconditioning due to acute illness and hospital acquired limitations on their mobility such as bed rest orders and lack of timely assessment of their functional status. Other contributing factors include medical devices such as chest tubes, drains, IV lines, […]

Background: Physical (PT) and Occupational therapy (OT) are valuable entities, but are overused in hospitals. There is limited published literature on the appropriate utilization of PT and OT evaluations in hospitals. Analysis of all PT/OT referrals for 2018 at NewYork Presbyterian Weill Cornell showed that PT/OT orders were part of the admit order set. These […]

Case Presentation: A 59‐year‐old man with a history of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and type II diabetes mellitus presented with chest tightness, palpitations, and dizziness. He has a family history of premature coronary disease and sudden death. Physical examination was unremarkable. EKG suggests left ventricular hypertrophy and precordial T‐wave inversions. Cardiac biomarkers were negative and nonsustained ventricular […]