Background: Despite a commitment to high-quality medical education, diagnostic errors continue to be pervasive. Clinical presentations with nonspecific symptoms and diagnoses with wide differentials are prone to diagnostic errors; dizziness may be the epitome of this conundrum. Dizziness is a common symptom, costly to assess, and frequently misdiagnosed. Diagnostic decisions have high stakes, given the […]

Background: Rural areas are disproportionately affected by physician shortages, and small rural hospitals in particular struggle to staff acute medicine services 24/7. Telehospitalist models are emerging as an alternative to provide inpatient medicine services in rural settings. In a 2018 needs assessment of rural Veterans Health Administration (VHA) hospitals, 60% percent reported being short on […]

Background: Patients with complex medical problems are at high risk of readmission when transitioning from the hospital to home, especially when they reside in rural areas (as is the case within our VA Health Care System (HCS)). Innovative solutions are needed to improve access to post hospitalization follow up within our facility. We hypothesized that […]

Background: Virtual care is becoming a fully realized modality of providing patient care (1, 2). In hospital medicine, the transition of care from inpatient to outpatient can be challenging to carry out efficiently and effectively while mitigating any preventable harm that may arise prior to a scheduled follow-up appointment with a primary care physician (PCP). […]