Background: Prior studies have found racial disparities in how patients are assessed for pain and prescribed opioids from emergency department and surgical settings. However, we do not know whether similar disparities exist among general medicine inpatients. We examined opioid prescriptions at discharge among adults admitted to the general medicine service at our medical center, with […]

Background: The Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) developed a recent accreditation standard requiring medical schools “must prepare medical students to function collaboratively on health care teams that include health professionals from other disciplines as they provide coordinated services to patients”.  Our academic tertiary medical center does not offer training for non-physician medical learners, therefore […]

Background: One in five Americans (64 million) speak a language other than English, and one in twelve Americans (26 million) speak English less than “very well”, classifying them as having limited English proficiency (LEP). LEP patients have difficulty navigating the healthcare system due to language barriers in understanding their treatment plans, communicating with providers and […]

Background: HCAHPS is a nationally standardized, publically reported survey of patients’ perspective of healthcare. However, the effect of HCAHPS reporting on hospitals with baseline low versus baseline high patient satisfaction with physicians has not been studied.  Therefore, our objective was to compare the long-term changes in the patient satisfaction with physicians in hospitals with baseline […]

Background: When people with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) access the US healthcare system, a disparity is created, leading to worse outcomes and lower quality of care.1-5 In-person interpreters are essential in circumventing these disparities, yet pitfalls to collaboration between providers and interpreters persist.6-9 This study’s goal was to assess barriers and identify opportunities for intervention […]

Background: The Pediatric Early Warning System (PEWS) is an established tool that aids in the identification of hospitalized patients at risk for clinical deterioration. Many pediatric institutions have adopted the PEWS as a patient safety initiative. At St. Louis Children's Hospital, it was initially deployed on the oncology unit in June 2011 and then subsequently […]

Background: The US has a heavy burden of deaths from opioid overdoses, and New Mexico is not excepted from this. Treatment options for opioid use disorder (OUD) are buprenorphine/naloxone (“Suboxone”), methadone, naltrexone, counseling, and/or behavioral therapy. Long-acting oral opioids like Suboxone, are the most effective methods for treating opioid withdrawal and OUD. They are often […]

Background: Patient satisfaction has attracted increasing attention as a surrogate indicator for quality of care and as a component of the new physician compensation structure. Interpersonal patient–physician relationships, a component of patient satisfaction, may be adversely affected by communication barriers and is of particular concern for the rising United States population of Hispanic/Latino (H/L) patients […]

Background: Health care equity, one of the six domains of high-quality health care as defined by the Institute of Medicine, will only be achieved when health care outcomes do not vary based on patient social characteristics, such as gender, race, ethnicity, geographic location, and socioeconomic status. Readmission is a significant outcome for patients and health […]

Case Presentation: A 46‐year‐old man presented with a weeklong history of abdominal cramps and sharp, substernal chest pain, with associated fevers up to 39.4°C, chills, and fatigue. On presentation, a CT of the abdomen and pelvis was notable only for small bilateral pleural effusions. He was given pain medication and discharged home. Given his history […]