Background: Delays in the discharge of the hospital ward patients cause a backlog for new admissions from the Emergency Department, and transfers from the Intensive Care Units and telemetry units. This bottleneck unnecessarily increases overall resource utilization and also negatively impacts patient care and satisfaction. Therefore, our Internal Medicine Residency Program aimed through this quality […]

Background: Delays in the discharge of the hospital ward patients cause a backlog for new admissions from the Emergency Department, and transfers from the Intensive Care Units and telemetry units. This bottleneck unnecessarily increases overall resource utilization and also negatively impacts patient care and satisfaction. Therefore, our Internal Medicine Residency Program aimed through this quality […]

Background: Nurse-physician teamwork is a critical determinant of outcomes among hospitalized patients. Although improvement interventions have been designed for specific settings (eg, intensive care units and operating rooms), less attention has been given to nurse-physician teamwork in hospital medicine. Therefore, our goal was to assess the quality and effectiveness of interventions for improving nurse-physician teamwork […]

Background: Hospitalizations are disruptive, stressful, and costly for patients and families. Readmissions are costly for payers. Readmissions within 30 days occur in 13% of pediatric hospitalizations; prior studies estimate 30-day unplanned readmission rates to children’s hospitals at 6.5%.  However, estimates of unplanned readmission are based on non-validated algorithms developed by expert opinion to exclude planned […]

Background: Service excellence in the U.S. hospitals, as measured by patient satisfaction scores, is receiving more attention, with the results being reported publicly and affecting reimbursement rates. Ideally, accurate feedback could be given to individual providers to improve their performance; however, the current survey methods have significant shortcomings that limit their usefulness. Methods: We developed […]

Background: For patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) who undergo percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), antithrombotic therapy including oral anticoagulants (OAC) and antiplatelets are indicated. The optimal combination is not known. We investigated the efficacy and safety of different antithrombotic strategies in patients with AF undergoing PCI. Methods: PUBMED and EMBASE were searched through September 2019 for […]

Background: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is defined as a sleep disorder marked by pauses in breathing of 10 seconds or more causing unrestful sleep and accompanied by loud or abnormal snoring, daytime sleepiness, irritability, and depression. According to the National Sleep Foundation, more than 18 million Americans have OSA, 80% of whom are undiagnosed. The […]

Case Presentation: A 25‐year‐old man, diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematous (SLE) 6 months prior and undergoing a workup for LUPUS NEPHRITIS, was brought to the emergency department by his family for weakness and altered mental status, for 1 day. Per the family, the patient complained of generalized body weakness on the morning of admission. Subsequently, […]

Background: In 2011, ~3.3 million adult 30-day US hospital readmissions generated $41.3 billion in hospital costs. $8.26 billion (20%) of this was considered preventable. Numerous studies demonstrate relationships between hospital readmissions and social determinants of health (SDoH). Lack of education, socioeconomic status, and lack of social support have all been cited as core contributors to […]

Case Presentation: A 77‐year‐old African American man with no significant medical history was admitted for progressive memory loss and confusion. A CT without contrast was performed as part of the dementia workup, which showed bilateral parietal lobe masses versus venous infarcts. CT with contrast and MRI were performed, which were unable to differentiate mass from […]