Background:   Congestive heart failure (CHF) and pneumonia are amongst the leading causes of hospitalization in the United States.  Although a growing number of hospitals use both teaching and nonteaching hospitalist services for patient care, the differences in clinical outcomes and efficiency between these two services is not clearly known. The aim of this study [...]

Background: At our Level 1 trauma center, geriatric trauma (GT) patients are primarily managed by hospitalists with surgical consultation. This care model offloads the trauma surgical services, improving time to surgery and hospital throughput. As the number of injured GT patients rose, so did the need to address a higher complication risk, longer hospital stays, [...]

Background: Overuse of urine testing may result in downstream events that impact antibiotic use and hospital length of stay (LOS). The aims of this study were to examine the impact of inpatient urine culture testing on inpatient antibiotic use and hospital length of stay using a national administrative dataset. Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort [...]

Background: It is not known whether hospital outcomes are different among patients with deafness/mutism compared to those without this disability. The purpose of this study was to assess clinical outcomes and utilization data among patients with deafness/mutism compared to all other patients. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study. Nationwide Inpatient Sample year 2017, hospitalized [...]

Background: Older adults presenting with trauma have worse outcomes than younger adults with similar injury severity. In 2013, the American College of Surgeons Trauma Quality Improvement Program published guidelines that recommended geriatrics consultation (GC) for high-risk older adults. Many trauma centers implemented GC in congruence with these guidelines, but the impact on patient outcomes is [...]

Background: Sickle cell disease (SCD) affects about 100,000 people in the US. The disease causes significant mortality, morbidity and frequent hospitalizations secondary to primary manifestations of the disease and its complications. We conducted a retrospective, single institution study in adult patients (pts), ≥ 18 years with SCD to assess factors associated with health care utilization [...]

Background:  The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has recently enabled millions of U.S. adults to acquire healthcare coverage.  The differential shift in payer mix in Medicaid-expansion versus non-expansion states after ACA implementation may be relevant to hospitals beyond reimbursement.  Medicaid has historically been associated with longer hospitalizations and higher mortality in diverse patient populations, more so [...]

Background: In 2011, sepsis accounted for more than $20 billion (5.2%) of total US hospital costs.  The CDC estimates that hospitalizations for sepsis or septicemia increased from 621,000 to 1,141,000 in 2000 and 2008 respectively.  Severe sepsis has an in-hospital mortality rate of 28.6-37.7%, and those who survive may face a difficult recovery including long-term [...]

Background: Obesity is associated with many cardiopulmonary comorbidities independently associated with worse health outcomes in acute illness, yet the physiological mechanisms potentially making obese patients more susceptible to COVID-19 remain uncertain. Adiposity-derived immunosuppression, increased thrombogenic potential, and predilection towards inflammatory hyperreactivity have all been postulated as potential mediators of this phenomenon. Yet, the most obvious [...]

Background: The 2015 Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) guidelines recommend the use of systemic corticosteroids in the treatment of acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD). Although prior guidelines did not recommend a dose or route, current guidelines recommend oral (PO) prednisone over intravenous (IV) methylprednisolone for non-ICU AECOPD hospitalizations, given [...]