Background: Adolescent reproductive health education is essential to prevent transmission of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and teen pregnancy. Half of all new STIs occur among 15-24 year-olds and 1 in 4 adolescent females has had an STI. In the United States, approximately 750,000 teenagers become pregnant per year. Adolescents are known to have poor access [...]

Background: The transition from adolescent to adult care has been associated with worse outcomes including increased mortality (1). Improved patient experience (PEX) correlates with decreased inpatient mortality rates and better adherence to quality guidelines (2) as well as lower 30- day readmission rates for patients with heart failure, acute MI and pneumonia (3). Hospitalized adolescents [...]

Background: E-cigarette or vaping-associated lung injury (EVALI) was first reported in 2019 in the United States (1-2). Reported lung findings in this disease include acute respiratory distress syndrome, acute eosinophilic pneumonia, hypersensitivity pneumonia, and giant cell interstitial pneumonitis (3-5). Considering the additional reports of diffuse alveolar hemorrhage and hemoptysis (6-11), we obtained coagulation studies prior [...]

Background: Adolescents have poor access to preventive care and outpatient providers face many barriers to addressing sexual health with adolescents. Recent literature advises providers to address sexual health in nontraditional settings including emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations. In our previous work we identified missed opportunities to address sexual health on the hospital medicine service, [...]

Background: Despite the growing emphasis on high-quality HCT, there remains a paucity of evidence to guide inpatient providers in transitioning adolescents to adult medical care. An inter-professional team at our institution created a video incorporating Self-Determination Theory (SDT) concepts as the educational construct emphasizing key elements of HCT.   The objectives were to determine the effect [...]

Background: Improved outcomes in pediatric to adult-oriented HCT especially for children with special health care needs (SHCN) are a national objective of Healthy People 2020, with only 40% of adolescents with SHCN currently meeting the national core outcomes in pediatric to adult-oriented HCT. Despite the potential of hospitalized AYA being higher utilizers of the health [...]

Background: The three most common childhood-onset chronic conditions for which adolescents and young adults (YA) use pediatric hospitals are congenital heart disease (CHD), cystic fibrosis (CF), and sickle cell disease (SCD). Existing studies do not establish clear clinical benefits to continued pediatric hospitalization over hospitalization at adult hospitals. We aimed to determine if if continued [...]

Background: One out of every 5 teens has had mental illness with severe impairment in their lifetime. Furthermore, from 2008-2015 the number of hospitalizations for suicidal ideation (SI)/suicide attempt (SA) more than tripled and the percentage of all hospitalizations doubled for SI/SA across 31 children’s hospitals. Given the increasing burden observed in the hospital setting, [...]

Case Presentation: A 17-year-old female with a past medical history of allergic rhinitis presents as transfer from an outside hospital for hemoptysis and chest pain. She reports three episodes of ¼ cup worth of bright red blood occurring within the last six months. No reported triggers and no history of trauma, smoking, vaping, lung or [...]

Case Presentation: A seventeen year-old male was admitted for two weeks of intractable nausea and vomiting in the setting of daily marijuana use over the last two years. Symptoms were associated with weight loss (9 kg over 2 weeks) and temporarily improved with frequent hot showers (Figure 1). Despite the use of commonly effective antiemetic [...]