Background: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of hospital readmissions in America. Over one-third of patients admitted for COPD exacerbations are readmitted within 90 days, with readmissions costing $15 billion. Medicare instituted financial penalties for excessive readmissions after COPD hospitalizations, incentivizing the creation of readmission prediction tools. Two such tools, the [...]

Background: Acute Exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (AECOPD) is the third leading cause of readmissions and is now included in the Medicare Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP). Our institution developed an inter-professional program aimed at reducing all-cause 30-day readmissions for patients admitted with AECOPD. Methods: We iteratively developed and piloted our inter-professional COPD HRRP [...]

Background: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of hospital readmissions in America. Over one-third of patients admitted for COPD exacerbations are readmitted within 90 days, with readmissions costing $15 billion. Medicare instituted financial penalties for excessive readmissions after COPD hospitalizations, incentivizing the creation of readmission prediction tools. Two such tools, the [...]

Background: Acute Exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (AECOPD) is the third leading cause of readmissions and is now included in the Medicare Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP). Our institution developed an inter-professional program aimed at reducing all-cause 30-day readmissions for patients admitted with AECOPD. Methods: We iteratively developed and piloted our inter-professional COPD HRRP [...]

Background: Endoscopies are commonly performed in the inpatient setting, and successful completion frequently requires close coordination among nurses, hospitalists, gastroenterologists, and anesthesiologists. Given the complexity of this multidisciplinary involvement, as well as variability in patient factors like clinical stability and presentation, endoscopies are prone to delays. These delays may cause frustration amongst care providers and [...]

Background: With the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, the need for telemedicine is growing rapidly worldwide. The development and improvement of remote physical examination systems, especially remote cardiopulmonary auscultation are required to facilitate telemedicine. A system combining an electronic stethoscope and Bluetooth connectivity is a promising option for remote auscultation in hospitals and clinics. However, the [...]

Background: Initial management of acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) aims towards aggressive fluid resuscitation to maintain hemodynamic stability. Existing evidence regarding benefit of early endoscopy is unclear with some studies suggesting mortality benefits and some suggesting otherwise. The purpose of this study is to evaluate if there is any mortality benefit of doing early endoscopy [...]

Background: As cannabis is legalized/decriminalized in more US jurisdictions, and social norms and perceptions around use change, many products for psychoactive, recreational use, and purported medical uses are available in edible and supplement formats. Rates of unintentional ingestion of cannabis products among children and adolescents have been described in the literature, but there is no [...]

Background: Use of Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy (PEG) tubes among patients with dementia is controversial, with multiple studies showing no clear benefit in terms of risks of aspiration, survival or quality of life. Despite this growing evidence, studies analyzing the trends of use of PEG tube among demented patients are lacking. We aimed to use a [...]

Background: As of 2016, there are approximately 36.7 million people living with HIV around the world. HIV infection is associated with tremendous psychological burden. Improvements in coping methods would be highly beneficial in this scenario. Crucial to this would be a high Coping Self-Efficacy (CSE). Defined as a “belief about one’s ability to perform specific [...]