Background: Assessing severity of illness using available electronic medical record (EMR) data on admission and predicting inpatient mortality is very challenging. Lacking standardized practices around end of life issues, hospitalists use their clinical judgment in making these crucial decisions. Prolonged discussions may be needed in medically complex patients to direct an optimal plan of care [...]

Background: CDC guidelines recommend and promote public awareness for Hepatitis C virus (HCV) screening for baby boomers (1945-1965) and individuals who report risk factors such as IDU. These strict guidelines and targeted educated are hindering positive patients who are non- baby boomers without risk factors from entering care due to the lack of education for [...]

Background: Disparities in screening mammography use persist among low-income women, even those who are insured, despite the proven mortality benefit. We evaluated the prevalence of breast cancer screening non-adherence among hospitalized women and their receptivity to inpatient screening mammography as a novel approach to increase breast cancer screening rate. Methods: A cross sectional study was [...]

Background: Approximately 15% of women in the United States aged 35-79 year are at high risk for developing breast cancer, however less than 0.2% of these women reported taking chemoprevention to reduce their risk. Objective of the study was to characterize the current utilization of chemoprevention agents among hospitalized women who are at higher risk [...]

Background: To evaluate prevalence of non-adherence to breast cancer screening guidelines after bedside educational intervention and informed individualized risk assessment score during an inpatient stay. Methods: A prospective intervention study was conducted among 507 cancer-free (except skin cancer) women aged 50-75 years hospitalized to a general medicine service. Study intervention included one-on-one bedside education via [...]

Background: Guidelines recommend in-hospital evaluation with cardiac monitoring and transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) to assess syncope in patients that are considered high-risk for major adverse cardiovascular events. We sought to identify variables associated with performing TTE in patients presenting with syncope. Methods: We abstracted demographic and clinical data from all patients evaluated for syncope at the [...]