Background: Hospital medicine is the fastest growing subspecialty within internal medicine, growing from 10,000 hospitalists in 2002 to over 50,000 in 2016. Despite this growth, there remain relatively few hospitalists who are clinician investigators. We sought to quantify the number of clinician investigators, their dedicated time for research at major United States academic medical centers, [...]

Background:   Electronic cigarettes (E-cigarettes) have grown in popularity as an alternative to traditional cigarettes especially among consumers who want to reduce the risk of morbidity and mortality associated with smoking. Nonetheless, a recent study showed that both E-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes cause an increase in oxidative stress and endothelial dysfunction, however this effect is less [...]

Background: Mental fatigability is a measure of an individual’s susceptibility to increased mental fatigue resulting from engaging in physical and/or mental activities. Mental fatigability is important in hospitalized patients because it is has been shown to be associated with reduced physical activity levels, and reduced activity directly contributes to hospital associated disability and reduced functional [...]

Background:   Congestive heart failure is a leading cause of hospitalization in adults greater than 65 years old. It is estimated that over 1 million people are hospitalized annually with a primary diagnosis of heart failure. Given the challenges of heart failure management, readmission within 30 days of hospital discharge is estimated to be 24%. [...]

Background: Oral anticoagulation is effective for reduction of risk for stroke and systemic embolism in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation, but there may be uncertainty about how to manage anticoagulation in and following an emergency procedure or after treatment of hemorrhage. In case of an emergency, anticoagulation would ideally be immediately and completely reversed, bringing [...]

Background: Fatigability describes how fatigued a patient is at any given level of activity, and is measured as the degree of fatigue a patient experiences after performing a specific amount of activity. The National Institute of Aging has suggested that fatigability is an important measure in patients with conditions where fatigue is a prominent symptom, [...]

Background: Adolescent e-cigarette use was declared as an epidemic by the U.S. Surgeon general in 2018 and has severe health consequences, including e-cigarette, or vaping, product use-associated lung injury (EVALI). It is known that e-cigarette use is associated with mental health disorders and psychosocial stressors; however, there is a knowledge gap in characterizing psychosocial stressors [...]

Background: Patients diagnosed in-hospital with acute venous thromboembolism (VTE) are at high risk for post-discharge complications and readmission similar to patients with chronic conditions. Patient navigation reduces post-discharge complications and readmissions in patients with chronic diseases, however its role in acute conditions is less clear. Similarly, the use of mobile technology to improve patient engagement [...]

Case Presentation: Case presentationA 47 yo female with a history of hypertension, obesity, and prediabetes presented to the emergency department of a community hospital with a 2 week history of a nonproductive cough and generalized weakness. Her chest x-ray showed bilateral patchy airspace opacities. Chest CT PE protocol was negative for pulmonary embolus, but showed [...]

Case Presentation: A previously healthy, 20-year-old Caucasian male presented with worsening dyspnea after being diagnosed with pneumonia a week ago, and failed outpatient treatment with azithromycin. He denied sick contacts or recent travel; he endorsed vaping nicotine and THC oil once a week socially. On presentation, he was febrile to 100.8F, tachypneic to RR of [...]