Background: Hospitalists rely on patients’ family members and caregivers to convey medical history, communicate on the patient’s behalf, assist with decision making, participate in care training, partake in discharge planning and provide support. With the rise of COVID-19 infection rates across the country, hospitals promptly enforced strict visitation protocols to prevent transmission, preserve PPE and [...]

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented changes to the way healthcare is delivered. While the impact of death and comorbidity due to infections with SARS-CoV-2 is a ubiquitous concern, it is unclear what effect this pandemic is having on hospitalized patients who are not infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. We seek to estimate the [...]

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has placed additional stress on the healthcare system. Not only do we face large volumes of high acuity patients, but also acute shortages of healthcare providers. Physician shortages were particularly pressing to our institution. COVID-19 patients were cohorted to our Hospital Medicine (MHS) service to minimize exposure and risks to house [...]

Background: We compared 1) monthly rates of hospitalizations by disease severity and heart failure types, 2) measures of in-hospital care process, 3) and 30-day clinical outcomes of patients with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) hospitalized during COVID-19 pandemic with those admitted in pre-pandemic periods. Methods: Retrospective study of 8989 ADHF hospitalizations (6769 unique patients, mean [...]

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has dramatically altered how clinicians care for hospitalized patients in the setting of a highly contagious respiratory disease. Changes seen across hospitals include implementation of medical distancing guidelines (i.e. reduced in-person patient contact) and creation of respiratory isolation units (RIUs) for patients with COVID-19. While medical distancing has [...]

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a profound impact on global health, economies, and society, further increasing strain on public healthcare, while exacerbating psychosocial stressors. Multiple single-center and regional studies have shown an overall increase in national rates of firearm injury-related emergency department (ED) visits (FIRE) during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study [...]

Background: With nearly 60 million cases and 1.4 million deaths globally (1), the COVID-19 pandemic has been deemed a traumatic event that transcends the range of normal human experience (2). History suggests those on the frontline of disasters are at risk of burnout, depression, post- traumatic stress disorder, and in grim cases—suicide. (3) The current [...]

Background: In April 2020, New York was the global epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. With as many as 12,000 new COVID-19 cases reported each day, many hospital beds and intensive care units were at capacity. As a part of Operation Gotham, the US Army Corps of Engineers transformed the Jacob K Javits Center in Manhattan [...]

Case Presentation: A 64-year-old woman with a past medical history of hypertension presented with a sudden onset of slurred speech, right gaze preference, and left-sided body weakness while at a hair salon. In the Emergency Department, she was afebrile, blood pressure 110/70 mmHg, and heart rate 105 beats per minute. CT head without contrast revealed [...]

Case Presentation: The patient is a 58-year-old African-American male with no known past medical history. He presented to the emergency room complaining of shortness of breath. He had been at home taking care of his parents, who were both COVID-19 positive, for the past four weeks. He reported that he has been feeling unwell since [...]