Background: Most academic general medical services cover patients across several different care units in the hospital. Studies have shown that de-regionalized care leads to a lack of team cohesion and poor communication between healthcare providers. Prior studies have shown that teamwork improves patient outcomes and increases health care worker satisfaction. However, little information using validated [...]

Background: Osteomyelitis is an acute or chronic infection of the bone structures which can be caused by either bacteria, fungi, or mycobacteria. Studies have reported a high annual incident of about 1 in 675 hospital admission in the United States. The overall incident is higher in the male population for reasons unclear and increases with [...]

Background: The approach to managing and admitting patients with syncope in an emergency setting lacks standardization. Our study aims to investigate how regional variation in management of emergency department (ED) patients presenting with syncope impacts outcomes and resource utilization in this patient population. Methods: We used the 2006 to 2014 Nationwide Emergency Department Sample to [...]

Background: The primary driver of hospital acquisitions is desire to increase market share. While financial impacts of hospital mergers are well demonstrated and include cost savings and economies of scale, quality impacts are less clear. A systematic review conducted through January 2020 reported inconsistent findings and few statistically significant results of hospital mergers on healthcare [...]

Background: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) exacerbations result in significant morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs. Understanding regional differences in clinical outcomes and healthcare utilization among patients hospitalized with COPD may provide insight into best practices in caring for this vulnerable patient population. Methods: Using the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database for the years 2016 to [...]

Background: Patients with acute severe asthma exacerbations that are unresponsive to standard therapy are said to be in status asthmaticus (SA). Patients with SA need hospitalization and are at risk of considerable morbidity and mortality along with high healthcare costs. Understanding regional differences in clinical outcomes and healthcare utilization among patients hospitalized with SA may [...]

Background: Studies have shown geographically co-locating patients of the same physician (also known as regionalization) have improved provider satisfaction and increased team efficiency and collaboration. At most institutions, including ours, assigning physicians to patients and units is done manually. Furthermore, interventions to regionalize hospitals in the literature focus on grouping conditions, specialties, or teams (i.e., [...]

Case Presentation: A 62-year-old woman with hypertension, carpal tunnel syndrome, and a year-long history of complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) presented with chronic, severe right arm pain along with swelling and erythema. One year before this presentation, she had experienced right-hand numbness and tingling, leading to a carpal tunnel syndrome diagnosis and subsequent release surgery. [...]

Case Presentation: A 65-year-old male with hypertension, hyperlipidemia, type 2 diabetes, and hypothyroidism was admitted to the hospital with fevers and chills in the setting of leukopenia and thrombocytopenia. Symptoms began on his way home from India four days prior and progressed to a Tmax of 102F with chest congestion. His physician ordered labwork that [...]

Case Presentation: A 21-year-old woman presented to the emergency department with 1 month of worsening bilateral foot pain, swelling, and erythema. Her symptoms began shortly after a trip to Arizona, where she spent several days hiking and reported use of a strong massage gun on her feet for hours at a time. She was evaluated [...]