Background: Executing safe transitions of care for hospitalized patients is important because of the vulnerability of patients during this time period.  While hospital-based providers frequently schedule appointments on behalf of their patients prior to discharge, cancellations and non-attendance (“no-shows”) for post-discharge follow-up appointments are anecdotally common and diminish the quality  of patient care.  Little is [...]

Background: Executing safe transitions of care for hospitalized patients is important because of the vulnerability of patients during this time period.  While hospital-based providers frequently schedule appointments on behalf of their patients prior to discharge, cancellations and non-attendance (“no-shows”) for post-discharge follow-up appointments are anecdotally common and diminish the quality  of patient care.  Little is [...]

Background: Control over work hours and schedule flexibility are important predictors of clinicians’ career satisfaction, work-life balance, and burnout, which are in turn linked to quality of patient care, recruitment, and retention. Additionally, several recent editorials questioned the “7-on/7-off scheduling.” In a rapidly expanding academic hospital medicine group with 63 physicians, the scheduling process is [...]

Background: The optimal duration of hospitalist clinical blocks is unknown. Longer block lengths may offer greater continuity and discontinuity between providers has been adversely associated with 30-day mortality and readmissions. However, extending days worked may lead to fatigue and negatively impact hospitalist satisfaction or contribute to burnout. We conducted a randomized trial comparing two different [...]