Background: Patients undergoing cardiac surgery are at risk of anemia from blood loss, inflammation, and red blood cell lysis, necessitating blood product utilization and increasing the risk of post-operative complications. RBT-1 (a combination of stannic protoporfin and iron sucrose) is a novel preconditioning drug administered prior to surgery that upregulates anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and iron scavenging [...]

Background: Controversy still exists regarding the use of angiotensin axis blockade (AAB) with angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) and angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) drugs preoperatively. Multiple studies suggest the AAB results in acute kidney injury (AKI) (1,2), while other studies do not (3,4 ). Some studies suggest that the AKI associated with AAB is due [...]

Case Presentation: A 55-year-old male with history of bilateral degenerative hip joint disease presented for worsening serosanguinous drainage from his wounds one week after bilateral hip replacement. He further developed diaphoresis and chills and received cephalexin at an outside hospital from where he was later discharged. He did not have improvement from antibiotics and his [...]

Background: Communication errors in the post-operative period have been shown to contribute to patient harm and excess costs. There are no existing standards for the verbal handoff of post-operative patients to the acute care inpatient unit. There is limited literature describing hospitalist and surgeon experiences of and preferences for such handoffs. Our aim was to [...]

Case Presentation: A 70-year-old with a hyperlipidemia, diabetes, coronary artery disease, heart failure with mildly reduced ejection fraction and vascular dementia was admitted to the Orthopaedic Surgery service after a fall sustaining a femoral neck fracture. On assessment by the Hospital Medicine consultation service, the patient had clear lungs and no cardiac murmurs. Admission labs [...]