Ruth Jessen Hickman MD
Article
Poor Patient Health Literacy and Its Impacts
October 1, 2025
Understanding the complexities of health information and traversing the often obtuse, poorly organized, broader healthcare system can be difficult for even the most knowledgeable and educated...
Article
Setbacks, Disparities, and Long-Term Progress in Healthcare for LGBTQIA+ Individuals
June 2, 2025
During his adolescence in conservative Virginia, Ian Jenkins felt isolated and alone as he began getting in touch with his gay identity. He didn’t know any gay people, and they weren’t portrayed...
Article
The Balancing Act: How Hospitalists Juggle Clinical and Teaching Responsibilities
April 1, 2025
Among their many responsibilities, hospitalists typically rank patient care as their number one priority and the education of medical students, residents, and fellows as a critical number two. As...
Article
The Power of Attention and Specificity in Medical Trainee Evaluations
March 4, 2025
Many hospitalists regularly work with medical trainees—medical students, interns, and upper-level residents—and teaching, overseeing, and evaluating these trainees is an important aspect of the...
Article
New ACGME Peds Program Requirements Present Challenges and Opportunities
May 1, 2024
Although updates to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) program requirements for pediatric graduate medical education will present financial challenges to some hospitals...
Article
Questions Remain About Nirsevimab’s Impact
November 16, 2023
The new monoclonal antibody nirsevimab may radically change incidence and outcomes for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections in young pediatric patients, especially when combined with the...
Article
PCP Shortage Affects Hospitalists; What are the Options?
August 1, 2023
With worsening doctor shortages expected in many areas of medicine, including hospital medicine, the expected shortfall in primary care doctors is particularly sobering. A 2021 report from the...
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Article
SHM Advocates for Hospitalists and Their Patients
May 2, 2022
Advocacy, simply put, is the act of pleading or arguing in favor of something. It’s raising the concerns and voices of a group to efficiently influence decisions and affect change within...
Article
Guardianship issues lead to unnecessarily prolonged hospitalizations
February 3, 2022
Minors requiring guardianship are sometimes hospitalized for much longer than medically necessary because of placement issues. The same can happen for incapacitated adults who require some form of...
