Article
Coding Corner: Dazed and Confused
May 1, 2024
An 84-year-old woman with a history of dementia was admitted for worsening confusion over the last two days. Her initial workup in the emergency department is unremarkable including a normal...
Article
Is 7 Really the Magic Number for RBC Transfusion?
May 1, 2024
Over the past decade, there has been widespread adoption of restrictive red blood cell (RBC) transfusion guidelines.1,2 As a result, RBC transfusions have significantly decreased per...
Article
Can Pentoxifylline Improve Healing of Lower Extremity Ulcers?
May 1, 2024
Case The patient, Mr. D, has been experiencing swelling in his legs for several years, and seven months prior, he noticed that his skin had started to develop ulcers. He has class 3 obesity, type 2...
Article
Coding Corner: A Critical Opportunity
April 1, 2024
A 17-year-old with a history of major depressive disorder who is new to the hospitalist service is being transferred out of the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) after an intentional Benadryl...
Article
Reducing Use of NPO After Midnight for Inpatient Diagnostic and Therapeutic Procedures
March 1, 2024
Clinical question: Can an interprofessional quality improvement team reduce the use of nil per os (NPO) after midnight orders prior to inpatient diagnostic and therapeutic procedures requiring...
Article
How Can Hospitalists Help Reduce Harmful In-hospital Patient Falls?
March 1, 2024
An estimated 700,000 to 1,000,000 falls occur in hospitalized patients in this country every year, with one-quarter to one-third of the falls leading to injuries. At least 10% of those are serious...
Article
Debriefings After an Unexpected Hospital Death or Code
February 1, 2024
Hospitalist and palliative-care physician Kencee Graves, MD, FACP, recalls participating on a difficult code-team response while still a new medicine intern at the University of Utah, where she is...
Article
The Role of D-dimer in Diagnosing Pulmonary Embolism
February 1, 2024
Case A 58-year-old previously healthy woman presents with pleuritic chest pain triggered by moving heavy boxes. She denies dyspnea, extremity swelling, hemoptysis, recent surgery, immobility,...
Article
Coding Corner: Billing for Straightforward Pneumonia in a Hospitalized Patient
January 2, 2024
A 64-year-old woman with a history of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) was admitted to the hospital with decompensated heart failure one day ago. On day two, the patient is still...
Article
How Do You Ethically Integrate a GIP Hospice Service into the Hospital?
January 2, 2024
Case An 86-year-old female with a history of metastatic pancreatic cancer and diabetes was admitted for chest pain and dyspnea and found to have an acute pulmonary embolism. The hospital...