Hospital Ephemera
Pushed to the forefront by a pandemic. Restrictions lifted we bring teaching back to the bedside. POCUS shows us the pleural effusion before the X-ray tech arrives. Bedside procedures. We still see one, do one, teach one. Dazzle the residents with the flashy side, don’t show them the SNFs yet. Patient complexity rises, outpaced only by volume. Establish a same-day clinic to see ED discharges. Keep length of stay down to keep the hospital happy. Document your medical decision making to meet your RVUs and keep your department happy. Fill out the query to keep the coders happy. Bring the hospital to the home and make the patient happy. Celebrate with graham crackers and peanut butter. In the back of our minds, will there be another wave? Clearance is out, risk stratification is in. Streamline the hospital’s pre-operative clinic. Inpatient surgical co-management. Discharge medication reconciliation. Readmission. Root cause analysis, find where we can do better. Turn it into a quality improvement project for your resident. Post acute care booms. Waiting for a bed. Endless inbox. Drafting tweetorials between floors. Committee meetings. Revamp telemetry orders to reduce unnecessary use. Choose wisely. Choose hospital medicine.
Dr. Caputo-Seidler
Dr. Caputo-Seidler (@jennifermcaputo) is a hospitalist in Tampa, Fla. Her interests include medical education, narrative medicine, and civic engagement. Her writings have appeared on KevinMD, STATNews, and SheMD.
Hospital Ephemera is Dr. Jennifer Caputo-Seidler’s submission for the National Hospitalist Day HM Voices contest.