Hospital Medicine

A recent study from Kaiser Permanente shows that women with diabetes face a 26% greater risk of also developing atrial fibrillation.

Great for healthcare providers, but bad for patients?

Researchers have developed the first mathematical model in cardiology and emergency medicine that enables clinicians to more quickly and reliably diagnose acute heart failure (AHF) in emergency room patients.

The impetus for Alfred I. DuPont Hospital for Children’s switch to a centralized system came about because the hospital administrators wanted patients communicating with live people. An admirable goal for sure, but with only two live people available to take calls at anyone time, patients often ended up spending 15 minutes on hold waiting for a human voice, becoming frustrated and hanging up.

Despite being considered and at-risk group due to disease- and drug-induced immunosuppression, only one of two arthritic adults will receive a flu vaccination, according to a recent phone study.

I was out of town on business and had a 'slip & fall.' After many tries and many hours on the phone, Oxford could not direct us to a plan orthopedist—hand surgeon? Yes; Foot and ankle? Didn't happen. Ironically (or was it?), that bureaucratic hurdle saved them a bundle.

We all know the current story with Primary Care. Myself? I got out over a year ago. I am now a Hospitalist. Shorter hours, better pay, way less paper work. No call. No hassle.

At a healthcare forum hosted by Politics magazine, current and former members of Congress said they believed President Obama would sign some sort of a healthcare reform package, most likely later this year. “There would be too much political damage done if something doesn’t pass, so Congress will find a way,” said Congressman Michael Burgess, MD (R-TX).

Hospitals now focus on how soon a patient will be discharged.

Playing this weird but popular game led to the suspension of hospital staff.

Welcome to the brave new world created by health insurance companies in Massachusetts—where all the doctors are to be above average—or their patients will be financially punished.

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN have designed “teachable software” that can mimic the human brain to help diagnose cardiac infections without the need for an invasive exam.

A case report notes that several studies have linked preinfarction angina with a lower incidence of complications in hospitalized patients, particularly in older patients and in patients with diabetes.

The Joint Commission's Health Services Research Department conducted a survey of nearly 2,000 hospitals and found that 45% have a smoke-free facility policy. This represents close to a 3% increase since 1992 when the Joint Commission required all of its accredited hospitals to ban smoking inside the hospital.

According to an article in the online news organization Huffington Post, physicians are increasingly bringing their views on healthcare reform into the examination room.

Working in a hospital, I spend far more time practicing social work and case management than I do medicine.

Researchers from the Heart Center at Massachusetts General Hospital have discovered that, in patients who are recovering from coronary-artery bypass grafting, high levels of a particular biomarker may be a new prognostic tool for diagnosing heart attacks.

Making the transition from outpatient to inpatient has been thankfully only a slightly “bumpy” road, but it is amazing looking back on how our approach to inpatient diabetes care and hyperglycemia on the whole has changed over the past 10 years.

Hospitals and healthcare providers are increasingly using social networking to reach patients.

As you may know, in about 10% of people, the natural history of GERD is progression to Barrett's esophagus, where the normal squamous epithelial lining of the esophagus is displaced by columnar epithelium from the intestine (intestinal metaplasia).

Scientists from the University of Heidelberg Hospital have discovered why thicker blood may simultaneously increase and decrease an individual’s risk for heart attack and stroke.

Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is “relatively common” among patients who have recently been discharged from the hospital and who go into home-based health care, the results of a new study show, and these patients may pose the risk of transmitting the illness to others in the household.

The concept of healthcare reform is pointless unless we address fraud and waste. It matters little whether providers are cognizant of the fact they are defrauding or are just financial dullards.

Vineet Arora, MD, discusses the use of point of care technology with hospitalists.

A cannibalistic process in cells may be the key to prevent harmful bacteria from becoming successful pathogens, and a decrease in this process may also lead to problems in the way that the intestinal tract handles infections.

Health officials overseeing the move for health care information technology (HIT) under government incentives are concerned that breaches of EHR systems are a serious possibility and that preventative measures need to be put in place.

The AMA proposal to ban lab coats is an infection control measure, but will it work?

Researchers at Northwestern University have discovered both a new tool for treating wounds and a new method for delivering the treatment.

Highly active antiretroviral therapy used to treat both HIV and hepatitis B "helps to better control" the HBV infection and may delay or even prevent liver complications, according to new research.

Researchers at the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology have come up with a way to reactivate latent HIV cells that may lead to the eradication of these cells.