November 2008
Top Docs
The doctors recognized in ACP Hospitalist’s first annual Top Hospitalists issue include teachers, quality improvement gurus, researchers and bloggers. They’ve focused on improving geriatric care, growing hospital admissions, facilitating transitions of care and raising staff satisfaction. ACP Hospitalist’s editorial board members sifted through the nominations and narrowed the field down to 10 Top Hospitalists, who are profiled here.
Letter from the Editor
Last spring, when we decided to recognize top hospitalists, we had no idea what to expect.
The hospitalized hospitalist
James S. Newman, FACP, recalls (somewhat fuzzily) his hip transplant.
Calling for backup before it's needed
Failure to rescue, the failure to identify patients with critical abnormalities and provide the resources necessary to prevent harm, was one of the top three preventable errors found in hospitals in 2004-2006, accounting for 17% of total errors. Experts offer their solutions.
Windshield time and North Dakota nice
Despite having one of the country's lowest reimbursement rates, North Dakota offers above average scores on access, quality, utilization, equity and health outcomes in recent rankings.
Risk-assessment tool makes sure clots are prevented whenever possible
A hospitalist creates a program to teach VTE prophylaxis, and then teaches others to spread the word.
Closing the loop on medication errors
Barcodes were supposed to prevent problems, but instead, staff developed workarounds to speed care. Ferret out the problems before fatalities occur.
Finding an algorithm for heart failure
The OPTIMIZE-HF study showed which symptoms predicted likelihood of in-hospital mortality from decompensated congestive heart failure and what were the most important predictive factors. Now, there's an algorithm for stratifying patients.
Measure of the month: coronary artery disease
Measure of the month: Coronary artery disease.
Monitor patients with hepatic impairment who take erlotinib
Monitor patients with hepatic impairment who take erlotinib.
Journal watch: recent studies of note
Recent studies about pre-surgery beta-blockers, sepsis perception##mdash;practice gaps, and other topics.