Feature Story
The perennial puzzle of pneumonia
Pneumonia diagnoses are often incorrect, studies show, and experts say hospitalists can improve the situation.
The evolution of the HM team
Hospital medicine (HM) programs increasingly employ nurse practitioners and physician assistants, but optimizing their role is still a work in progress for many.
Improving interpretation for inpatients
Experts offer tips for hospitalists on providing care to patients speaking any language amid an ongoing shortage of interpreters.
Hospitalists plus students
Direct care hospitalist teaching services have been on the rise, giving physicians and students more time to interact.
Texting for hospitalists
Experts are working on strategies to reduce the volume and interruptions of clinical texting.
Addressing partner, community violence
Hospitalists can help patients who've experienced violence by screening for the problem and offering resources to assist.
Stuck in the hospital
Delayed discharges of medically stable patients are a problem that's not going away.
Uncovering AF
Experts discuss the increasing evidence that new atrial fibrillation (AF) in an inpatient is something to worry about.
Adapt to autism
Awareness and a few simple changes can allow hospitalists to improve care for inpatients with the common neurodevelopmental condition.
Homelessness and hospitals
Hospitals and hospitalists are taking a harder look at their care for patients experiencing homelessness.
Rural hospitals moving into the future
Technological innovations may offer solutions to the challenges facing rural hospital medicine.
Quality and inequalities in sepsis measurement
CMS plans to start paying for performance on SEP-1. Sepsis quality experts have concerns and suggestions.
Handling high-sensitivity troponin
The advent of high-sensitivity troponin testing in U.S. hospitals may be another example of how less can be more.
Connecting with subspecialists on the outside
Freeing up an inpatient bed in a crowded hospital can sometimes be as simple as getting in touch with a subspecialist.
Holding off harms from addiction
Hospitalists can help their patients with substance use disorders by learning a little or a lot about harm reduction.
Handling class and classes at once
Medical school poses hidden challenges for students from less privileged backgrounds. Experts discuss how to help.
Recognize, respond to restrictive eating disorders
Hiding food, exercising discreetly, and manipulating feeding tubes are just a few behaviors hospitalists may have to address.
Take a bite out of HAP
Brushing teeth reduces hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) risk, and changes are needed to make this simple practice happen more regularly in the hospital.
Tackling ED boarding
Hospitalists can take ownership to reduce risks for patients, especially elderly ones.
High stakes: Considerations about cannabis
More Americans are taking cannabis, complicating inpatient care. Understanding patients' use patterns and history is key to mitigating risks during a hospital stay.
A bone to pick
Osteoporosis is undertreated in fragility fracture patients. Hospitalists have an opportunity to help close that gap.
An academic time crunch
Academic hospitalists discuss how to find time for education and research as the clinical workload keeps growing.
Getting SNF discharges up to snuff
Hospitalists are experimenting with videoconferences to help bridge the gap when patients are discharged to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs).
A job for AI
Experts assess the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to reduce the burden of documentation and coding.
Problems with grateful patient programs
ACP, researchers, and physicians highlight concerns with the ethics of hospital fundraising.
Playing the hospitalist character
Medical schools and hospitals are testing serious video games as a method to engage learners and improve care.
Walk this way
Increasing inpatient mobility is a common goal, but hospitals struggle to make it happen. Experts offer their advice.
Becoming a physician and a parent
Having a baby during residency doesn't have to be as hard as it is, say advocates for change.
Dig into the numbers
Hospitalists are finding career opportunities helping their hospitals use data to improve care.
Catching C. diff cases, not colonization
Researchers have found innovative ways to improve hospital systems for diagnosing Clostridioides difficile.
Considering ketamine
Evidence is limited, but low-dose ketamine may be an appropriate adjunct or alternative to opioids for certain patients in pain.
Remote work for hospitalists
Telehospitalist systems provide benefits for both small hospitals and physicians.
Procalcitonin do's and don'ts
Although the optimal use of procalcitonin is still up for debate, there are best practices for getting the most bang for this blood test.
Thinking about how you treat
The new field of management reasoning holds potential to improve medical education and practice, researchers say.
Adding up adverse events
Patient safety experts talk about the latest data and what hospitalists can do to improve them.
Rural hospitalists face unique challenges, rewards
Hunting for beds in tertiary facilities and providing outpatient consults are among the diverse responsibilities of hospitalists in remote areas.
Learning on the late shift
Training programs and hospitalists are working to make night coverage more educational.
Earning what you're worth
Median hospitalist compensation is up by nearly 8% since the end of 2020, even if it feels like inflation is negating those gains. Experts offered tips on making more without burning out.
Both healthy and tasty?
Nutrition experts weigh in on the latest trends in inpatient eating, from fast-food delivery to veganism.
Stopping the cycle of C. diff
Microbiota therapies offer exciting potential to reduce the burden of recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection, experts say.
Tough times for hospital finances
After a rough year, execs are looking for ways to get out of the red in 2023. They offered ideas on how hospitalists can help.
Hospitalists can help eliminate HCV
Hospitals are the latest frontier in global efforts to diagnose and treat hepatitis C virus (HCV).
From pediatric to adult hospital care
Treating young adults with chronic childhood conditions poses challenges for hospitalists, whether they're trained in adult medicine or pediatrics.
A boost in the middle
Faculty development leaders search for new ways to help mid-career hospitalists stay inspired and pursue their passions.
Owning OUD in the hospital
Less than 15% of patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) receive treatment with buprenorphine or methadone during hospitalization. New recommendations for hospitalists aim to change that.
Prescribing democracy
Physicians have historically voted less than average, but some are working to increase voter engagement among their hospital colleagues and patients.
Why are physicians unionizing?
Residents recently voted to newly unionize at Stanford University, the University of Southern California, and the University of Vermont, among other programs.
Revving up rural stroke response
Telehealth, helicopters, and hospitalists all have a part to play in reducing disparities in stroke outcomes, experts say.
Talking about heart failure
Patients with heart failure often have a hard time wrapping their heads around it. Hospitalists can do a lot to improve communication and education during hospitalization.
How much work is too much?
Researchers are working to identify the effects of heavy workload on hospitalists and their care.
Use your window into heart failure
A new guideline and experts urge hospitalists to maximize heart failure therapies, but also to be aware of their costs.
Growing an HM division
Hospitalist leaders at some facilities have moved their groups out from under the umbrella of general internal medicine to launch divisions of hospital medicine, in what they see as an evolutionary step for the field.
The problem with pulse ox
Research has long indicated that pulse oximeters can overestimate oxygen saturation in patients with darker skin, but experts are now trying raise awareness of the problem.
Treating alcohol withdrawal (and its cause)
Hospitalists should not only adequately address acute alcohol withdrawal but also consider working with patients to treat their alcohol use disorder after discharge, experts said.
It takes a team to prevent falls
Hospitalists play a key role in making their hospitals' fall prevention efforts more effective and encouraging patient mobility, experts say.
Ease up on antipsychotics
Antipsychotics started for an episode of agitation in the ICU are often continued through hospitalization and even after discharge, posing serious health risks to patients, experts say.
Periop in a pandemic
Without data or guidelines on when and whether to perform surgery on the many patients who have had COVID-19 infections after vaccination, hospitals and hospitalists are developing their own plans and protocols.
Enhancing the inpatient physical exam
Hospitalists debate the pros and cons of performing routine inpatient exams every day and offer their advice for improving how physical exams are taught and practiced.
Diagnosing pulmonary embolism
Experts offer advice on how to apply the wide variety of available validated scores and algorithms, but also clinical judgment, to find pulmonary embolisms without excessive testing.
Dementia in the hospital
The pandemic added to the pre-existing systemic and legal challenges clinicians face managing hospitalized patients with dementia and behavioral disturbances.
Pinpointing patients for PT
Research has shown that physical therapy (PT) consults are often ordered unnecessarily, yet many patients who could benefit from an inpatient PT consult don't receive one. Experts offered their advice to hospitalists on optimizing use.
How COVID-19 changed end-of-life care
Hospitalists have had to find new strategies during the pandemic in order to provide optimal care, including company and comfort, to dying inpatients and their families.