Journal of hospital medicine : an official publication of the Society of Hospital Medicine
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The hospitalist workforce has been at the forefront of the pandemic and has been stretched in both clinical and nonclinical domains. We aimed to understand current and future workforce concerns, as well as strategies to cultivate a thriving hospital medicine workforce. ⋯ Five focus groups were held with 18 participants from 13 academic institutions. We identified five key areas: (1) support for workforce wellness; (2) staffing and pipeline development to maintain an adequate workforce to match clinical growth; (3) scope of work, including how hospitalist work is defined and whether the clinical skillset should be expanded; (4) commitment to the academic mission in the setting of rapid and unpredictable clinical growth; and (5) alignment between the duties of hospitalists and resources of hospitals. Hospitalists voiced numerous concerns about the future of our workforce. Several domains were identified as high-priority areas of focus to address current and future challenges.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Discharge in the a.m.: A randomized controlled trial of physician rounding styles to improve hospital throughput and length of stay.
To relieve hospital capacity strain, hospitals often encourage clinicians to prioritize early morning discharges which may have unintended consequences. ⋯ Prioritizing discharging patients first did not result in significantly earlier discharges or reduced LOS.
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Observational Study
Diagnostic delays among COVID-19 patients with a second concurrent diagnosis.
Little is known about the effect of a new pandemic on diagnostic errors. ⋯ Among 1249 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, 216 (17%) had evidence of a second diagnosis in the ED. The second diagnosis of 73 patients (34%) was delayed, with a mean (SD) delay of 1.5 (0.8) days. Medical treatment was deferred in 63 patients (86%) and interventional therapy in 26 (36%). The probability of an ED diagnosis was the lowest for Infection-related diagnoses (56%) and highest for surgical-related diagnoses (89%). Evidence for the second diagnosis by physical examination (adjusted odds ratios [AOR] 2.35, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.20-4.68) or by imaging (AOR 2.10, 95% CI 1.16-3.79) were predictors for ED diagnosis. Low oxygen saturation (AOR 0.38, 95% CI 0.18-0.79) and cough or dyspnea (AOR 0.48, 95% CI 0.25-0.94) in the ED were predictors of a delayed second diagnosis.
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Children with complex chronic conditions (CCCs) are at risk for adverse events (AEs) during hospitalizations. ⋯ In multivariable analysis, the adjusted incidence rate ratiofor AEs in children with CCCs was 0.5 (95% CI = 0.3-0.9, p = .01) with PFC I-PASS exposure; there was no statistically significant change in AEs for children without CCCs [IRR 0.6 (95% CI = 0.3-1.2; p = .1)].