Journal of general internal medicine
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Hospitalists are well poised to serve in key leadership roles and in frontline care in particular when facing a pandemic such as the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) infection. Much of the disaster planning in hospitals around the country addresses overcrowded emergency departments and decompressing these locations; however, in the case of COVID-19, intensive care units, emergency departments, and medical wards ran the risk of being overwhelmed by a large influx of patients needing high-level medical care. In a matter of days, our Division of Hospital Medicine, in partnership with our hospital, health system, and academic institution, was able to modify and deploy existing disaster plans to quickly care for an influx of medically complex patients. We describe a scaled approach to managing hospitalist clinical operations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Vitamin D deficiency is associated with chronic pain syndromes and higher opioid use among cancer patients, but its association with opioid use among opioid-naïve subjects following a major surgical procedure with acute pain has not been explored. ⋯ Patients undergoing common surgical procedures with deficient 25D levels are more likely to have higher opioid use and an increased risk of opioid use disorder compared to those with sufficient levels. Serum 25D levels may serve as a biomarker to identify subjects at increased risk of opioid misuse.
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Previous studies have not explored the effect of HPV vaccination on health status at a longer time interval. Similarly, self-reported physical and mental health in recipients of the HPV vaccine has not been studied. ⋯ We conclude that HPV vaccination was not associated with physical and mental health complaints among girls in secondary education institutions in Denmark after a median of 5.3 years since HPV vaccination.
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National guidelines indicate that healthcare providers should routinely screen women of reproductive age for experience of intimate partner violence. We know little about intimate partner violence (IPV) screening and disclosure experience among women older than reproductive age. ⋯ Middle-aged women may benefit from routine IPV screening and response in the healthcare setting. Such interventions should be sensitive to concerns regarding stigma and privacy that may be prevalent among this population.