January 2010


Neil H Winawer ACP Member and Kimberly D Manning ACP Member of Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta

More than a mentor

Mentors play a crucial role in helping less experienced physicians develop their careers. A good coach can provide needed perspective and guidance.

Helping patients kick the habit

In the face of recent reports that U.S. smoking rates are no longer declining, hospitalists may be ideally situated to help patients quit.

A bundle of care that keeps elderly patients out of the hospital

Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas instituted a pilot project providing a “care bundle” to elderly patients at particularly high risk for returning to the hospital.

Future of antibiotics worries infectious disease experts

At the Infectious Diseases Society of America meeting last fall, one of the issues that most riled the experts was antibiotics, specifically the lack of them.

Twelve ways to improve hospitalist communication

An expert from the annual Medical Group Management Association meeting offers tips.

When the findings don't fit

A Fellow investigates a young woman's elevated testosterone level and reaches a diagnosis even though the lab results and imaging conflict. Our diagnostic experts consider confirmation bias and how this internist sidestepped being misled.

Comforting the chronically ill

David K. Jones, MD, takes palliative care up a notch.

Letter from the Editor

Mentoring has a long history in medicine, particularly in the area of research. These days, many physician mentors go beyond advising their less experienced colleagues on specific projects and act more like coaches, helping guide their apprentices to new career heights.

Going up, please

Every morning, our team faced the same difficult decision: going up the stairs or getting on the elevator.

Documenting adverse drug reactions and poisonings

Adverse effects of a correctly administered drug or drugs must be coded and reported differently than the misuse of a drug, which is classified as “poisoning” in ICD-9-CM coding.

Inpatient deaths cost nearly $20 billion; septicemia leading cause

One of every three people who died in the U.S. in 2007 was in the hospital for treatment at the time of death.

Test yourself: Infectious diseases

The following cases and commentary, which address infectious diseases, are excerpted from ACP's Medical Knowledge Self-Assessment Program (MKSAP14).

In the News

Proxies' perceptions about dementia, and more.