December 2010


Photo by Thinkstock

Dealing with addiction

Routine screening and treatment coordination for substance abuse are relatively rare.

Helping patients help themselves

Research indicates that few eligible patients participate in a cardiac rehab program after hospital discharge.

Too much of a good thing?

Possible overuse of CTs is currently attracting attention from payers, regulators and politicians, but may be dealt with most simply by individual physicians.

Avoiding common compliance pitfalls

Adhering to privacy rules and other compliance areas can be difficult in the fast-paced world of hospital medicine.

Why doctors fight

One of the biggest challenges in getting physicians to work together cooperatively is the fact that they have never been trained to do so.

MGMA surveys show practice ownership, EHRs affect revenue

Hospitalist-owned practices and the specialist physicians employed by them report lower revenue than practices not owned by hospitals or integrated delivery systems.

Evidence that's not what it seems

The determination of whether a treatment would be futile is one of the toughest decisions a hospitalist can face.

Collaboration and experimentation reduce C. difficile infections

Rates drop by 73% on pilot wards at English hospital Salford Royal.

Letter from the Editor

One of the more frustrating experiences a hospitalist can have is to treat and discharge a substance-abusing patient, only to suspect that he or she will be right back in the hospital weeks or days later.

A lesson in serendipity

Sometimes after a hard morning of rounding, I hide in my office and distract myself by reading a tome from the past.

The physician as patient

Learning the science is easy. Learning what is actually important is so much more difficult.

Drug dependence and abuse

For coding purposes, the term “addiction” is not used, but is treated as synonymous with “dependence.”.

Test yourself: Alcohol abuse

These cases and commentary, which address alcohol abuse, are excerpted from ACP's Medical Knowledge Self-Assessment Program (MKSAP15).

New anticoagulant and oral MS drug approved

Details on the approval of dabigatran etexilate, and more.

Journal watch: Recent studies of note

Kidney decline and mortality in acute severe hypertension, and more.

In the News

Guidelines for determining brain death, and more.