March 2014


Illustration by Sarah Ferone

Redoing rounding

Learn about the advantages and challenges of different types of rounding, how to set them up effectively, and how to ensure they are working well.

Speaking up for patient safety

Hospitalists can help create a blame-free atmosphere of openness when it comes to discussing errors in patient care.

Is it pneumonia?

Concerns are growing that pneumonia is being overdiagnosed. Here's how you can stem the trend.

Medicare readmission penalties examined

Advice is given on how hospitals and clinicians can avoid the pitfalls of the penalty program, and how policymakers could change it to operate more effectively.

Affordable Care Act pressures intensivists

The act's emphasis on cost containment and care efficiency will be felt most acutely in the ICU, speaker predicts.

The future of advanced cardiac life support

Michael O’Connor, MD, offers his thoughts at the Society of Critical Care Medicine's Annual Congress in January.

Think outside the ICU, physician leader urges

Sick ICU patients outnumber the people allocated to care for them, notes J. Christopher Farmer, MD, FACP.

Internal Medicine 2014: Orlando sun and Doctor's Dilemma® fun

Teams from around the world will compete in the 20th-anniversary championship of Doctor's Dilemma at the meeting held in Orlando on April 8-12.

Tablets aren't just for doctors anymore

As part of a pilot, St. Rita's Medical Center in Lima, Ohio, distributed tablets with patient-centric software to patients on a cardiac step-down unit.

Signing up isn't enough

Only half of hospitals reported monitoring whether they gave discharge summaries to primary care physicians, study found.

Diagnostic documentation for oncology

Specific documentation is needed to reflect the severity of illness of these patients, as well as their associated risks, complexity of care, resources, and costs of care.

Vital signs are vital: focus on fever

Human body temperature must rank as one of the earliest “vital signs” recognized by our ancestors.

Letter from the Editor

This month's issue includes a cover story on rounding practices, features on pneumonia and patient safety, and conference coverage.

Cases from Tulane University School of Medicine

Real patient cases cover topics such as vitamin B12 deficiency, secondary Evans syndrome, and acute interstitial nephritis caused by zonisamide.

New drugs for type 2 diabetes and COPD

Details on the latest recalls, warnings, and label changes, as well as drug and device approvals.

Recent Research

Stroke readmissions, PICC use, career burnout, and more.

In the News

New oral anticoagulants, risk prediction for atrial fibrillation, and more.