Nonphysician providers in hospital medicine: Not so fast

No abstract.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/64916/1/584_ftp.pd

Tried and true: A survey of successfully promoted academic hospitalists

BACKGROUND: Academic hospital medicine is a new and rapidly growing field. Hospitalist faculty members often fill roles not typically held by other academic faculty, maintain heavy clinical workloads, and participate in nontraditional activities. Because of these differences, there is concern about how academic hospitalists may fare in the promotions process. OBJECTIVE: To determine factors critical to the promotion of successfully promoted hospitalists who have achieved the rank of either associate professor or professor. DESIGN: A cross‐sectional survey. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty‐three hospitalist faculty members at 22 academic medical centers promoted to associate professor rank or higher between 1995 and 2008. MEASUREMENTS: Respondents were asked to describe their institution, its promotions process, and the activities contributing to their promotion. We identified trends across respondents. RESULTS: Twenty‐six hospitalists responded, representing 20 institutions (79% response rate). Most achieved promotion in a nontenure track (70%); an equal number identified themselves as clinician‐administrators and clinician educators (40%). While hospitalists were engaged in a wide range of activities in the traditional domains of service, education, and research, respondents considered peer‐reviewed publication to be the most important activity in achieving promotion. Qualitative responses demonstrated little evidence that being a hospitalist was viewed as a hindrance to promotion. CONCLUSIONS: Successful promotion in academic hospital medicine depends on accomplishment in traditional academic domains, raising potential concerns for academic hospitalists with less traditional roles. This study may provide guidance for early‐career academic hospitalists and program leaders. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2011. © 2011 Society of Hospital MedicinePeer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/86910/1/894_ftp.pd

Non–housestaff medicine services in academic centers: Models and challenges

Non–housestaff medicine services are growing rapidly in academic medical centers (AMCs), partly driven by efforts to comply with resident duty hour restrictions. Hospitalists have emerged as a solution to providing these services given their commitment to delivering efficient and high-quality care and the field's rapid growth. However, limited evidence is available on designing these services, including the similarities and differences of existing ones. We describe non–housestaff medicine services at 5 AMCs in order to share our experiences and outline important considerations in service development. We discuss common challenges in building and sustaining these models along with local institutional factors that affect decision making. Keys to success include ensuring an equitable system for scheduling and staffing, fostering opportunities for scholarly activities and academic promotion (defining the “academic hospitalist”), and providing compensation that supports recruitment and retention of hospitalists. With further work hour restrictions expected in the future and increased requests for surgical comanagement, the relationship between AMCs and hospitalists will continue to evolve. To succeed in developing hospitalist faculty who follow long careers in hospital medicine, academic leadership must carefully plan for and evaluate the methods of providing these clinical services while expanding on our academic mission. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2008;3:247–255. © 2008 Society of Hospital Medicine.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/60235/1/311_ftp.pd

Evaluating the impact of emergency department crowding on disposition patterns and outcomes of discharged patients

Abstract Background Crowding is a major challenge faced by EDs and is associated with poor outcomes. Objectives Determine the effect of high ED occupancy on disposition decisions, return ED visits, and hospitalizations. Methods We conducted a retrospective analysis of electronic health records of patients evaluated at an adult, urban, and academic ED over 20 months between the years 2012 and 2014. Using a logistic regression model predicting admission, we obtained estimates of the effect of high occupancy on admission disposition, adjusted for key covariates. We then stratified the analysis based on the presence or absence of high boarder patient counts. Results Disposition decisions during a high occupancy hour decreased the odds of admission (OR = 0.93, 95% CI: [0.89, 0.98]). Among those who were not admitted, high occupancy was not associated with increased odds of return in the combined (OR = 0.94, 95% CI: [0.87, 1.02]), with-boarders (OR = 0.96, 95% CI: [0.86, 1.09]), and no-boarders samples (OR = 0.93, 95% CI: [0.83, 1.04]). Among those who were not admitted and who did return within 14 days, disposition during a high occupancy hour on the initial ED visit was not associated with a significant increased odds of hospitalization in the combined (OR = 1.04, 95% CI: [0.87, 1.24]), the with-boarders (OR = 1.12, 95% CI: [0.87, 1.44]), and the no-boarders samples (OR = 0.98, 95% CI: [0.77, 1.24]). Conclusion ED crowding was associated with reduced likelihood of hospitalization without increased likelihood of 2-week return ED visit or hospitalization. Furthermore, high occupancy disposition hours with high boarder patient counts were associated with decreased likelihood of hospitalization

“Above or below?” The approach to clinical conundrums by an expert clinician is revealed through presentation of an actual patient's case in an approach typical of morning report. Similar to patient care, sequential pieces of information are provided to the clinician who is unfamiliar with the case. The focus is on the thought processes of both the clinical team caring for the patient and the discussant.

No abstract.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/49290/1/2_ftp.pd