Family Medicine Inpatient Service Research Articles

Case of Spontaneous Pneumothorax After Recent COVID Pneumonia Hospitalization.

An elderly man with COPD and heart failure was admitted to the Family Medicine Inpatient Service from the Emergency Department (ED) after experiencing acute onset of shortness of breath at home. He had recently been briefly hospitalized with COVID pneumonia. Upon arrival in the ED, he was requiring continuous positive airway pressure to maintain oxygen saturations. Overall, physical exam was notable for mild respiratory distress. Lab evaluation was unremarkable, but chest x-ray showed a right sided pneumothorax. Spontaneous pneumothoraces have been described in post-COVID cases, with COPD and mechanical ventilation thought to be risk factors. Treatment consists of supportive cares, needle decompression and thoracostomy if necessary. Providers should be aware of this rare albeit serious complication and monitor higher risk patients appropriately.

Can Life Experiences Predict Readiness for Residency? A Family Medicine Residency’s Analysis

BACKGROUNDProgram directors for Family Medicine residencies must navigate an increasingly complex recruitment landscape. With increasing United States allopathic and osteopathic graduates and continued high volumes of international graduates, the ability to identify application characteristics that predict quality residents both for filtering applications for interview offers and ranking is vital. Our study concentrates on the predictive value of reported life experiences including volunteerism, work experiences, prior career, research experience, and participation in medical student organizations including student leadership.METHODSThrough a retrospective cohort study, we extracted the described life experiences from resident application materials. We then obtained initial clinical performance data on the Family Medicine inpatient service during the first six months of residency to determine readiness for residency. This analysis occurred in 2020 and included all matriculants in the graduating classes of 2013 through 2020 for a single residency. Of 110 matriculating residents, data were available for 97(88%).RESULTSApplicants with a history of a prior career demonstrated improved overall readiness for residency with competency domain-specific advantages in Interpersonal and Communication Skills and Systems-Based Practice. In contrast, applicants reporting participation in research performed below peers in all competency domains. Applicant reports on volunteerism, work experience, academic productivity and student involvement did not correlate with initial clinical performance.CONCLUSIONSResidency directors should recognize applicants with prior careers as likely having strong communications and systems-based practice skills. All other examined experiences should be evaluated within the context of broader applicant assessments including research experience which overall has a potential negative correlation to clinical readiness.

Diffuse pustules

A 69-year-old man was seen by the Family Medicine Inpatient Service for the acute onset of a diffuse rash on his trunk. Careful inspection revealed that the lesions were not associated with hair follicles. The patient reported several episodes of a similar rash following chemotherapy (irinotecan, 5-fluorouracil, panitumumab) for colon cancer.What is your diagnosis?

Hand-off bundle implementation associated with decreased medical errors and preventable adverse events on an academic family medicine in-patient unit: A pre-post study.

To determine the impact of the implementation of a hand-off bundle on medical errors at an inpatient unit of an academic community teaching hospital. Our secondary objective was to determine the research utility of the use of an all-electronic data collection system for medical errors.A retrospective review was conducted of 1290 admissions 6 months before and after implementation of an improved computerized hand-off tool and training bundle. The study took place at an academic community teaching hospital on a Family Medicine inpatient service caring for patients of all ages. The comparison focused on preventable and non-preventable adverse events.A significant decrease in medical errors was noted. Medical error rate dropped from 6.0 (95% CI, 4.2-8.3) to 2.2 (95% CI, 1.2-3.7) per 100 admissions (P < .001). Preventable medical errors dropped from 0.65 (95% CI, 0.18-1.67) to 0.15 (95% CI, 0.03-0.82) per 100 admissions (P = .194). Non-intercepted potential adverse events dropped from 1.30 (95% CI, 0.56-2.57) to 0.44 (95% CI, 0.09-1.30) per 100 admissions (P = .131). Intercepted potential adverse events dropped from 0.98 (95% CI 0.36-2.13) to 0.74 (95% CI 0.24-1.7) per 100 admissions (P = .766) and errors with little potential for harm dropped from 2.77 (95% CI 1.61-4.43) to 0.74 (95% CI 0.24-1.7) per 100 admissions (P = .009).Implementation of a standardized hand-off bundle was associated with a reduction in medical errors despite a low overall event rate. Further studies are warranted to determine the generalizability of this finding, to examine the overall epidemiology of medical errors and the reporting of such events within general medical teaching units.

Behavioral Science Rounds: Identifying and Addressing the Challenging Issues That Residents Face on a Family Medicine Inpatient Service.

Training residents in the care of hospitalized patients offers an opportunity to integrate behavioral science education with medical care and to foster professional growth, given the severity of coexisting medical and psychosocial problems and the formation of intense transient relationships. Rarely do residents have the time or guidance to reflect on how these experiences and relationships affect them. Weekly behavioral science rounds (BSR) provide dedicated time to reflect on and discuss challenging clinical and professional developmental issues arising during inpatient training. To understand the range of issues that learners experience, we analyzed facilitator notes of 45 consecutive BSR discussions. Through open coding analysis we identified the common topics and recurring themes raised by residents. The most common topics related to residents' emotional responses, clinical challenges, and interpersonal conflicts. We identified frequently recurring themes, including understanding the power and limitations of the physician, defining roles and responsibilities, and articulating personal beliefs and values. Early first-year residents had difficulty acclimating to increased responsibility and worried about competence; later, they experienced strong emotional reactions, feared becoming cynical, and were apprehensive about future leadership roles. Inpatient BSR can serve as an important educational intervention and professional development tool at a critical time in training. BSR requires a commitment of teaching resources, an assurance that they will occur regularly, and a culture of safety in which residents trust their discussions will be confidential and that they will be treated with respect and caring.

Family Medicine Patients Have Shorter Length of Stay When Cared for on a Family Medicine Inpatient Service

Introduction: Hospitalists have been shown to have shorter lengths of stays than physicians with concurrent outpatient practices. However, hospitalists at academic medical centers may be less aware of local resources that can support the hospital to home transition for local primary care patients. We hypothesized that local family medicine patients admitted to a family medicine inpatient service have shorter length of stay than those admitted to general hospitalist services which also care for tertiary patients at an academic medical center. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted at an academic medical center with a department of family medicine providing primary care to over 80 000 local patients. A total of 3100 consecutive family medicine patients admitted to either the family medicine inpatient service or a general medicine inpatient service over 3 years were studied. The primary outcome was length of stay, which was adjusted using multivariate linear regression for demographics, prior utilization, diagnosis, and disease severity. Results: Adjusted length of stay was 33% longer (95% CI 24%-44%) for local family medicine patients admitted to general medicine inpatient services as compared with the family medicine inpatient service. Readmission rates within 30 days were not different (19% vs 16%, P = .14). Conclusions: Local primary care patients were safely discharged from the hospital sooner on the family medicine inpatient service than on general medicine inpatient services. This is likely because the family physicians staffing their inpatient service are more familiar with outpatient resources that can be effectively marshaled to help local patients with the transition from hospital to home.

Are Patients Frequently Readmitted to the Hospital Different from the Other Admitted Patients?

Although the characteristics of readmitted patients associated with a family medicine inpatient service have been reported, differing characteristics between groups of patients based on readmission rates have not been studied. The aim of this project was to examine patients with differing rates of readmission. Patients admitted to a family medicine inpatient service were classified into 1 of 3 groups based on the number of admission and readmissions in a given year. Demographic data and other characteristics of these patients were collected and used in analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize the 3 groups of admissions. Differences in characteristics of groups were compared using Wilcoxon rank sum test for continuous variables and χ2 test or Fisher exact test for categoric variables. Multivariate logistic regressions were used for predicting high-frequency readmission. Patients in the high-frequency readmission group more commonly had a psychiatric, substance abuse, and chronic pain diagnosis. The primary discharge diagnoses among the 3 groups were similar. Age-group, Charlson severity index, Morse Fall Scale medication list, and problem list were significant for predicting high frequency of readmission. Annually, patients in the high-frequency readmission group had about an 80% turnover rate. Although this study examined patient care data from only one large academic health center hospital, the results found that patients who experience 3 or more readmissions in a calendar are associated with specific characteristics. In addition, the list of specific individual patients considered to be high utilizers for hospital readmissions was dynamic and significantly changed during 3 consecutive years.

Pharmacokinetic Dosing of Phenobarbital in the Treatment of Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome

We used a pharmacokinetically derived phenobarbital dosing protocol to treat alcohol withdrawal syndrome in patients admitted to a family medicine inpatient service. We describe the protocol and include two case reports documenting its efficacy. Although benzodiazepine agents are considered by many to be the primary agents of choice, based upon our experience and its ease of administration, relative safety, therapeutic efficacy, and lower cost, phenobarbital should be reconsidered as a promising alternative. Comparative trials between these two therapeutic classes will clarify their roles in the treatment of alcohol withdrawal syndrome.

Drug-Related Admissions to a Family Medicine Inpatient Service

Admissions to a family medicine inpatient service were monitored retrospectively over a one-year period to determine the incidence of drug-related hospitalizations. Of the 293 admissions, 45 (15.4%) were identified as drug related; in 29 admissions (9.9%), a drug-related problem was identified as the primary cause of hospitalization. The two patient characteristics associated with a drug-related admission (DRA) were marital status (divorced) and age (older patients). The two most common types of DRAs were adverse drug reactions (17/45, 37.8%) and drug abuse (14/45, 31.1%), with alcohol being the most commonly abused agent. Adverse drug reactions were most commonly implicated in DRAs for patients over 70 years old, with drug abuse more evenly distributed among age groups. Educational programs that incorporate pharmacoepidemiologic strategies into all health care disciplines are necessary to address this public health issue.

Drug-related admissions to a family medicine inpatient service

Drug-related admissions to a family medicine inpatient service