Home 2008 Issues

2008 Issues

December 2008 

2008decembercover

Hospitalists learn to look beyond a cure

Cybermedicine

“And this year’s Hospy goes to …”

Can’t get no satisfaction?

The truth behind the team cliches

Confused by all the company you keep?

Recruiting incentives

New opportunities to stay flexible

Snapshot of C. difficile shows higher incidence

For IMGs, a tougher immigration climate

Bringing “a light touch” to prescribing guidelines

Tips for treating children with autism

Studies that just may change your practice

Filling the gap between observation units and the wards

Stress tests: Judgment trumps evidence

A new twist on a venerable literary tradition

A new test to target tight glycemic control

Do hospitalists get a bad rap from satisfaction surveys?

Frustrated trying to manage opioid-dependent patients?


November 2008

2008novembercover

Is a cath lab in your future?

Procedures: Are we the go-to doctors of the future?

A timeless classic comes to an end

Hospitalists as rolling stones

In the program director’s hot seat

The bottom line

New consensus on preventing infections

Happy birthday to us

A musical Rx for palliative care

Why hospitalists and ED doctors “drop the baton”

State-of-the-art data trip over the bottom line

Hospitalists need to know new ICD-9 codes for neoplasms, diabetes, headaches, fractures, MRSA, and fever

The one-stop site for quality improvement

A timeless classic comes to an end

Is your group in good financial health?

Getting serious about perioperative delirium

UTIs: no longer another cost of doing business


October 2008

2008octobercover

Why some specialists feel left out

Happy Birthday to us

Erik the Doctor

Bells and whistles

What Medicare’s new payment proposals might mean for you

A vast hospitalist conspiracy?

What can enhance “or poison “career satisfaction? Hospitalist positions that work best for you.

A welcome break from Western medicine

Would you recognize stroke in a child?

A new power base

One hospital’s solution to being overwhelmed at night

Welcome to community medicine

Present on admission: What are hospitals doing about the no-pay policy?

Planning to hire midlevels? Consider your liability

Study finds big gaps in barcode safety

How to avoid common coding misconceptions

Palliative care delivers big cost savings

This week’s ranking

Message board 2.0

Doctors behaving badly

New sepsis guidelines: Treat within six hours


September 2008

2008septembercover

Night work without burnout

This week’s ranking

Brand-name shoppers

The (hospitalist) cycle of life: Week on!

“Strive for five” not just for the food pyramid anymore

The art of giving feedback

How to code for present on admission

Welcome to community medicine

Designing a career for the long haul

What do private practice and night shifts have in common?

Competing hospitals get ahead by playing nice

Getting to the heart of physician satisfaction

Controversy in the ICU

CMS sends out first PQRI payments

“Strive for five” “not just for the food pyramid anymore

A new debate surfaces over hospital medicine

Giving patients back some dignity

Evidence that will change how you treat end-stage liver disease

Financial support from the hospital? Not for these groups


August 2008

2008augustcoverCan’t find an attending?

Internal medicine as contact sport

The newest new thing

The rules that govern critical care codes

Cutting through the job-market hype

Meet Dr. Happy

Welcome to my world

New tricks for a robust centenarian

Critical care for the pregnant inpatient

Taking a new critical look

One hospital’s success with VTE screening

Help with apparent life-threatening events

The dos and don’ts of exclusive contracts

Trying to get a handle on drug errors?

Bad behavior takes center stage

Welcome to my world

The controversy heats up over steroids for COPD

Clueless about what your group earns and spends?

Should you be comanaging patients?


July 2008

2008julycover

The push is on for multidisciplinary rounds

The wolf at the door

Trying to beat the competition

How to get ahead in academia

Is your documentation up to par?

Who’s taking care of you?

How to spot early warning signs of acute renal failure

Taking full advantage when the stakes are low

One program’s big payoff from “an extra set of eyes”

High error rate creates new urgency for CPOE

Time to sign up for pay for reporting

Medicare plans to test bundled payments

The need for speed

Practical tips for better handoffs

Who’s taking care of you?

Problems with patients post-discharge? Pick up the phone

Transfusion medicine: What trigger thresholds should you use?

The year’s most influential studies


June 2008

2008junecover

Working with short-timers

A case of medical deja vu

A marriage proposal: hospital medicine and critical care

Too much attention to the bottom line “or too little?”

You don’t need a weatherman …

What can you negotiate in a contract?

Beeper blues

New options for handling disruptive patients

The final word on pediatric rapid response teams?

Children are not small adults … except when they are

Hospitalists miss the mark on handheld ultrasound

Why heart failure patients are really readmitted

The right and wrong ways to bill subsequent visits

More conditions may land on the no-pay list

One physician’s focus on a tiny scourge

Infection patrol

“You don’t need a weatherman … “

It’s time to get up to speed on wound care

New thinking on resuscitation techniques

Avoiding both overdiagnosis and undertreatment in critical care

Seven strategies to help you manage “or prevent “delirium


May 2008

2008maycover

Having trouble finding good moonlighters?

Recruiting: Should we bring it in-house?

Children are not small adults … except when they are

Taking a grown-up approach to growing your business

Acute heart failure: how to cut down on “frequent flyers”

Do you know how “and how much “hospitalists are paid?

Working locally to reduce disparities

How to make your point with pictures

Admitting from the ED? Welcome to the gray zone

Red flags to look for in employment contracts

Can’t tell a consult from a referral? Read on

New recommendations target hospitalist shortage

Ultrasound system helps detect patient falls

The new survey says …

Who should you screen for MRSA?

Should hospitalists admit hip fractures?

High-yield strategies for cranial nerve testing


April 2008

2008aprilcover

Should hospitalists be caring for these patients?

Hospital medicine: the new minor leagues?

And the new compensation survey says …

The right way to bill consults

Welcome to New Jersey!

Go-ahead for quality initiative, PQRI’s first scorecard

Is moonlighting right for you?

Drawing the line at psychiatric co-management

How to match insulin regimens to different nutritional needs

Welcome to New Jersey!

What should you say after “hello”?

High-yield strategies for a neurological exam

Too much free water?

On-the-road learning

Wall Street gives hospital medicine a warm welcome

For this hospitalist, surgery is his oasis

One hospital’s successful efforts to vanquish pressure ulcers


March 2008

2008marchcover

Tired of running from floor to floor?

What to wear?

Goodbye hand cramps, hello carpal tunnel

New skills for front-line hospitalists: interviewing candidates

Mastering the art of the sign-out

Looking for faster ways to identify heart failure patients?

New services snapshot, VTE prophylaxis rates, Online survey results, hospitalist CME, more

Hospital medicine’s next round of innovations

Charting 101: making sure your documentation is on time and legible

Is it time to call the admitologist?

New thinking on antibiotic timing in CAP patients

Hyperbaric therapy: growing demand for a new service line

Hospitalists grapple with Rx drug abuse

A physician with a mission

Supervising procedures: too important to leave to residents?

High-tech communication


February 2008

2008februarycover

How does your group measure up to the latest study on hospitalists?

Hospitalist teams: Are you storming or performing?

Another slice of internal medicine: comprehensivist?

What does it take to be a good leader?

Has hospital medicine reached a turning point?

Great quality stats? Stellar satisfaction scores? Tell that to your customers

Should you start a pediatric sedation service?

How to parse out the possible causes of meningitis

“Wake up and breathe” protocol cuts patient time on the ventilator

Time-to-shock results, UTI prevention, research grants

Answers to your questions on observation and discharge codes

Hospitalists get their own suite of software

Bridging the inpatient-outpatient gap

The five stages of hospital medicine

Hospitalists “geriatricize” the discharge process


January 2008

2008januarycover

Feeling pressure to admit surgical patients?

Time to call the admitologist?

Co-management: too much of a good thing?

Shock first, ask later

The CPT code changes that hospitalists need to know

How to design quality incentives

Hospital medicine: getting to the next level

Incentive bonuses, night work, missed periop opportunities, more

Managing symptoms? Try looking beyond disease

ACS patients: strategies for testing, anticoagulation and assessment

How much do you boost your hospital’s bottom line?

Are you being rewarded for the value you bring?

A preop evaluation service delivers unexpected benefits

New reference takes aim at all of hospital medicine

hos-pi-tal-ism: Should we claim the word for our own?

How to put your staffing in synch with admissions