August 2010


Illustration by Getty Images

Failing at heart failure treatment

Readmissions for heart failure cause financial problems for hospitals and even more pressing problems for patients. Everyone from Medicare to individual physicians is focused on methods of improvement.

Hone in on patients without a home

Patients who are homeless or teetering on the verge can present an additional set of logistics for busy hospitalists.

Effects of ICU stay linger long after discharge

A significant proportion of ICU survivors develop post-traumatic stress disorder, but physicians can take steps to reduce the risk and burden.

Benefits of ICU telemedicine uncertain

Experimentation with telemedicine in ICUs has not quite lived up to expectations.

Core competencies peripheral in practice

The Society of Hospital Medicine considers nine procedures to be “core competencies” for hospitalists, yet many perform them so rarely it would be difficult to maintain competency.

Residency redesign helps patients and pleases doctors

Brigham and Women's Hospital redesigned its residency program to focus on integrated teaching.

Letter from the Editor

Our focus this month is on heart failure, the cause of more than one million U.S. hospitalizations each year, including many that experts deem preventable. This issue also includes coverage of the American Thoracic Society's annual conference.

That smell

Certain diseases have characteristic odors.

My first colonoscopy

Being a first-year medical student is like getting a colonoscopy. The preparation is rigorous, but you're grateful to have an appointment.

Heart failure: The importance of precision

For coding purposes, it is no longer enough to say that patients have “CHF” or “congestive heart failure.”.

Test yourself: Heart failure

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

In the news

Preventing in-hospital torsade de pointes, and more.