Early palliative care referral may improve end-of-life care in end-stage liver disease patients: A retrospective analysis from a non-transplant center.

Background: Patients with end-stage liver disease (ESLD) who are not transplant candidates often have a trajectory of rapid decline and death similar to patients with stage IV cancer. Palliative care (PC) services have been shown to be underutilized for such patients. Most studies examining the role of PC in ESLD have been done at transplant centers.

Mobile physician reporting of clinically significant events-a novel way to improve handoff communication and supervision of resident on call activities.

Objectives: Reporting of clinically significant events represents an important mechanism by which patient safety problems may be identified and corrected. However, time pressure and cumbersome report entry procedures have discouraged the full participation of physicians. To improve the process, our internal medicine training program developed an easy-to-use mobile platform that combines the reporting process with patient sign-out.

Disseminated Mycobacterium gordonae infection in an immunocompetent host.

Mycobacterium gordonae is a slow-growing mycobacterium that is the least pathogenic of the mycobacteria. Infection with M. gordonae is most commonly reported in immunocompromised patients.