An Innovative Approach to Resident Scheduling: Use of a Point-Based System to Account for Resident Preferences.

Background: The scheduling of residents for rotation assignments and on-call responsibilities is a time-consuming process that challenges the resources of residency programs. Assignment of schedules is traditionally done by chief residents or program administration with variable input from the residents involved.

Intervention: We introduced an innovative point-based scheduling system to increase transparency in the scheduling process, foster a sense of fairness and equality in scheduling, and increase resident ownership for making judicious scheduling choices.

Hemolysis as a rare but potentially life-threatening complication of hemodialysis: a case report.

Background: The burden of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in the United States has increased dramatically over the past 30 years with almost 613,000 patients receiving renal replacement therapy in 2011. That same year, more than 112,000 new patients initiated dialysis with 92% of them receiving hemodialysis (HD). These patients experience significant morbidity and mortality with very frequent emergency room visits.

Inappropriate use of D-dimer assay and pulmonary CT angiography in the evaluation of suspected acute pulmonary embolism.

The authors question whether the d-dimer assay and pulmonary computed tomography angiography (CTA) are being used appropriately to evaluate suspected acute pulmonary embolism (PE) at their hospital. To answer this question, a retrospective review was performed on all emergency department (ED) patients who underwent d-dimer assay and/or CTA from August 15, 2008, to August 14, 2009. The authors' algorithm for diagnosing PE requires that patients with low or intermediate probability of acute PE undergo a d-dimer assay, followed by CTA if the d-dimer is positive.