Discoveries & Impact

Medical students often face challenges transitioning from classroom to clerkships due to limited preparation materials. A group of researchers from Yale introduced a student-led Internal Medicine clerkship orientation bootcamp and accompanying survival guide, and assessed its efficacy in improving student confidence prior to clerkships.

Acute pancreatitis is a severe inflammatory disorder of the pancreas, spanning the spectrum of mild discomfort to life-threatening illness. Researchers from Yale have written a comprehensive review of novel therapies for acute pancreatitis, their role based on the cause of the disease, and their risk/benefit profile.

A recent collaborative study conducted by Yale researchers sought to apply these methods towards developing a framework for measuring equitable readmissions to the hospital, and to identify hospitals that have equitable rates of readmission.

In a study of older adults (75+ years) undergoing a heart procedure known as percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for stable heart disease, researchers examined how complexity of the procedure impacted patient outcomes.

Most analyses regarding the excess risk of death during the COVID-19 pandemic have relied on summary data. However, a recent study published in the International Journal of Epidemiology instead analyzed individual patient-level data based on medical records from the largest integrated healthcare system in the United States.

Unplanned hospitalizations for patients with advanced cancer often trigger discussions about care goals and transitions to hospice. Late referrals to hospice, particularly near the end of life, have been associated with reduced quality of life and increased healthcare costs. A new research study published in Cancer investigates the impact of oncology hospitalists on the timing of hospice transitions for patients with advanced cancers.

Severe hypertension (sHTN), affecting about 10% of hospitalized patients, lacks clear treatment guidelines, potentially leading to unnecessary antihypertensive medication use and adverse outcomes. A recent study from researchers and physicians at Yale aimed to identify factors associated with spontaneous blood pressure (BP) reduction, which could inform future management decisions and prevent harm from aggressive BP treatment.

Yale researchers have collaborated with other experts in the field of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), or liver cancer, to develop the most recent American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) practice guidance for liver cancer.

Arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) are surgical connections between an artery and vein that are necessary for individuals who require hemodialysis. However, aneurysms can form within AVFs, causing them to fail and ultimately necessitating their repair. While endovascular repair is a minimally invasive procedure used for many AVF repairs, open revision is considered the recommended approach for repairing AVF aneurysms.