Demystifying Hospitalist Medicine

The 8-hour seminar focuses on the acute problems facing hospitalist medicine.

After working the last 6 years as a nocturnal hospitalist ("nocturnist") and teaching hospital based medicine, I have developed keys to understanding the diagnosis, therapeutics and clinical dilemmas facing midlevel's in hospitalist medicine.

Session 1) Laboratory Medicine

Session 2) The Pulmonary Patient

Session 3) Chest Pain and Advanced 12 Lead EKG Interpretation

Session 4) Demystifying Cardiac Pharmacology and ALS

Session 1) Laboratory Medicine

• What's the one critical question you must answer about anemia 100% of the time?
• The biggest error in the evaluation of hyponatremia.
• What's the single best predictor that your patient is going to die during your shift.
• The secrets of acidosis taught only in medical school.
• The 9 causes of sinus tachycardia you must learn and the one, that if missed, will BURN you!
• This electrolyte kills more than all other electrolytes combined.
• Where's the major malfunction? Understanding Renal Functions.
• Death of tissue or biliary blockage? Mastering the 5Liver Function Tests.
• Does elevation really matter? Demystify the pancreatic enzymes.
• How to decode blood clotting; evaluating platelets and the clotting cascade.
• The four nasty, dirty bugs we deal with daily. Getting to know Clostridium.
• The 6 gram positive bugs that every good clinician can identify.

Session 2) The Pulmonary Patient

• They all need this badly! The general management of all pulmonary patients.
• Panting. Speechless. Sleepy. He's going to die. How do we diagnose the patient in respiratory acidosis.
• How to ID the decompensating pulmonary patient early.
• Is he "blue" or "sleepy?" How to understand the difference between hypoxia and hypercarbia?
• Understand the 4 critical secrets of the pulmonary patient that express severity of disease.
• Learn a reproducible and effective system to evaluate a chest XRAY.
• Diagnosis and treatment of Congestive Heart Failure: Where's the money?
• You have to handle an airway obstruction with "T.L.C.!"
• How to treat severe Asthma and provide life saving treatments.
• Understand the 3 different radiographic presentation of pneumonia.
• Fend off the grim reaper: secrets to diagnosing pulmonary embolism.

Session 3) Chest Pain and Advanced 12 Lead EKG Interpretation

• Learn 4 secrets to immediately sharpen your EKG skills.
• Why are 25% of myocardial infarctions missed? Will you fall into this trap?
• The 10 questions to a perfect HPI.
• This deadly disorder presents EXACTLY like bronchitis. Will you get burned?
• If you miss this subtle EKG change, your patient is going to die. Ischemia.

Case Study: I missed an EKG finding that ended in tragedy. We live with our mistakes.

• Master the 5 deadly causes of chest pain.
• Learn the "two safety nets" of EKG interpretation.
• Of the 6 causes of ST segment elevation, 2 will kill your patient in less the 5 minutes.
• Gain the respect of cardiologists by understanding the BEST way to identify ST segment elevation.
• Understand the 4 tricks to recalling ST segment depression.

Session 4) Demystifying Cardiac (ALS) Pharmacology