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Welcome to Core IM, a virtual medical community! Core IM strives to empower its colleagues of all levels and backgrounds with clinically applicable information as well as inspire curiosity and critical thinking. Core IM promotes its mission through podcasts and other multimodal dialogues. ACP has teamed up with Core IM to offer continuing medical education, available exclusively to ACP members by completing the CME/MOC quiz.

Question 1: What makes this patient different from others with similar symptoms or diagnosis?

1. The goal of the handoff is to provide tailored medical care.
   1. Think beyond the chatbot version of your contingency plans.
2. Chest Pain
   1. The chest pain example demonstrates a more broad framework that can broadly be applied to other problems.
   2. Framework
      1. What makes this patient different? Suspected etiology? 
         1. Ex 1: L main disease, awaiting cor angio tomorrow
         2. Ex 2: Normal cor angio, severe anxiety
      2. Next steps for evaluation
         1. Ex 1: Evaluate at bedside. Repeat troponin and EKG.
         2. Ex 2: If no change, then no need for in person evaluation. If change in quality, repeat EKG and troponin and evaluate at bedside.
      3. Empiric treatment recommendations
         1. Ex 1: Maximize nitro drip.
         2. Ex 2: Trial hydroxyzine or Tums. If those do not work, trial nitro.
      4. When you should escalate the problem to a consultant
         1. Ex 1: If Chest pain persistent despite nitro drip then reach out to the cardiology fellow to discuss cath lab activation overnight.
         2. Ex 2: If newly anginal, EKG changes or troponin elevation, reach out to cardiology fellow.
3. Altered Mental Status
   1. Be very specific about what altered means.
      1. Neurologic exam that day as well as baseline (when they were well)
      2. Mental status exam that day
         1. Are they conversational?
         2. Do they doze off during speech?
         3. Are there hallucinations?
   2. Provide multiple layers of recommendations for management of hyperactive delirium.
      1. Are there any tips to help with reorientation like family members, music, etc.
      2. What medications have worked in the past?
      3. What medications have caused side effects?
      4. Are there IV or IM options if reorientation and oral options are not available?
4. Pain
   1. It can be really distressing to the night team when there is nothing to offer.
   2. Discuss what is available - oral opioids, NSAIDs, acetaminophen.
   3. Have a low threshold to reassess pain at the bedside!

Question 2: Does your covering team have the tools to follow up on tasks and information they need for success?

1. Think about whether you could carry out your recommendations overnight and what the barriers might be. Try to reduce them as much as possible.
2. GI Bleed
   1. If asking to follow up a CBC, make sure that there is a consent, type and screen and IV access.
3. Procedural Complications
   1. Ask your procedural colleagues about expected complications and when to call overnight.

Question 3: Is the handoff updated?

1. It may seem like a no-brainer, but updating the handoff is really important.
2. Think through the other questions in this episode and see if anything needs to be added.
3. Outdated information can be just as dangerous. Sometimes the most important update is removing information that is no longer pertinent like recommendations for a resolved problem.

Question 4: What information about goals of care and prognosis should be communicated to the night team, especially for critically ill patients?

1. Goals of Care
   1. You don't need to have everything wrapped up by sign-out.
   2. Letting your night team know that it's a complicated situation is helpful in and of itself.
   3. Starting the conversation during the day will give the patient and family time to process in case complications or progression occur overnight.
2. Prognosis
   1. Prognosis is really challenging, but if you have information then it can be helpful to pass along to your night team.
   2. The example discussed in this example was a patient who likely would not be liberated from a ventilator.

Question 5: What are we still uncertain about?

1. can help the night team triage better.
2. Being aware that there is uncertainty can prompt the team to rethink preliminary diagnoses, especially if the patient isn't responding appropriately to treatment.

Closing Thoughts

1. Be generous to yourself and others. Every complication cannot be forecasted.
2. If something came up the prior night then try and figure out how to keep it from being a problem tonight.

Contributors

Shreya Trivedi, MD, ACP Member – Author
Taylor Cox, MD - Author
Maria Rosasco, MD – Guest Expert
Margot Hedlin, MD – Guest Expert
Aaron Troy, MD – Guest Expert

Reviewers

Jenny Schreiber, MD
Adam Strauss, MD
Mahathi Komaragiri, MD

Those named above, unless otherwise indicated, have no relevant financial relationships to disclose with ineligible companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.  All relevant relationships have been mitigated.

Release Date:  August 7, 2024

Expiration Date: August 6, 2027

CME Credit

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of the ¹Ü¼ÒÆÅÐÄË®ÂÛ̳ and Core IM.  The ¹Ü¼ÒÆÅÐÄË®ÂÛ̳ is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

The ¹Ü¼ÒÆÅÐÄË®ÂÛ̳ designates this enduring material (podcast) for .5 AMA PRA Category 1 Creditâ„¢.  Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

ABIM Maintenance of Certification (MOC) Points

Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to .5 medical knowledge MOC Point in the American Board of Internal Medicine’s (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program.  Participants will earn MOC points equivalent to the amount of CME credits claimed for the activity. It is the CME activity provider’s responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABIM MOC credit.

How to Claim CME Credit and MOC Points

After listening to the podcast, complete a brief multiple-choice question quiz. To claim CME credit and MOC points you must achieve a minimum passing score of 66%. You may take the quiz multiple times to achieve a passing score.