Jun 23, 2026

Most lab tests aren’t merely “normal” and “abnormal. How normal or abnormal test is can have profound influence on diagnosis and management. IHQSE graduate, Amiran Baduashvili, with co-investigators at the University of Colorado, Weill Cornell Medicine, UCSF, and the University of Michigan, published a multicenter randomized trial in NEJM Evidence testing whether the format of diagnostic test reporting changes what clinicians decide to do. The trial randomized 611 internal medicine attendings, residents, and advanced practice providers to see identical case vignettes with the key lab result displayed one of three ways: a single normal/abnormal threshold, binary test characteristics (sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative likelihood ratios), or interval likelihood ratios, which assign a likelihood ratio to each range of test values—displaying how much specific results changes disease odds. Clinicians shown interval likelihood ratios made the correct management decision 93% of the time, compared with 82% for the single threshold and 75% for binary test characteristics. The benefit held across attendings, residents, and advanced practice providers. The authors argue the future studies should explore the effects of embedding these values alongside lab reports in EHRs.

Apr 1, 2026

The surgical co-management program (Surgical Hospitalist Assisted REcovery, or SHARE Team) at Children's Hospital Colorado has become one of the flagship enterprises for this endeavor nationally. Patients with extreme medical complexity are admitted post-operatively to a Hospitalist service, where surgical and medical providers collaborate to optimize care. This system has increased nursing and patient satisfaction, augmented communication amongst clinical staff and improved overall outcomes. The IHQSE program was instrumental in creating SHARE Team. With its official roll-out in September 2022, the program has received national acclaim, with recent publication by CHCO providers Adriana Martin, Shannon Acker, Todd Hankinson and Jason Zamkoff highlighting SHARE Team.

Mar 25, 2026

Penicillin allergy labels are frequently inaccurate and can increase hospital costs, contribute to overuse of broad-spectrum antibiotics, and impact length of stay. A quality improvement initiative, led by Anita Moudgal MD (recipient of IHQSE CEPS Grant 2023 and participant of IHQSE Improvement Academy 2024 and QWIG 2025), Tara Ward MSN, RN, AGACNP-BC, and Anjeli Kalra MD, aimed to improve penicillin allergy delabeling among hospitalized patients admitted to primary hospital medicine services. A protocol was developed and integrated into the electronic health record to guide hospitalist clinicians to delabel low-risk penicillin allergies. Risk stratification was determined by a validated screening tool known as PEN-FAST. In one year, our quality improvement initiative delabeled penicillin allergy in 8% of hospital medicine patients in one year, exceeding our 5% goal.

Feb 3, 2026

A recent publication in BMJ Quality & Safety, written by IHQSE alumna, Dr. Hillary Western, and her team, examines the impact of duplicate medical records on patient outcomes across a large, multi-hospital health system. Using a propensity-matched cohort design, the study demonstrates that patients with duplicate records experience significantly worse outcomes, including increased mortality, higher rates of ICU utilization, longer hospital stays, and greater likelihood of readmission. These findings highlight duplicate records as an underrecognized patient safety risk and underscore the critical importance of data integrity, health information management, and system-level interventions to improve care quality and patient safety.