2024 Course Highlights

This is the highlights list from the 2024 course. 

2025 highlights not yet available.

 

 

 

ALLERGY/IMMUNOLOGY

  • What to do when there is no allergist
  • How to resolve inappropriate low-risk penicillin allergy labels 
  • Updates in anaphylaxis management 
  • Things we do for no reason: steroids for anaphylaxis? 
  • Class action: sorting out the overlap between penicillin and cephalosporins

 

CARDIOVASCULAR

  • Less is more in the long run? DAPT vs. monotherapy in ACS
  • End of an era? Beta-blockers after acute MI
  • Coronary CTA: as good as cardiac catheterization?
  • How low should you go? Hemoglobin targets in acute coronary syndromes
  • State-of-the-art management of systolic and diastolic heart failure
  • Titration of GDMT: are we being too wimpy?
  • More data to support GLP-1 receptor agonists for obesity-related HFpEF 
  • Overcoming diuretic resistance in heart failure
  • Reducing readmissions for heart failure: best practices in discharge planning
  • Updated guidelines on atrial fibrillation management 
  • Avoiding common pitfalls of anticoagulation in atrial fibrillation
  • Rhythm control versus rate control for atrial fibrillation revisited 
  • The jury is out: anticoagulation in silent atrial fibrillation with a low CHA2DS2-VASc
  • Drug-drug interactions: DOACs and diltiazem
  • Should you switch anticoagulants in patients with breakthrough strokes?

 

DERMATOLOGY

  • Cellulitis: antibiotic dilemmas and when to call dermatology
  • New data on optimal treatment duration for skin and soft tissue infections
  • DRESSed to kill: drug reactions and other can't-miss dermatology diagnoses
  • Cutaneous findings of systemic disease
  • Differentiating skin infections and mimics in hospitalized patients
  • Cellulitis or venous stasis? Demystifying the swollen red leg
  • A cautionary tale: antibiotics with high risk of dermatologic reactions 

 

DIAGNOSTICS

  • Can't-miss ECG diagnoses
  • Radiology pearls: identifying subtle findings on CXR
  • Rapid-fire review of electrolyte, liver, and hematology cases
  • Contrast or no contrast? Choosing the right imaging protocols

 

ENDOCRINE

  • Dangers of SGLT2 inhibitors: euglycemic DKA and UTIs
  • GLP-1 agonists for weight loss: hot takes for the hospitalist 
  • Challenging cases in inpatient insulin management
  • Continuous glucose monitoring in hospitalized patients with diabetes
  • New guidelines for the management of hyperglycemia in the hospital
  • Adrenal insufficiency: whom to treat and how to taper steroids
  • Pitfalls in managing thyroid disease in medically ill patients
  • Practical approach to adrenal incidentalomas 
  • When to worry about pheochromocytoma

 

EQUITY

  • Anti-racism in hospital medicine, from triage to care transitions
  • Providing top-notch inpatient care to patients with obesity  
  • Trauma-informed care in the hospital  
  • Inequities in organ transplantation in the US
  • Race-based reference ranges: end of an error 
  • Racial equity and pain management in the hospital 
  • Improving patient outcomes with interpreter services 

 

GASTROINTESTINAL

  • Covert hepatic encephalopathy: more common than you think 
  • Evolving strategies for hepatorenal syndrome: terlipressin 
  • New guidelines for spontaneous bacterial peritonitis management and prophylaxis 
  • Managing the cirrhotic patient with bleeding and thrombosis 
  • Updates on management of upper and lower GI bleeds 
  • Optimal timing of endoscopy in upper GI bleeds
  • New risk scores to help manage patients with upper GI bleeds 
  • Too soon? When to resume anticoagulation and antiplatelet agents after a GI bleed 
  • Fluid resuscitation in acute pancreatitis: less is more
  • Optimal timing for intra-abdominal drainage in necrotizing pancreatitis
  • Urgent and non-urgent indications for ERCP 
  • Current approaches to preventing post-ERCP pancreatitis

 

GERIATRICS

  • Preoperative frailty assessment in older adults
  • Delirium: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure
  • Non-pharmacologic interventions for delirium prevention
  • Difficult cases in delirium management 
  • Best practices in pharmacotherapy for agitated delirium 
  • Greater caution with antipsychotics in dementia 
  • Less is more: polypharmacy and deprescribing in older patients

 

HEMATOLOGY

  • Management of patients with bleeding and thrombosis
  • Diagnosis and management of hypercoagulable states
  • Pearls for the diagnosis and management of thrombocytopenia
  • Diagnostic approach to anemia in the hospital  
  • Transfusion thresholds in the hospital: how low should you go?
  • Updated venous thromboembolism guidelines 
  • Is it ever OK to stop anticoagulation in unprovoked venous thrombosis?  
  • What’s in a name: should we use “provoked” vs. “unprovoked” VTE?  
  • Do they really need admission? Identifying the low-risk PE patient
  • Are DOACs the preferred anticoagulant in patients with cancer?
  • More data on DOACs in patients with obesity and chronic kidney disease

 

INFECTIOUS DISEASES

  • Comprehensive review of inpatient antibiotic therapy 
  • Short-course antibiotics for common infections 
  • The debate continues: cefepime vs. piperacillin-tazobactam for sepsis   
  • Piperacillin-tazobactam and acute kidney injury: overblown? 
  • Injectable therapy for HIV 
  • Who should we screen for HIV in the inpatient setting?
  • Mirror, mirror, on the wall, what's the least "C-diffy" antibiotic of all? 
  • Does vancomycin still work against C. difficile?
  • Oral fecal microbiota therapy: new first-line for C. difficile?   
  • Fidaxomicin for C difficile: is it worth the expense?
  • Eliminate multidrug-resistant infections with this one weird trick 
  • Controversies in the management of bacteremia 
  • When should we consult ID for bacteremia? 
  • Err on the side of caution: when to switch from IV to PO therapy in bacteremia 
  • Breakthroughs in MRSA therapeutics 
  • When should we cover for MRSA pneumonia? 
  • New treatment options for complicated UTIs

 

PALLIATIVE CARE

  • Evidence-based strategies for serious illness conversations in the hospital
  • Which patients benefit most from palliative care?
  • Best practices for leading family meetings

 

PERIOPERATIVE MEDICINE

  • Updates on perioperative aspirin, statins, beta blockers, and ACE inhibitors
  • To hold or not to hold: understanding the latest on perioperative medication management
  • GLP-1 management in perioperative settings
  • The importance of frailty in assessing perioperative risk 
  • Reducing pulmonary risk in perioperative patients
  • Perioperative anticoagulation: when should patients be bridged?

 

PREGNANCY

  • Best practices for hypertension management in pregnancy  
  • Benefits, risks, and contraindications to radiologic studies in pregnant patients
  • HELLP me: managing medical complications in pregnant and postpartum patients 
  • Periprocedural management of pregnant patients
  • Treatment guidelines for UTI in pregnancy

 

PSYCHIATRY

  • Pearls for managing patients with personality disorders in the hospital 
  • Inpatient management of psychiatric medications
  • Diagnostic yield of neuroimaging for common psychiatric presentations
  • Capacity assessment: can this patient make their own decisions?
  • Best practices and risk mitigation for patient-directed discharges 

 

PULMONARY/CRITICAL CARE

  • Tailored steroid therapy in acute COPD exacerbations 
  • Practical applications of the 2023 GOLD guidelines
  • Short-course antibiotics in COPD exacerbations
  • Uses and limitations of cardioselective beta-blockade in COPD exacerbations
  • Current recommendations for supplemental and high-flow O2 in critical illness 
  • New Surviving Sepsis guidelines 
  • The never-ending story: steroids in sepsis

 

RENAL

  • New kid on the block: cystatin C for GFR
  • Preventing the progression of chronic kidney disease: another win for GLP-1 agonists
  • Are GLP-1 agonists and SGLT2 inhibitors kidney-saving medications?
  • Diagnostic approach to acute kidney injury 
  • Is acute kidney injury a risk factor for dementia?
  • New data: early renal replacement therapy in acute kidney injury 
  • Dialysis access: what the hospitalist needs to know 
  • PICC and choose: IV access in ESRD patients  
  • Ironing it out: managing anemia in ESRD  
  • Blood pressure management in end-stage renal disease 
  • Updates on hyperkalemia and hyperphosphatemia management 

 

STROKE

  • Approach to imaging in acute stroke syndromes
  • Updates on AHA/ASA guidelines for stroke management 
  • To DAPT or not to DAPT: antiplatelet therapy in stroke and TIA 
  • Thrombolysis in acute stroke: are we going to need a bigger window?
  • New agents for thrombolysis in acute stroke
  • Thrombolytics vs. DAPT for mild strokes: weighing the risks and benefits
  • Thrombectomy for acute stroke: is it underused?
  • Telestroke: an idea whose time has come? 
  • Staying cryptocurrent on cryptogenic stroke
  • Avoiding hemorrhagic transformation in stroke: when is it safe to start anticoagulation?
  • Should you switch anticoagulants in patients with breakthrough strokes?

 

SUBSTANCE USE DISORDERS 

  • Treating acute and chronic pain in patients with substance use disorders  
  • Management of complicated alcohol withdrawal  
  • Updates on phenobarbital for alcohol withdrawal management  
  • Medication management for alcohol use disorder at discharge
  • Microdosing protocols for buprenorphine induction  

  • Harm reduction: reducing the risk of opiate overdose at discharge  

     

SYNCOPE

  • Syncope: when to worry about cardiac causes 
  • Diagnostic approach to the patient with recurrent syncope 
  • Evidence-based tools for risk-stratification in syncope 
  • Orthostatic syncope: does midodrine help?