SMJ // March 2025, Volume 118 - Issue 3

Original Article

Factors Affecting Gastroenterologists’ Fear When Performing Endoscopies during the COVID Pandemic: Results of a US National Survey

Objectives: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic affected the practice of gastroenterology. Endoscopic procedures are aerosolizing procedures that carry the risk of COVID-19 transmission. Our national survey examined factors affecting gastroenterologists’ fear of contracting COVID-19 during endoscopy. Methods: An institutional review board–approved multicenter cross-sectional study used a snowball sample approach…

Posted in: Infectious Disease142

Original Article

Where Are Future Doctors Who Southern Rural African Americans Will Trust? A Look Back into Rural Medical Scholars Data

Objectives: African Americans’ distrust of institutions extends to southern US rural communities, limiting their use of healthcare resources. Local physicians are scarce, and treatable diseases accumulate. These communities want local doctors they can trust, consistent with research promoting culturally concordant doctor–patient relationships. African American student inclusion was a priority of…

Original Article

α-Galactose Syndrome Cases within the Prisma Health System, South Carolina

Objectives: Humans can develop a vector-associated allergy to galactose-α-1,3-galactose (α-gal) a polysaccharide found in mammalian meats and by-products, resulting in α-gal syndrome (AGS). Amblyomma americanum tick bites have been implicated in AGS development in the United States, but the AGS clinical burden in South Carolina is not well understood. Because…

Posted in: Allergy and Immunology6

Perspectives

Ten Tips for Navigating Difficult Patient Encounters

Challenging patient encounters are an inevitable aspect of health care, requiring clinicians to balance the provision of high-quality health care with professionalism and patient satisfaction. The patient–physician relationship relies on trust, ethical responsibility, respect, and effective communication. Patients often face psychosocial stressors alongside medical issues, which may lead to mood…

Original Article

Relationship between Systolic Ejection Time and Inflammation in End-Stage Heart Failure

Objectives: Systolic ejection time (SET) and systemic inflammation are two essential indicators of heart failure (HF) progression. We aimed to evaluate the associations between SET and inflammatory mediators in end-stage HF. Methods: Participants included 16 patients with end-stage HF recruited from the Heart Failure Clinic at Toronto General Hospital and…

Original Article

Safety and Cost-Effectiveness of Hospital at Home in Patients with COVID-19

Objectives: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic significantly affected the capacity of health systems across the United States. Although not widely used before the pandemic, the hospital-at-home (HaH) model emerged as a potential strategy to alleviate hospital burden by providing hospital-level care in the home setting. This study aims to…

Posted in: Infectious Disease142

Original Article

Developing the Good Physician: The Influence of Role Models in the Development of Virtues and Flourishing in Medical Students

Objectives: A virtues-based model of character development for training future physicians may lead to increased flourishing in medical students through the influence of exemplary role models. This study aimed to analyze the association between caring virtues and measures of flourishing and to identify facilitators of physician flourishing. Methods: The authors…

Original Article

Risk Factors and Surgical Outcomes of Older Adult Patients Undergoing a Whipple Procedure

Objectives: The Whipple procedure, or pancreatoduodenectomy with pancreatojejunostomy, can result in adverse outcomes among older adult patients with lower physiological reserves. As such, we studied the differences in comorbidities and postoperative outcomes between older adult and younger (nonolder adult) populations following Whipple procedures. Methods: We compared clinical factors of 1553…

Perspectives

Know Your Guidelines: EULAR Management of Fatigue in Patients with Inflammatory Rheumatic and MSK Diseases Guideline Synopsis and Review

Clinically significant fatigue occurs in nearly half of patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases.1,2 Prior clinical practice guidelines highlight fatigue as essential in defining remission of several inflammatory rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (I-RMDs).

Posted in: Rheumatology and Orthopedics20

Original Article

Efficacy of Prophylactic Policy–Driven Tranexamic Acid Administration during Cesarean Delivery in a Rural Healthcare Setting

Objectives: Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) is a major contributor to maternal mortality worldwide and is a leading cause of pregnancy-related mortality in the United States. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the World Health Organization advocate for the early use of tranexamic…

Posted in: Pregnancy36

Original Article

Implementation of a Longitudinal Personal Finance Curriculum into Resident Medical Education

Objective: Residents frequently graduate medical school with a significant amount of debt and low financial literacy. Historically, there has been a lack of standardized, longitudinal financial education curriculum to educate residents about important financial principles. Our objective was to design and implement a longitudinal curriculum to cover a variety of…

Original Article

Exploration of the Intersection between Infant Feeding and Postpartum Contraception in Western North Carolina: Perspectives of Postpartum Individuals and Providers

Objectives: Short interpregnancy intervals are associated with preterm births. Increasing access to postpartum contraception is a preventive intervention. Best practice recommendations suggest that postpartum individuals exclusively breastfeed for up to 6 months. Conversations about these two topics tend to occur simultaneously throughout the perinatal period. This study explores the intersection…

Posted in: Obstetrics and Gynecology47
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