Our division has several full-time clinical researchers who conduct investigations in a broad variety of topics and who also provide mentorship, methodologic expertise, and assistance with manuscripts and grants to other faculty, fellows, residents, and students. 

Research in the Division of Hospital Medicine focuses on a number of key areas: 1) evaluation of hospital medicine services; 2) patient safety and healthcare quality measurement/improvement; 3) health communication; 4) health policy, particularly policy related to public reporting of quality and safety measures; and 5) outcomes research and cardiovascular epidemiology. In FY 2008, the division received nearly $2M in extramural funding for research, providing an incredible environment for investigators.

The Division’s Research Director is Andrew Auerbach, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Medicine at UCSF and a nationally-recognized leader in the field of quality measurement and improvement.  Andrew Auerbach’s research has primarily focused on assessments of patient outcomes in different systems of care and exploring novel approaches for translating research into clinical practice.  In addition to his research projects, Andrew Auerbach teaches courses in Advanced Training for Clinical Research, and is the Associate Program Director of General Internal Medicine Research Fellowship program at UCSF

Wendy Anderson, MD, MS, whose work focuses on understanding gaps in communication between hospitalists and patients, and developing methods for addressing these gaps.

Margaret Fang, MD, MPH, whose research focuses on improving use of anticoagulants through improved risk prediction and novel testing approaches (including pharmacogenetics).

L. Elizabeth Goldman, MD, MCR, whose work focuses on improving quality measurement using administrative data, with a particular interest in safety-net hospitals.

Karen Hauer, MD, whose work has focused on the effectiveness of teaching programs, factors associated with students’ choice of specialty, and the impact of hospitalists on educational experience.

Steve Pantilat, MD, who has focused on the evaluation of palliative care services and improving care of the dying and seriously ill through improving knowledge of palliative care.

Niraj Sehgal, MD, MPH, whose interests are focused on improving the collaboration among physicians with nurses, pharmacists, and administrators in designing patient safety interventions and educational methods.

Arpana Vidyarthi, MD, whose work has focused on handoffs and the impact of duty hours reductions.

Robert Wachter, MD, whose work has focused on the impact of hospitalists and other new models of hospital care, and on practical and policy issues in the areas of healthcare quality and patient safety.

Current Divisional research projects:

• Improving use of medications in surgical patients through a multidisciplinary QI program
• Volume, outcomes, and quality of care for major surgery
• Effectiveness of a communication education program on patient safety – the Triad for Optimal Patient Safety Project
• A randomized clinical trial of the efficacy of pharmacogenomic testing to guide warfarin initiation
• A study of the use and outcomes associated with warfarin in a cohort of 13,559 adults with atrial fibrillation (the ATRIA cohort)
• The use and outcomes associated with peri-operative venous thromboembolism prophylaxis in patients undergoing spinal surgery
• Improving patient-doctor communication in hospitalized patients
• The impact of new present-on-admission coding on quality measurement in California
• Policy analyses of Medicare’s new “No Pay for Errors” program and other initiatives to improve safety and quality

Works in Progress:

The Division of Hospital Medicine Research “Incubator” program was founded in 2008 by Drs. Auerbach and Fang to provide junior faculty and trainees one-on-one assistance with research projects, grant applications, and writing and presenting clinical research.  The program has provided guidance to hospitalist fellows, junior faculty from the Division, and faculty from other departments, including Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics.

Fellowship Training:

In partnership with the Division of General Internal Medicine and Department of Family Medicine, the  Division offers research training through a 2-year Research Fellowship.  Fellows undergo formal training in research methods and biostatistics and actively conduct mentored clinical research with an aim of becoming independent researchers.  The one-year Academic Hospitalist Fellowship exposes fellows to courses and mentoring in basic research methods, but fellows who aspire to faculty positions as Clinician-Investigators (with substantial extramural research funding) are encouraged to pursue the Research Fellowship (or similar research-oriented training at other institutions).