William David Rifkin, MD Assistant Professor of Medicine Associate Director Yale Primary Care Residency Program   Phone: 203-573-6580 Fax: 203-573-6707 e-mail: wrifkin@wtbyhosp.chime.org

Training

B.A. Queens College/CUNY, 1988
M.D. Stony Brook/SUNY, 1995
Residency: Lenox Hill Hospital, NY, NY, 1995-1998

Research Activities

Dr. Rifkin's research interests include the description and evaluation of hospitalist models of inpatient care. Specifically, he has investigated how hospitalist and non-hospitalist models of care impact on length of stay, processes of care, mortality and resource utilization. Currently, he is evaluating patient satisfaction under hospitalists and non-hospitalist models of care. A second area of investigation is the comparison of hospitalist and non-hospitalist clinicians in the performance of various "core" clinical metrics, such as DVT prophylaxis rate, pneumovax administration and compliance with recommended clinical guidelines. Dr. Rifkin is also currently examining inpatient care more globally through the use of large datasets.

Dr. Rifkin has also published reflective essays on the practice of medicine, especially as pertaining to the emotional aspects of care and physician connectedness to their patients. In this vein, clinically and educationally, he is interested in the psychosocial aspects of patient care.

Clinical Activities

Dr. Rifkin is Associate Director of the Yale Primary Care Residency Program. In this capacity he helps supervise the day to day operation of the residency program; including participation in the evaluation of housestaff, recruitment, didactic sessions for housestaff and medical students, and implementation of residency schedules and curricula. He serves as teaching attending on the general medical inpatient wards.  

Selected Recent Publications

1. Rifkin WD. "Why Should I Live in Pain?". J Gen Int Med. 1997; 12: 372-373.
2. Rifkin WD. "A Lesson". Pharos. 1999; 62: 34-35.
3. Rifkin WD. "Faith". Pharos. 1999; 62: 35-36.
4. Rifkin WD, Conner DS, Silver A, Eichorn A. "Comparison of Process and Outcomes of Pneumonia Care between Hospitalists and Community-Based Primary Care Physicians" Mayo Clinic Proc. 2002; 77: 1053-58.
5. Rifkin WD. "For this I became a doctor?" Pharos. 2003; 66; 8-9.
6. Rifkin WD, Holmboe ES, Scherer H, Sierra H. "Comparison of hospitalists and non-hospitalists in inpatient length-of-stay adjusting for patient and physician characteristics." JGIM (in press)
7. Rifkin WD, Rifkin A. "Correlation between housestaff performance on the Unites States Medical Licensing Exam and standardized patient encounters". The Mount Sinai Journal of Medicine (in press)
8. Rifkin WD. " Sept. 11, 2001 : the view from my window" The Waterbury Republican-American. 9/10/03
9. Rifkin WD " America 's ideals, not its perfect achievement of them, make it great" Yale Daily News. 12/2/03
10. Rifkin WD. "Lessons Learned" Scope. Winter 2003, pg 34.
11. Rifkin WD "Hospital Waiting Room" Scope. Winter 2003, pg. 35.