How Hospital-Based Physicians Improve Patient Care
A hospitalist is a specialist physician who treats patients solely in a hospital.
Hospitalists do not maintain outside practices but provide exclusive care to patients during their hospital stay.
Hospitalists are on call to address a patient’s immediate medical needs.
AMV Photo / Digital Vision / Getty Images
AMV Photo / Digital Vision / Getty Images
The term “hospitalist” wascoined in 1996by Drs.
Concentrations
The overriding role of a hospitalist is to improve the quality of care of hospitalized patients.
A hospitalist is a fully qualified physician who simply prefers to practice in a hospital setting.
Some patients appear to benefit from hospitalist care, including people requiring extensive physical rehabilitation.
Most studies suggest that hands-on, physician-led oversight appears to speed recuperation.
Rather, their role is centered purely around patients' needs.
Hospitalists also serve as leaders in initiatives to improve patient safety.
Hospital medicine is constantly evolving and finding new and better ways to utilize a doctor’s skills.
Today, there are over 57,000 practicing hospitalists in the United States, according to theSociety of Hospital Medicine.
Most are employed by a hospital or a hospitalist contracting firm.
You don’t need to schedule an appointment.
Hospitalists are generally on call and which doctor you see may change during the course of your hospital stay.
The block scheduling provides consistency of care for inpatients as opposed to having a different doctor every day.
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