According to a recent article in The New England
Journal of Medicine, primary care medicine in the United
States is “at grave risk” of collapsing. Since primary care
providers typically serve as a patient’s first point of contact
in the health care system, their importance cannot be
overstated. However, in 2007, a 1 trivial 5.1percent of
graduating medical students had decided to pursue further
training in this field.
2 One of the most promising solutions to our
country’s primary care predicament is the evolution of the
“hospitalist.” First coined in 1996, the term “hospitalist”
refers to physicians who dedicate most of 3 there
career to the care of acutely ill hospitalized patients. They
provide care for patients who require hospital treatment
with medicine (rather than surgery). The vast majority
of hospitalists are trained in internal medicine or family
medicine, though a small percentage also comes from
other specialties including pediatrics, psychiatry, and
dermatology.
4 Because hospitalists generally work twelve-hour
shifts for seven days in a row, they provide patients with
continuity of care, allowing them to be seen by the same
physician for much of their hospital stay. Since they are
based in the 5 hospital hospitalists can also check-up on
each patient multiple times a day, and they can coordinate
care from specialists and ancillary departments such as
6 the physical and occupational therapy department,
and the social services department, and the nursing care
management department. From the hospital’s perspective,
hospitalists are also generally associated with modest
cost savings since hospitalists coordinate among multiple
departments and, as a result, 7 being well-positioned to
effectively allocate hospital resources.
The rapid growth of hospitalist medicine in recent
years suggests that hospitalists are here to stay. 8 While
many healthcare providers and recipients laud this growth,
there are still a number of outstanding issues that need to
be addressed. For example, experts still do not know what
long-term impacts the hospitalist movement will have on
the general internist and family medicine 9 workforce?
If more internists and family medicine doctors decide to
become hospitalists, what will happen to the availability
of these doctors for the outpatient population? 10 In
addition, if hospitalists are to become full members
of academic medical centers, they will likely need to
incorporate a number of additional skills into their training,
particularly research skills.
While the precise trajectory of the hospitalist
movement is still unclear, this new field of medicine has
immense potential to fill many of the current gaps in our
healthcare system. 11
Journal of Medicine, primary care medicine in the United
States is “at grave risk” of collapsing. Since primary care
providers typically serve as a patient’s first point of contact
in the health care system, their importance cannot be
overstated. However, in 2007, a 1 trivial 5.1percent of
graduating medical students had decided to pursue further
training in this field.
2 One of the most promising solutions to our
country’s primary care predicament is the evolution of the
“hospitalist.” First coined in 1996, the term “hospitalist”
refers to physicians who dedicate most of 3 there
career to the care of acutely ill hospitalized patients. They
provide care for patients who require hospital treatment
with medicine (rather than surgery). The vast majority
of hospitalists are trained in internal medicine or family
medicine, though a small percentage also comes from
other specialties including pediatrics, psychiatry, and
dermatology.
4 Because hospitalists generally work twelve-hour
shifts for seven days in a row, they provide patients with
continuity of care, allowing them to be seen by the same
physician for much of their hospital stay. Since they are
based in the 5 hospital hospitalists can also check-up on
each patient multiple times a day, and they can coordinate
care from specialists and ancillary departments such as
6 the physical and occupational therapy department,
and the social services department, and the nursing care
management department. From the hospital’s perspective,
hospitalists are also generally associated with modest
cost savings since hospitalists coordinate among multiple
departments and, as a result, 7 being well-positioned to
effectively allocate hospital resources.
The rapid growth of hospitalist medicine in recent
years suggests that hospitalists are here to stay. 8 While
many healthcare providers and recipients laud this growth,
there are still a number of outstanding issues that need to
be addressed. For example, experts still do not know what
long-term impacts the hospitalist movement will have on
the general internist and family medicine 9 workforce?
If more internists and family medicine doctors decide to
become hospitalists, what will happen to the availability
of these doctors for the outpatient population? 10 In
addition, if hospitalists are to become full members
of academic medical centers, they will likely need to
incorporate a number of additional skills into their training,
particularly research skills.
While the precise trajectory of the hospitalist
movement is still unclear, this new field of medicine has
immense potential to fill many of the current gaps in our
healthcare system. 11