Many people are often surprised to find out that when they are admitted to a hospital, their care is managed by a hospitalist. Along with your primary care physicians, specialists, and other clinicians, the hospitalist is vital to every hospitalized patient’s healthcare team. Maninder (Dolly) Abraham, MD, Chief of Hospitalist Medicine at RWJBarnabas Health, explains more about these important members of the medical staff.
What is a hospitalist?
A hospitalist is a physician who specializes in caring for hospitalized patients or patients in ‘inpatient’ settings. Unlike doctors who see patients at their office or in an ambulatory setting, hospitalists work exclusively in hospitals. Working closely with other clinicians, they manage patient care from admission to discharge.
What is the difference between a hospitalist and other types of physicians?
Unlike primary care physicians (PCPs) or those in urgent care settings, hospitalists do not work in an outpatient practice. A PCP may work with a patient for years or decades, helping manage long-term wellness and preventive care. But a hospitalist focuses on acute conditions and other issues that require hospitalization. They also differ from specialists, such as pulmonologists, cardiologists, or oncologists, who focus on specific organ systems or disease types. Rather, hospitalists work with these specialists to coordinate care and ensure that a patient’s overall treatment plan is cohesive and effective throughout their hospital stay.
What type of training does a hospitalist need?
Most hospitalists are trained in internal medicine or family medicine. After completing medical school, they undergo residency training and may pursue additional fellowship training in hospital medicine. There is an increasing number of hospitalists who focus on certain specialty areas such as pediatrics or oncology
What is a typical day in the life of a hospitalist?
Each day can present a unique set of challenges for a busy hospitalist. A morning shift will often begin with reviewing test results, examining patient charts, and checking updates from the previous day or overnight. They conduct rounds to examine patients and adjust treatment plans while keeping in regular communication with nurses, specialists, and other members of the healthcare teams, as well as with families and the patients themselves. They will often respond to emergencies, coordinate transitions in care settings, and handle admissions and discharges throughout the day. Hospitalists will typically send a summary to a patient’s primary doctor upon discharge to enable a seamless continuum of top-quality care.
What are the benefits of having hospitalists at a system like RWJBarnabas Health?
Hospitalists facilitate faster decision-making and enhance communication and coordination between healthcare teams by providing dedicated, on-site care. Their on-site presence enables primary care providers to focus on outpatient care without needing to visit their patients in the hospital as frequently. Ultimately, this approach to patient care has been shown to reduce the duration of hospital stays and ultimately contribute to faster recovery times and better patient outcomes.
Is hospital medicine a growing field?
Yes — due to the increasing complexity of inpatient care, hospital medicine has grown significantly, and the demand for this type of specialized practitioner has increased as healthcare systems recognize the benefits of having dedicated in-house physicians on staff. In fact, according to the Journal of Hospital Medicine, the peer-reviewed journal of the Society of Hospital Medicine, the number of hospitalists working in the United States grew about 50 percent between 2012 and 2019. It is one of the fastest growing medical specialties in the US. There were over 60,000 practicing hospitalists as of 2020.
Hospitalists are an essential component of inpatient care — providing dedicated, comprehensive management of hospitalized patients.