Q: My friend was recently admitted into the hospital and instead of receiving care from her physician, she is being cared for by a hospitalist. What is a hospitalist and is this common?
A. A hospitalist is a board certified physician who typically specializes in internal medicine and is solely dedicated to caring for patients who are in the hospital. Hospitalists are becoming more and more common due to the increase in need for patient care.
When a patient is admitted into the hospital, a hospitalist cares for the patient and then reports back to the patient’s primary care physician and/or specialist. Patients benefit from receiving care from a hospitalist because he or she is always on-site and is available 24-hours a day. This is helpful because they are able to frequently monitor a patient’s progress and can order and follow-up on test results, which can help expedite a patient’s treatment and recovery time. In addition, because hospitalists work at the hospital full-time, they are familiar with the hospital, its services and key personnel.
Once a patient is discharged from the hospital, he or she will go back to seeing their regular physician for care.
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