discussion question
Hospitalists
The organization and practices of modern hospitals reflect the promotion of specialization and subspecialization by academic medical centers. As a result, many hospitalized patients have been subjected to visits by a bewildering array of physicians and other health professionals. Patients often report that they are not sure who, if anyone, is responsible for coordinating and monitoring all of these consultations and services. Recently, physicians called hospitalists have been hired by hospitals or insurers to work full-time in hospitals as the physicians of record for all of the patients assigned to them. Since they are more familiar with hospital procedures and in attendance at the hospital all day, hospitalists have demonstrated that they can provide more attentive, efficient, and economical patient care than is generally provided by attending physicians who spend a few minutes with each patient each day. In fact, the British health care system makes a clear distinction between office-based physicians and hospital-based physicians. Patients in England expect to leave their usual physician behind when entering the hospital and to be treated by a hospital-based physician during their stay as an inpatient. Write a brief opinion about this significant change in hospital care, addressing such questions as its effect on long-standing physician/patient relationships, quality of care, and patient choice.
