Several local hospitals are moving forward on the hospitalist bandwagon, focusing on full-time doctors who work solely within the hospital, rather than private physicians who come by in the evening to make the rounds.
Full-time hospitalists are improving treatment for people admitted to hospitals by providing better coordination of treatment during the day, according to an article published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine.
“For common inpatient diagnoses, the hospitalist model is associated with a small reduction in the length of stay without an adverse effect on rates of death or readmission,” the NEJM article said.
Overall costs for care were relatively similar or slightly lower with hospitalist care, the article found.
Studying the records of nearly 80,000 patients, the authors found that patients cared for by hospitalists spend almost a half-day less time in the hospital with no significant change in the rate of death or readmission within 14 days.
“The benefit is the hospitalist is in the hospital all day long. If I?m taking care of a patient here with pneumonia, I order the X-Rays, CAT scans and lab work and I may need to call in a specialist,” said Dr. Chris Greenawalt, a hospitalist with Greater Baltimore Medical Center. “By being here all the time I can coordinate that care more effectively.”
Traditionally an internist has an outside office or clinic and comes to the hospital to check on patients after office hours. “During those hours, he?s only reachable by phone if at all,” Greenawalt said.
Anne Arundel Medical Center expanded its hospitalist program to include obstetricians, physicians specializing in the care of women during pregnancy and childbirth.
“Expanding our hospitalist program to include obstetricians gives AAMC the most complete and consistent labor and delivery coverage in the region,” Dr. Henry J. Sobel, chair of Women?s and Children?s Services at AAMC, said in a statement.
Sobel said a hospitalist program does not change a woman?s birthing plan. Rather, it serves to supplement and support the private obstetrical and mid wife practices using AAMC?s Clatanoff Pavilion for women and children?s services.
The main benefit is safety in the delivery room, said Dr. Joseph Morris, lead obstetrician hospitalist at AAMC. By meeting twice a day with the labor and delivery staff, hospitalists review all patients in labor and all high-risk patients, preparing for possible risks in advance.
