We, as hospitalists, should never allow anyone to think we are replacing their family doctor. We are here to work with the family doctor to provide the best care possible. Do surgeons, medical subspecialists, or ED doctors “replace” the family doctor? No way! They are working with the family doctor. Perhaps the problem here is that we have not set the appropriate expectations for our patients.
Next, we need to be clear in saying what we say we do or doing we what we say we do. A line in this article bothers me more than any of the reader comments: “The most compelling argument in favor of hospitalists, who are now in 5,000 institutions, from academic giants like the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania to small community hospitals to innovators like the Mayo and Cleveland Clinics—is that they are there all the time.”
Why does it bother me so much? It is troubling because it is misleading and might simply be untrue. Many hospitalists are not there “all the time.” While many of our hospitalist programs have providers in the hospital 24 hours a day, many do not. I know a number of hospitalists who make rounds at multiple hospitals throughout the day. Are they really hospitalists or are they inpatient rounders?
Hospitalists are physicians defined by their location, not unlike ED physicians. Do we have ED doctors going from hospital to hospital, leaving nurses alone to care for patients when they are at another hospital? So what do we expect from our hospitalists? Should they be in the hospital 24/7? That would seem to be more consistent with the thought that “they are there all the time.” Remember, Gross did not say hospitalists are “reachable” all the time. She did say hospitalists are “on top of everything that happens to a patient—from entry through treatment and discharge.” It is time that we, as hospitalists, uniformly meet those expectations. Patients all over the country are figuring out that not all hospitalists are doing what they are supposed to do when it comes to communications and establishing safe transitions of care. Remember the adage: It does not take many rotten apples to spoil the barrel.
Last, let us talk more about how hospitalists can provide patient-centric care, as opposed to cost savings and carrying out President Obama’s marching orders. The article describes how a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that patients have a reduced length of stay in the hospital when cared for by hospitalists; how hospitalists are being viewed as leaders in healthcare reform; and how the hospitalist spends her nonclinical time “design(ing) computer programs to contain costs.” Do not get me wrong. I am supportive as anyone of the notion that hospitalists should provide cost-effective care. But the reality is that our patients’ No. 1 priority is to believe that their doctor is providing the best care possible. They do not want to feel someone is short-changing them.
Talk all you want to insurers and hospitals about cost savings, but when speaking with patients, I think it makes more sense to discuss the quality as opposed to cost of care. Ask your next patient whether they give a hoot what you do when you are not caring for them. TH