The Savvy Patient - Introducing the Hospitalist

In this week’s “Savvy Patient” column in the San Diego Union-Tribune, Scripps Health’s Bruce Covner, MD, introduces readers to a critical player on the inpatient care team: the hospitalist.

Hospitalists are physicians who focus exclusively on caring for hospitalized patients. About 58 percent of the 4,897 hospitals in the United States use these caregivers. Hospitalists contribute to a patient’s care in the following ways:

• Oversee and coordinate inpatient treatment
• Understand the unique concerns of hospital patients, such as dietary restrictions and pain management
• Ensure that the correct tests and lab work are ordered, medications are adjusted, and appropriate specialists are brought in when necessary
• Assist with discharge and help with the transition back to the care of their primary physicians

Read the full article, Introducing the hospitalist, in the San Diego Union-Tribune.