A Time to Be Recognized
Brendon Shank is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia.
The new HM definition exemplifies SHM’s efforts to include multiple roles and activities within the specialty, including nonphysician providers “who engage in clinical care, teaching, research, or leadership in the field of general hospital medicine.” It also incorporates other concepts that have become core to hospital medicine, such as collaboration and QI.
The new hospitalist definition starts simply: “a physician who specializes in the practice of hospital medicine.” It goes on to detail the training and certification that many hospitalists undergo and references the newly created Fellow in Hospital Medicine program and the new Recognition of Focused Practice in HM program created by ABIM.
“These concepts are the very center of what it means to be a hospitalist and practice hospital medicine,” Dr. Flanders says. “They are the driving force behind the ways that hospital medicine is transforming healthcare and revolutionizing how we take care of patients.”
Definitions
Hospital Medicine: A medical specialty dedicated to the delivery of comprehensive medical care to hospitalized patients. Practitioners of hospital medicine include physicians (“hospitalists”) and nonphysician providers who engage in clinical care, teaching, research, or leadership in the field of general hospital medicine. In addition to their core expertise managing the clinical problems of acutely ill, hospitalized patients, hospital medicine practitioners work to enhance the performance of hospitals and healthcare systems by:
- Providing prompt and complete attention to all patient care needs including diagnosis, treatment, and the performance of medical procedures (within their scope of practice).
- Employing quality and process improvement techniques.
- Collaborating, communicating, and coordinating with all physicians and healthcare personnel caring for hospitalized patients.
- Safe transitioning of patient care within the hospital, and from the hospital to the community, which may include oversight of care in post-acute-care facilities.
- Efficient use of hospital and healthcare resources.
Hospitalist: A physician who specializes in the practice of hospital medicine. Following medical school, hospitalists typically undergo residency training in general internal medicine, general pediatrics, or family practice, but may also receive training in other medical disciplines. Some hospitalists undergo additional post-residency training specifically focused on hospital medicine, or acquire other indicators of expertise in the field, such as the Society of Hospital Medicine’s Fellowship in Hospital Medicine (FHM) or the American Board of Internal Medicine’s Recognition of Focused Practice (RFP) in Hospital Medicine.
