The History of Pediatric Hospital Medicine in the United States, 1996-2019
© 2020 Society of Hospital Medicine
The decision to pursue subspecialty certification was not unanimously embraced by the PHM community, with particular concerns expressed regarding the impact on Med-Peds hospitalists and the future in community hospitals. These were considered by the individuals writing the formal proposal to the ABP, but have not been resolved. Moreover, criteria for eligibility for the certifying examination under the Practice Pathway (“grandparenting”) evoked controversy,20 addressed by the ABP. 21 The first subspecialty certifying examination was ultimately administered to ~1,500 pediatric hospitalists in 2019.
THE ONGOING EVOLUTION OF PEDIATRIC HOSPITAL MEDICINE
It is clear that PHM has established itself as a field, with networks for research and quality improvement, more than 50 fellowship programs, divisions in prestigious departments of pediatrics and children’s hospitals, devoted journals and textbooks, and a well-attended annual meeting. PHM has set standards for the core competencies in PHM,11, 12 for pediatric hospitalist programs,22, 23 for coordinating the hospital care of children,24, 25 for the curricular framework of fellowships,26 and for the Entrustable Professional Activities expected of a hospitalist.27 The vision for the future is that continued efforts in research, quality and systems improvement, and clinical care will, in fact, result in significant benefits for all hospitalized children. Such was the promise of PHM in the 1990s and remains so in 2019.
Acknowledgments
For prompting the project: Rachel Marek. For additions, corrections, and confirmations: David Alexander, Niccole Alexander, Paul Bellet, David Bertoch, Douglas Carlson, Laura Degnon, Kimberly Durham, Barrett Fromme, Sandy Gage, Matthew Garber, Karen Jerardi, Christopher Landrigan, Gail McGuinness, Jennifer Maniscalco, Sandy Melzer, Vineeta Mittal, Karen Kingry Olson, Mary Ottolini, Jack Percelay, Kris Rehm, Michael Ruhlen, Samir Shah, Suzanne Woods, and David Zipes.
Disclosures
The authors have nothing to disclose.
