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Inpatient Services
When you require hospitalization, your primary care physician or an emergency department doctor will coordinate your admission with a physician who specializes in caring for hospital patients. This physician is called a “hospitalist,” a title that combines the words “hospital” and “specialist.” The hospitalist works closely with hospital staff to coordinate and provide your hospital care.
The hospitalist care team will:
- Assess and treat your medical condition
- Keep your regular physician informed of your hospital progress
- Assist your surgeon or subspecialist in caring for your other medical problems
- Coordinate your hospital care, including all diagnostic tests, such as X-rays, lab tests or other procedures
- Arrange any specialty care, therapy or consultations with other specialists
- Establish a relationship with you and your family
- Facilitate the transition of your medical care back to your own physician, who will resume the responsibility for your medical treatment after you leave the hospital
- Call you at home after you leave the hospital to review your discharge care, and to make sure that you’ll see your regular physician soon afterward.
Who is a hospitalist?
A hospitalist is a doctor whose primary practice is caring for patients while they are in the hospital. Hospitalists do not have their own outpatient medical practices. Their expertise is diagnosing and treating patients who require hospitalization.
Hospitalists work closely with your primary care doctor, and frequently inform him or her of your condition. Likewise, your primary care doctor will share your records and update the hospitalist on your medical history. The communication is similar to what your physician does when he or she refers you to a specialist for another opinion or for additional tests and treatments.
Your patient care advocate is part of your team.
When you are admitted and assigned to a hospital care team, a patient care advocate will also visit you. A patient care advocate is a nurse who:
- Ensures that all information needed by the physician is available
- Contacts your own physician to gather information about your medical history
- Works with you and your family to ensure that you understand what’s going on during and after your hospital stay.
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