Hospital Medicine's growing army of hospitalists.

No matter what medical specialty you practice, you can't ignore or help to notice what is happening in hospital medicine with hospitalist. According to wikipedia, the term hospitalist  was coined back in 1996, introduced by Robert Wacther in the NEJM magazine. But the term didn't take root into the minds of the public until the last few years. What caused the meteoric rise in the number of hospitalist jobs? The answer is unclear even to practicing hospitalists.

 

As usual with the rise in need for any particular industry, there's a rise in educational system and training programs to support it. One such popular program is by the Sunnybrook Medical facility. Learn more here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRaS1P0KHZQ

 

So what is the job description of a typical hospitalist position? Here's is one such description from the job network HospitalistWorking.com

 

"St. Bernards Medical Center is recruiting a board certified or board eligible internal medicine physicians to join our patient centered, evidence based hospitalist program. Applicants who can work a 7 on 7 off block shift and are invested in enhancing the care of hospitalized patients and in providing awesome care in a supportive team environment are most desired."

 

You will find, at this stage in the infancy of the hospitalist industry, that job descriptions will vary greatly from facility to facility. Due largely in part to the nature of the position, a "fill in the gaps" position will bend to the particular lacking needing of each medical facility or hospital.

 

For the technical definition of the emerging term "hospitalist", there's a great article here:

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=93946