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A Medical Prescription for Career Success: Spotlight on Health-Hospital Medicine
By Nina Silberstein
Although you may not have heard of “hospitalists”–physicians who work exclusively within a hospital setting specializing in the care of patients during a hospital stay–they just might be the ones working behind the scenes to ensure a smooth and positive hospital experience for you or a loved one. And with so much to navigate when it comes to hospital care, it’s no wonder that hospitalists are considered among the fastest-growing health-care subspecialists in the United States.

What is a “hospitalist”?
Hospitalists work in a field called health-hospital medicine, a specialty in which physicians focus on caring for patients in the hospital setting. They are responsible for establishing communication with primary care physicians, coordinating specialist consults, tests and procedures, acting as the initial responder, and participating in discharge planning. In short, these professionals take the role of physician and the concept of patient care to the next level, acting as liaisons for the patient throughout their hospital stay.
According to the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM), the number of hospitalists in the United States has increased more than twentyfold since the mid-1990s and now numbers 15,000 physicians. By 2010, the SHM estimates the number will reach 30,000. According to the American College of Physicians (ACP), new hospitalist programs are emerging everywhere. To date, there are approximately 2,000 programs nationwide.

Although health-hospital medicine is still a growing field, insiders predict that for every ten open hospitalist positions, theres only one applicant. Up to 75 percent of the new physicians who do their internal medicine residency become hospitalists, a percentage experts expect only to rise in coming years.
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