Hospitalists

This month I am doing a rotation with a group of hospitalists.  A hospitalist is a medical provider who works, as you might guess, in a hospital.  These providers are responsible for the day-to-day management of patients who have been hospitalized for conditions ranging from severe pneumonia to flares of inflammatory bowel disease.  In smaller hospitals, the hospitalist also covers the intensive care unit (the really sick-sick patients).  So, I am getting a dose of very intense medical training - and I love it.

So far, I have had a patient who nearly died from very manageable conditions that got out of control very quickly, a patient with pain disproportionate to physical findings, severe pneumonia possibly complicated by malignant disease, and one patient with blood counts that are completely abnormal and that I have found very difficult to interpret (these are just a few examples among many).  I have been challenged every day and this rotation is absolutely fascinating.  If I could, I would become a hospitalist PA (and I might someday, if we ever decide to move to a big city). 

Of interest is the fact that hospitalists as a specialty have only been around for a relatively short time (somewhere around 15-20 years).  In the good 'ol days, day-to-day management of hospitalized patients was the responsibility of the family practice provider (be that a doctor, PA, or NP).  But as family practice providers have grown increasingly busy, managing the really sick patients in the hospital became unfeasible.  Thus, hospitalists became the next link in the medical-provider-chain.  It's a very intriguing specialty - where else can you manage someone with acute abdominal pain who is alert and talkative one moment and seconds later be preparing another patient for the operating room so they can have life saving surgery?  This is like zero to a hundred miles per hour in the blink of an eye.

I wish I could share more details, but a lot has been said recently about public media and medical/PA students who have gotten in trouble for just that.  I'm erring on the side of caution such that none of my patients can be identified.  After all, I would like to graduate.