What Is a Med Pod Hospitalist?

Hospitalists are a fairly new concept in medical care within a hospital setting. Taking the place of regular physicians who make their daily rounds and deal with patients they often know, hospitalists are a fairly new innovation designed to provide better quality care while affording primary care doctors the option of keeping more regular office hours.

Function

• A hospitalist is a medical specialist who provides medical care to patients while they are hospitalized. A hospitalist is a board certified physician who works in a hospital rather than an individual or group practice. Certified in areas of expertise, they undergo the same medical schooling as other physicians. Since they aren't in any kind of private medical practice and don't keep office hours, their time is solely spent tending to patients in hospitals.

Significance

• Working closely with each patient's primary care physician, the hospitalist is instrumental in each patient's care, from admission through discharge. At discharge, the patient is then turned back over to his primary care physician for follow-up care.

Types

• Hospitalists typically excel in specific types of medicine. This allows them to take charge of patients requiring both general and specialized care. For example, a hospitalist well versed in orthopedics is likely to be found on that ward in the hospital, while a general practitioner is caring for patients with more routine ailments.

Features

• A med pod is another term for ward. Patients on a particular med pod are being treated for similar needs. For example, what was once called an oncology ward in a hospital may now be referred to as the oncology med pod.

  Med pod hospitalists participate in multi-disciplinary rounds--also called MDRs--in the hospitals where they practice. This means that rounds are made with the hospitalist as well as a nursing supervisor and case manager. This method keeps all caregivers for each patient constantly updated and abreast of the progress and changes in care for their patients. Spending more time talking with the doctor and discussing treatment options is deemed a positive aspect of med pod hospitalists.

  Most med pod hospitalists see patients on one specific med pod and don't jump from one pod to another throughout the hospital.

Considerations

• According to the New England Journal of Medicine, some follow-up needs to be done with regard to the implementation of med pod hospitalists. Areas like patient satisfaction, case load or overload, and overall quality of care as compared to traditional health care must be examined before the plan can be implemented into a wider range of hospitals. At this point in time, both patients and doctors are noting both pros and cons within the concept.

Potential

• The implementation of med pod hospitalists has the potential to raise the quality of patient healthcare, provided the lines of communication between the hospitalist and primary care physicians remain open. On this same level, however, are the risks that disagreements between the two might cause confusion in a variety of matters. Cases like these could compromise a patient's health.