Evolving practice of hospital medicine and its impact on hospital throughput and efficiencies.
Hospitalists are uniquely positioned to implement strategies to improve patient flow and efficiency. Hospital leaders have stated they expect hospitalists to comanage surgical patients, participate in observation units, and screen medical admissions, in addition to providing inpatient care for medical patients. We review how the hospitalists' role in acute inpatient care, surgical comanagement, short stay units, chest pain units, and active bed management has improved throughput and patient flow.
Division of Hospital Medicine, Department of Medicine, Denver Health Medical Center, Denver, Colorado 80204-4507, USA. smitha.chadaga@dhha.org
Smitha R
SR
Chadaga
Mary P
MP
Maher
Nancy
N
Maller
Diana
D
Mancini
Margherita
M
Mascolo
Shailendra
S
Sharma
Mel L
ML
Anderson
Eugene S
ES
Chu
D000208:Acute Disease; D002637:Chest Pain; D004526:Efficiency; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D020445:Hospitalists / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients; D007857:Leadership; D007902:Length of Stay; D005791:Patient Care; D014481:United States