title: Perceived Safety and Value of Inpatient "Very Important Person" Services.
abstract: Providing care to "very important person" (VIP) patients can pose unique moral and value-based challenges for providers. No studies have examined VIP services in the inpatient setting. Through a multi-institutional survey of hospitalists, we assessed physician viewpoints and behavior surrounding the care of VIP patients. A significant proportion of respondents reported feeling pressured by patients, family members, and hospital representatives to provide unnecessary care to VIP patients. Based on self-reported perceptions, as well as case-based questions, we also found that the VIP status of a patient may impact physician clinical decision-making related to unnecessary medical care. Additional studies to quantify the use of VIP services and its effect on cost, resource availability, and patient-specific outcomes are needed. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2017;12:177-179.
authors.affiliation: Division of General Medicine and Primary Care, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA.|Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Joshua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Allen-Dicker
authors.affiliation: Division of Hospital Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Auerbach
authors.affiliation: Division of General Medicine and Primary Care, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA.|Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Shoshana J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Herzig
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D020445:Hospitalists / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards*; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D061214:Patient Safety / Q000592:standards*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010465:Perception