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Question: What’s the difference between a hospitalist and an internist?
Answer:From a medical perspective, hospital medicine falls under the umbrella of internal medicine, and most hospitalists are trained in internal medicine.
However, hospitalists use their internal medicine training in a hospital setting, only treating patients during their stay (treating the condition that hospitalized them).
Internal medicine physicians, also called internists, may work in private practices and outpatient settings, providing long-term, ongoing health care for patients throughout their lives.
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Question: Do hospitalists have different skills than primary care providers?
Answer:Hospitalists and primary care providers are typically both physicians and hold the same medical training and skills, but they practice in different settings (e.g., hospitals vs. doctor’s offices) and the length of care (e.g., short-term vs. lifelong) you receive from each will be different.
A hospitalist will devote all their medical expertise to caring for you during your hospital stay, treating the condition that you were hospitalized for, while a primary care provider will work with you regularly to achieve your health goals over your lifetime.
Because hospitalists only practice medicine within hospitals, they are more familiar with:
- Common hospital-related health conditions
- Common hospital tests and procedures
- The specific infection-control standards and protocols for the hospital
- The specialists and resources available in the hospital
Primary care providers may refer their patients to hospitalists upon admission to the hospital. During their hospital stays, patients are cared for by a hospitalist, and then return to seeing their regular primary care provider after being discharged.
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Question: How do hospitalists improve the care I receive as a hospital patient?
Answer:As an integral part of our hospital care teams alongside nurses and technicians, hospitalists ensure every patient can have an experienced physician guiding their care while they’re in the hospital.
Having a hospitalist caring for you during your stay means that you have a physician who:
- Is close by in case of an emergency
- Can see you more than once a day, if needed
- Will answer your family’s questions, providing clarity and support at every step
- Will expedite your care by following up on tests and adjust your treatment as needed based on test results
- Supports your care transition by contacting your primary care provider to discuss your condition and best next steps after discharge
In these ways and more, hospitalists ensure you receive the highest quality care while you’re in the hospital, so you can continue healing well after you return home.
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Question: What does a hospitalist do?
Answer:Hospitalists provide general medical care to patients during their stay, and then patients follow up with their primary care physician or local specialist after they’ve been discharged.
AdventHealth hospitalists are highly trained and certified physicians providing care in a hospital setting to patients with various acute and chronic conditions. They oversee a patient’s care while they’re in the hospital, from diagnosis to treatment, and can connect with the patient’s primary care provider before or after discharge to advise on the patient’s continued care.
Overall, a hospitalist’s focus is on patient care and teaching, research and leadership related to hospital medicine.
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Question: What is a hospitalist?
Answer:Our hospitalists are AdventHealth Medical Group physicians who only work in the hospital. They are your in-hospital doctors, and are available throughout your stay to discuss your care and treatments with you and your family to ensure you receive the very best care.
The term hospitalist was used for the first time in a medical journal published in 1996. At that time, there were about 800 hospitalists in the nation. Today, there are more than 50,000 — all providing immediate, compassionate care when patients first get to the hospital.
Hospitalist medicine is the fastest-growing specialty in health care, and hospitalists have grown to supervise the vast majority of all of our inpatients across AdventHealth.
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Question: What languages are available to chat?
Answer:The AdventHealth Care Advocacy service is available in English and Spanish.