In 2002, when I began my first hospitalist job, I was a dyed-in-the-wool hospital medicine convert, convinced that the transfer of inpatient care to true specialists in hospital medicine (hospitalists) would dramatically improve the quality and efficiency of inpatient care, increase patient satisfaction and decrease costs.
By 2008, I had developed serious doubts, which prompted me to publish an editorial in the Journal of Hospital Medicine, entitled “The Expanding or Shrinking Universe of the Hospitalist” (2008) that attempted to raise a red flag of concern about hospitalists, in general, failing to become “hospital medicine specialists” and instead accepting the inferior role of “triage shift workers.”
Now, in 2018, I believe it is more appropriate to raise a white flag of surrender. I could write a book on the topic, but briefly, here are the six pillars of what went wrong with hospital medicine, in my opinion.
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