• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

Keep hospitalist job descriptions up to date

Hospitalist Leadership Connection, April 8, 2008

Today’s rapidly changing healthcare environment mandates that job descriptions and on-the-job expectations are kept current. This is especially true for hospitalists, whose roles continue to evolve. For example, in many institutions, it is becoming more common for hospitalists to take a role in co-managing pre-operative and post-operative patients. There is also a growing expectation that hospitalists will make second daily visits to patients in their care.

Depending on need, hospitals may hold hospitalists responsible for:

• Staffing rapid response and code teams
• Serving on or chairing various hospital committees
• Providing training and education to key hospital personnel (e.g., nurses, technicians, etc.)
• Oversight of utilization data
• Improving program efficiency (e.g., length of stay, patient flow, readmission rates)
• Developing clinical protocols
• Teaching medical students and residents

Because job descriptions evolve over time, ensure that even hospitalists who are veterans of the program are provided with an up-to-date, detailed job description or job expectations policy.

The preceding information was excerpted from Tools and Strategies for an Effective Hospitalist Program, by Jeffrey R. Dichter, MD, FACP and Kenneth G. Simone, DO.

• Comment
• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive

Comments