Life as a hospitalist....questions from a med student

ThinkingIM · Dec 28, 2006

I posed a few questions a month or so back on a thread discussing the hospitalist career. Just wanted to resurrect a similar thread and see if there might be any new people who would care to throw out some advice. Specifically, comments on the lifestyle, scope of practice, community vs. acadamic positions, salary, job placement out of residency, intellectual satisfaction, enjoyment, etc....

Just for a little persepctive as to where I'm coming from: I'm midway through my 3rd year (have completed IM, surg, peds, neuro, neurosurg--90% inpatient medicine so far). I am pretty sure that I prefer inpatient med to outpatient in a major way. And although I certainly can buckle down and like to be working hard, I am looking for a specialty that will allow me to enjoy the fruits of my labor while I'm still young (i.e. not going into surgery or ob/gyn) while still participating in a field that is mostly patient care and also intellectually stimulating. I feel like hospitalist just might be the perfect fit. (I'm also considering EM, but I have some reservations about that field).

Thanks in advance to anybody who can offer some valuable insight to an MS3.5 who is still in relative limbo in regards to what direction to take his career.

Mumpu · Dec 28, 2006

Like you said, this was discussed to death in several threads a while ago. Why not read them? I ain't contributing again.

ThinkingIM · Dec 28, 2006

check my 1st paragraph....in my second sentence I write "might be any new people who would care to throw out some advice".

Not trying to be a jerk, I appreciate the input you gave in the former thread. Just wanted to reiterate that I'm not expecting the same people to regurgitate what they already offered....just wanted to throw this out there incase there happened to be some new people who could help me out.

Mumpu · Dec 30, 2006

Did you not get your questions answered in the previous threads or did you not get the answers you were hoping to get?

racerx · Dec 30, 2006

Mumpu said:
Did you not get your questions answered in the previous threads or did you not get the answers you were hoping to get?

Gee, maybe the poster is looking for a larger sample size as it creates a more complete picture than a relatively few opinions.

DogFaceMedic · Dec 31, 2006

What are your reservations about EM?
One draw back of hospitalist, similar with EM, is bad hospital administration.

racerx · Dec 31, 2006

By bad hospital administration, do you mean they do not back you up? I would think this could vary, as some admins might be better than others. When you interview for a position are you generally allowed to talk with any other hospitalists in order to find out how well they're treated by the administration?

ThinkingIM · Dec 31, 2006

DogFaceMedic said:
What are your reservations about EM?
One draw back of hospitalist, similar with EM, is bad hospital administration.

My main reservation about EM is that I would mostly end up as a primary care physician for the uninsured. I know this probably seems like a skeptical outlook, but I know that I would not end up happy if the majority of my practice was writing scripts for strep....Also, I do like seeing my patients through to their discharge, but would be able to get past this if I was seeing a variety of pts. and practicing some good medicine in the ED.

DogFaceMedic · Dec 31, 2006

Being honest with yourself about what you do and do not like, is critical.
No doubt, EM is indigent care. If that will drive you crazy, you will hate EM.
The key for hospitalists is working with a good group in a good hospital. There are bad groups out there, but do what you like. THat's my goal.

For now, watching football with my kids and not working.

Mumpu · Jan 1, 2007

Having just spent a month of penance in the ER, I can tell you that hospitalist medicine is to general IM like emergency medicine is to family medicine (same scope of practice, same depth of knowledge, but in the hospital instead of in clinic with the beauty of not having much continuity of care). So, if you like the broad but shallow knowledge base of FM, do ER. If you like more depth but less breadth, do hospitalist.

iatrosB · Jan 10, 2007

Mumpu said:
Having just spent a month of penance in the ER, I can tell you that hospitalist medicine is to general IM like emergency medicine is to family medicine (same scope of practice, same depth of knowledge, but in the hospital instead of in clinic with the beauty of not having much continuity of care). So, if you like the broad but shallow knowledge base of FM, do ER. If you like more depth but less breadth, do hospitalist.

Is it possible to be a hospitalist after 2-5 years of traditional outpatient internal med. What I'm asking is, do you lose inpatient care skills if you work in the clinic for awhile?

Mumpu · Jan 11, 2007

I'm sure the skills will come back eventually, but the inpatient level of acuity is much higher. If you are also covering ICUs, you'll need your arterial/central line, LP, and possibly intubation skills too. Evidence clearly shows that hospitalist medicine requires a very different skillset than outpatient IM (not better -- different; I will happily line and intubate all day but splints scare me), which is why some residencies are starting to offer hospitalist tracks and every residency program that says "residents do a lot of inpatient care, they don't need special training" is badly out of touch with reality.

Life as a hospitalist....questions from a med student

ThinkingIM

Full Member

Mumpu

Burninator, MD

ThinkingIM

Full Member

Mumpu

Burninator, MD

racerx

Full Member

DogFaceMedic

Member

racerx

Full Member

ThinkingIM

Full Member

DogFaceMedic

Member

Mumpu

Burninator, MD

iatrosB

trying not to kill anyone

Mumpu

Burninator, MD

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