Hospitalist Track vs. regular IM

[APACHE3]

I am wanting to do Hospitalist after graduating residency. Some of the programs I will interview at have a Hospitalist track, while other do not. Is it that a problem should I choose a program that does not have an official Hosp.Track?? Thanks.

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[InternalWhizzzz]

I am wanting to do Hospitalist after graduating residency. Some of the programs I will interview at have a Hospitalist track, while other do not. Is it that a problem should I choose a program that does not have an official Hosp.Track?? Thanks.

which programs have a hospitalist track?

 

[APACHE3]

Medical College of Georgia, UT-Memphis, UT-Chattanooga, to name a few, have Hosp. Trk.

 

[InternalWhizzzz]

Medical College of Georgia, UT-Memphis, UT-Chattanooga, to name a few, have Hosp. Trk.

oh thats really cool that they have it...why not just apply directly to the hospitalist track? I mean if that is what you want..saves you the trouble of applying again in a couple of years...

 

[APACHE3]

Hospitalist is a relatively new career track. It is not a fellowship. It does not require extra boarding (as of yet) just ABIM if you want. Obviously, many Hospitalist did NOT go through a formal program, so I was hoping to hear from someone in the know, about the pros and cons. As my previous post stated, If I should pick a program that doesn't have a Hops. Track, am I at a disadvantage in the future?..Thats all. But thanks anyway.

 

[InternalWhizzzz]

Hospitalist is a relatively new career track. It is not a fellowship. It does not require extra boarding (as of yet) just ABIM if you want. Obviously, many Hospitalist did NOT go through a formal program, so I was hoping to hear from someone in the know, about the pros and cons. As my previous post stated, If I should pick a program that doesn't have a Hops. Track, am I at a disadvantage in the future?..Thats all. But thanks anyway.

yah, alot of help I turned out to be...I agree with you that it's not a fellowship, but some schools are trying to make it into a fellowship...I've heard through the grapevines that UCSF has a hospitalist track...don't know how true it is..

 

[dkwyler94]

I can't directly comment on the hospitalist tracks, but being a resident, I would think any IM resident would have no difficulty becoming a hospitalist. Most months are in the hospital, and you should be very well prepared to manage patients in that setting in any traditional IM program.

Of course as you get further in your training, you have more electives and could choose more outpatient or more inpatient months. Perhaps these programs require that you do more inpatient months versus choosing to do so. All ABIM programs do carry the same requirement for total required outpatient clinic.

Without knowing more about these tracks, I would guess they are more of a recruitment tool than anything else. I wouldn't factor it in when choosing a residency.

That is my opinion anyway.

 

[APACHE3]

One of the few differences I saw that one program's Track rotated through hospital administration, had courses on epidemiology, drafting drug formularies, etc..you know "hospital" stuff. I guess an MD/MPH/MBA would really be a good Hospitalist!!!!

 

[Annette]

There are 8-9 hospitalist fellowship programs. Check out www.hospitalmedicine.org

 

[inositide]

Having a hospitalist track could be a way for the programs to get certain residents to commit to doing extra ward months.

Primary care IM programs usually have fewer ward months and more outpatient months.

If the same holds true for hospitalist programs, you could end up being very unhappy because medicine residency is busy enough as it is. Adding extra ward months may not be a great thing for you to do unless you really dislike the outpatient clinic or subspeciality rotations and are willing to make up for it by doing extra general ward months.

By and large, all you need to do to get a hospitalist position is ABIM.
Except for certain employers, it probably does not matter whether you did primary care, hospitalist, or the traditional categorical program.

 

[Mumpu]

UCSF used to have a hospitalist track but does not anymore (AFAIK).

The idea of a hospitalist track is that surveys of practicing hospitalists have demonstrated that general IM education is insufficient for hospital-based practice because of the different distribution of patients and illnesses. For example, neurology is minimally covered in most residencies while it composes up to 30% of real-world hospitalist work. Things like palliative care and administrative functions like quality improvement also tend to be glossed over in general IM. I recommend a Pubmed search on hospitalist education and asking programs what specifically they do to address these educational discrepancies. A hospitalist track may also be attractive to people seeking fellowships in largely hospital-based specialties like cardiology.