Is it wrong to say hospitalists provide primary care services?

[medhopeful92]

Hey guys,

I've looked through SDN threads and can't quite find a clear answer to the question above. I was wondering if working as a hospitalist is considered providing primary care services. I understand that hospitalists and primary care physicians are not the same, but I always thought primary care was the first contact of care for many patients.

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[gyngyn]

Hospitalists are not primary care.

 

[sovereign0]

Hospitalists are not primary care.

Which specialties are considered primary care providers? Family medicine, pediatrics, OB/GYN? Is emergency medicine considered primary care? What about geriatrics?

 

[gyngyn]

Which specialties are considered primary care providers? Family medicine, pediatrics, OB/GYN? Is emergency medicine considered primary care? What about geriatrics?

FM, general peds: yes.
Ob Gyn: depends.
EM: no.
Geriatrics, yes.

If you can get an NHSC scholarship while you train, yes.
This includes Psych and General IM.

 

[takeurmeds02]

Hospitalists are internists and don't follow the patient outside of the hospital. You can still be an internist though and do primary care but it's on an outpatient basis.

 

[deleted289061]

.

 

[OchemOficionado]

Ob Gyn: depends.

Can you elaborate please?

 

[KnuxNole]

FM, General IM, and Peds are generally considered primary care.

Even though some people treat the ED like their primary care physician, they do not generally practice primary care.

Hospitalists do not do primary care. They handle acute care problems in the hospital settings. They may address chronic issues, but once the acute problems have been resolved and the patient is ready to be discharged, it is deferred to the primary care physician. Of course, if the primary care physician also sees their own patients in the hospital, then that's a different story.

 

[7331poas]

Can you elaborate please?

some of obgyn is seeing patients in clinic ---> primary care

other obgyn is hospitalist work ---> not primary care

 

[libertyyne]

So wait, for nhsc purposes hospitalists are primary care. Atleast in my area some IM trained physicians do provide primary care services where they hold regular clinic and also follow their patients in the hospital.

 

[gyngyn]

So wait, for nhsc purposes hospitalists are primary care. Atleast in my area some IM trained physicians do provide primary care services where they hold regular clinic and also follow their patients in the hospital.

Primary care physicians also have hospital privileges and do take care of inpatients.
A person trained in that specialty is not practicing primary care, if they are only a hospitalist.