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Hospitalists provide specialized care when you need it most Your clinician can provide excellent care for you at your clinic when you are sick. But what happens if you get too sick to be cared for at your clinic and you must be admitted to the hospital? Who will care for you then? What is a hospitalist? To care for patients in a hospital setting, HealthEast has hospitalists. Hospitalists are physicians whose specialty is caring only for hospital patients. They focus on the latest treatments and medications so they can provide the best care for patients who are hospitalized. This service is currently offered at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Woodwinds Health Campus. Most hospitalists are internal medicine doctors. Family medicine providers also can become hospitalists while a few hospitalists are physicians assistants and nurse practitioners. Why can’t my primary care doctor see me? To provide the best care to clinic patients, a clinician needs to focus directly on them. Choosing to transfer care of their very sick patients to a hospitalist allows the clinician to rest assured that the hospital patients are also getting plenty of attention and excellent care. They choose hospitalists because they trust them to focus solely on their hospital patients and help them navigate the complex hospital system. Will my hospitalist keep my doctor informed? Absolutely. According to Director of Hospital Medicine Service Sandy Folkenson, the key to a good hospitalist/physician relationship is communication. “Your primary care clinician will talk to your hospitalist and give them background on your condition. The hospitalist will keep your primary care doctor informed about your condition. This is the best way to make sure you will continue on your path to wellness.” How can being treated by a hospitalist benefit me? Hospitalists will often see patients more than once a day, which can cut down on the time you spend at the hospital. Because they remain on site, they can follow-up on lab work and prescribe treatments more quickly and efficiently. Even when you aren’t visited by the hospitalist, they are monitoring your care and making sure it progresses throughout the day. When you are well enough to leave, your hospitalist will transfer care back to your clinician to ensure that it is seamless. Hopefully you won’t ever need to be seen in a hospital. But if it becomes necessary, you can rest assured that our hospitalists will provide specialized care when you need it most. 
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