Hospitalist Definition

What is a hospitalist?  For starters, it helps to understand the definition of hospital medicine.  According to the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM), it’s a medical specialty dedicated to the delivery of comprehensive medical care to hospitalized patients.  Practitioners of hospital medicine include physicians (“hospitalists”) and non-physician providers who engage in clinical care, teaching, research, or leadership in the field of general hospital medicine. 

According to the SHM website:

Following medical school, hospitalists typically undergo residency training in general internal medicine, general pediatrics, or family practice, but may also receive training in other medical disciplines.  Some hospitalists undergo additional post residency training specifically focused on hospital medicine, or acquire other indicators of expertise in the field, such as the Society of Hospital Medicine’s Fellowship in Hospital Medicine (FHM) or the American Board of Internal Medicine’s Recognition of Focused Practice (RFP) in Hospital Medicine.