In recent years, many teaching hospitals have established  overnight  hospitalist programs. In these,  hospitalist physicians supervise overnight medical residents with the idea that this would improve quality of care and boost safety.

But, Fiercehealthcare reports,  a recent study found that in one such program, at the Penn State Hershey Medical Center, “having an on-site, attending-level physician provide overnight supervision did not make a difference in quality of care. The medical center did not see any significant impact on important clinical outcomes, according to study results published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.”

However, it should be noted, “the research looked at only one model of an overnight hospitalist program at one hospital and more study is needed into the pros and cons of such programs,” Fierce reported.