Many hospitalists feel that their clinical colleagues disrespect them, according a discussion recently hosted by Medscape.
“”Far from treating hospitalists as the team lead in a hospital setting, ‘other professionals and patients may treat us as interns,’ noted one. Another complained that specialists expect hospitalists to ‘ease their burden’ but treat them as if they ‘can’t be bothered,”’ the news service reported.
A 2012 survey by Today’s Hospitalist found that 70 percent felt respected by nonhospitalist clinicians in their facilities, but only 55 percent thought that hospital administrators seriously considered the group’s input in making decisions.
The sense of being low on the totem pole was confirmed in December 2015, when James Merlino, M.D., a surgeon and president and chief medical officer of Press Ganey’s strategic consulting division, in a piece for Becker’s Hospital Review, based on feedback at three hospitals in different parts of the country, wrote that hospitalists complained about their specialist colleagues—and in some cases, surgical residents—for, in Medscape’s words, “failing to return calls, ignoring consults, or providing patients with information without first conferring with the hospitalist in charge of their care.”
To read the Medscape piece, please hit this link.
