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A physician who will be responsible for directing your care must admit you to the hospital. This may be your personal physician or a physician known as a Hospitalist that your personal physician trusts to care for you while hospitalized.

A hospitalist is a trained physician who specializes in caring for patients who are in the hospital. A hospitalist is trained in family practice, internal medicine or another specialty. However, because hospitalists do not have private practices they focus exclusively on a patient's needs while in hospital care. Hospitalists typically are more available to hospital patients than are primary care physicians, who have a full office schedule, can respond quickly to unexpected problems and are more readily available for communication with patient or family.

Hospitalists at Person Memorial Hospital communicate with a patient's primary care physician throughout the patient's stay - from admission to discharge. At discharge the hospitalist sends a detailed report to the primary care physician regarding the patient's treatment and care. Hospitalists typically provide care for patients whose physicians are not on staff or who do not have an established relationship with a primary care physician. Individuals should check with their physician to determine hospitalist usage.

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