Achieving hospital medicine's promise through internal medicine residency redesign

The state of the hospitalist movement, the current educational training deficiencies and the methods to deliver hospitalist-focused training are overviewed.

Abstract

The promise of the hospital medicine movement is that the hospitalist model of care will provide better outcomes than the system it replaced. This means improving the quality and processes of care, reducing inefficiencies and lowering costs. Despite some documented improvements in these areas hospitalists have yet to achieve their pinnacle. These shortfalls likely result from training providers in residencies that have yet to evolve to address the specific needs of hospitalists. While most internal medicine residency training programs stress inpatient care they underemphasize key components of a successful hospitalist career. This paper overviews the state of the hospitalist movement, the current educational training deficiencies and the methods to deliver hospitalist-focused training.