PAGE 8
THE EXAMINER/WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2009
PRHC hospitalists:
there for you
BY REBECCA HUELS PHILLIPS programs and offering accreditation. We expect this
Special to The Examiner to happen in Canada in the near future.”
Many people are aware that Peterborough’s family
Shannon acknowledged that the transition from the
physician shortage is not just a local problem.
traditional model to a hospitalist system originally
According to Dr. Bill Shannon, chief of hospitalist
took some getting used to as patients adjusted to not
medicine at the Peterborough Regional Health Centre
seeing their own physician while in hospital.
(PRHC), communities across the province are experi-
encing similar difficulties in recruiting and retaining
physicians who work in family medicine.
From a patient perspective, the No. 1
At an increasing number of hospitals across the
benefit (of hospitalists) is the
province, a solution has been found in the form of
availability of care
Hospitalist medicine.
“Hospitals have really felt the pinch of the shortage
as it’s become more difficult to secure an adequate
number of physicians for inpatient care,” Shannon
He added that it was not long, though, before the
says. “In the past, PRHC relied on the region’s family
benefits of the system became clear to all.
physicians and internists to admit and provide care to
“From a patient perspective, the No. 1 benefit is the
their hospitalized patients on an on-call basis.
availability of care,” he says.
However, in the 1990s, OHIP fee structures and the
“The hospitalist service operates 24 hours a day,
escalating shortage of family doctors began to erode
seven days a week. And while patients may not con-
the numbers of those who maintained their privileges
sistently see the same physician depending on the
at the health centre.”
length of their stay, every effort is made to provide
When those numbers began to reach critical levels,
continuity. Unlike the previous model, during the
the decision was made to adopt a hospitalist system.
day, there is always a hospitalist available in the
Officially launched in 2002, the PRHC Hospitalist
event that a patient needs a doctor immediately.”
Team care for medical inpatients who either do not
For family doctors and internists who opt to become
hospitalists, Shannon said the appeal is often in the
have a family physician, or whose physician does not
range of medical issues and intellectual challenges
have admitting privileges at the hospital.
found in a hospital environment.
Primarily family physicians, the PRHC hospitalists
“The system provides many chances to continue
operate as independent contractors.
learning,” he says.
They admit and provide inpatient care in all depart-
“For example, if a hospitalist is consulting with a
ments except intensive care, cardiology, nephrology,
respirologist on a patient with a particularly severe or
surgery, paediatrics, and psychiatry, where specialists unusual case of pneumonia, it’s an excellent opportu-
admit and care for their own patients. nity for the hospitalist to gain further insight into the
“The rise of hospitalist medicine is considered by specialist’s field as they care for the patient together.”
many to be one of the most significant changes in Nurses too have expressed their appreciation of the
health care in the last decade,” Shannon says. program.
“Canadian hospitalist programs first appeared in “Rather than having to keep track of and locate one
the western provinces about 10 years ago with of many family physicians, there is always a designat-
Ontario hospitals quickly following suit.” ed point person in the hospitalist program that the
Hospitalist medicine itself is regarded as a sub-spe- nurses can reach at any time,” he said.
cialty of family medicine. “The hospitalist service will continue to evolve, but
“Hospitalists have a subset of specialized skills and the common thread will always be the devotion of all,
experience related to inpatient care,” added Shannon. or a significant amount of time toward the exclusive
“In fact, the United States has already taken the lead and efficient care of PRHC’s inpatients,” Shannon
in establishing it as a specialty by creating training says.
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