Do you love them or hate them? Do you think they are doing a better job than general practiotioners, when it comes to a hospitalized patient?
I happened to love our hospitalists and I feel that in most cases the care of the hospitalized patient is better and more consistent when it's managed by a hospitalist, than by a general practice doctor. (Of course, there are excepions.)
I know that the big argument against hospitalists is that they don't know the patient as well as their regular doctor, that has been seeing them for years, but I have observed, that oftentimes the general practice docs are kind of lost once their patient ends up in a hospital. Many times, when taking an order over the phone, did I have to suggest ever so gently and cautiously: "Doctor, would you like to order some Potassium, since you're ordering 1oo mg of Lasix IV for your patient, NS @ 120/hour and his K level is allready borderline...?" This never seems to happen with hospitalists. After all they do this hunderds of times a day...
Please share your knowlege, experiences and opinions...