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Hospitalists at New Ulm Medical Center provide patients with best of both worldsDoctors are often torn between their patients at the clinic and the needs of their patients who are in the hospital. They want to provide good care on schedule at the clinic, but if a hospitalized patient needs care they want to be there, too. At New Ulm Medical Center (NUMC), hospitalists help solve the problem. Hospitalists are doctors who are focused on the care of patients in the hospital and have no clinic responsibilities.
 Daniel Groebner, MD, checked in on patient Wilfred Griebel recently at New Ulm Medical Center. As one of the five hospitalists at NUMC, Dr. Groebner focuses solely on hospital patients on his scheduled hospitalist days. "Doctors here at NUMC have been able to balance their clinic and hospital roles very well," says Joan Krikava, MD, hospitalist and director of medical affairs at NUMC. "Having everything in one facility makes it easier for doctors to go back and forth between the clinic and hospital." But having a hospitalist focused on hospitalized patients has made it work even better. The hospitalist program at NUMC started in 2007. Five hospitalists now care for NUMC patients: Nurse Practitioner Karen Hoffmann-Distad also assists the physicians in their hospitalist duties. "There’s no waiting for an on-call doctor or the patient’s primary care doctor to arrive," says Dr. Krikava. "The patient gets the best of both worlds – immediate care and a physician who is dedicated only to the needs of the patients on the inpatient unit." Hospitalists provide care at the hospital throughout the day. If something comes up suddenly, such as chest pain, a change in blood pressure or dropping oxygen levels, the hospitalist is there to treat it immediately. Krikava pointed out that because NUMC implemented an electronic medical record in 2005, hospitalists have immediate access to patient histories and medical information. When it’s time for the patient to go home, the hospitalist coordinates the follow-up care with the primary care doctor. "Patients like the hospitalist program because they have a doctor available all the time and most often they see the same one or two physicians during their entire hospital stay," Krikava said. The hospitalist communicates with the patient and family and is always available when questions come up. The nurses benefit from having a doctor there all day for questions, emergencies and signing off on orders promptly. "The idea is to provide better patient care in the hospital and the clinic because doctors can be totally focused on what they’re doing," Krikava said.
Related Links Hospitalists--a new breed of doctors  Back to Health Edition |
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New Ulm Medical Center
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