A hospitalist specializes in the care of hospitalized patients. Our hospitalists are Cleveland Clinic board-certified internal medicine specialists who have additional training or experience in caring for hospitalized patients. They do not see outpatients, nor do they continue caring for hospitalized patients after they leave the hospital, but they communicate closely with your outpatient physician(s) at admission, during your hospital stay, and at discharge to ensure that your primary care physician is engaged in planning your care in the hospital.
The emerging field of Hospital Medicine has made inpatient care more efficient for hospitalized patients as well as their primary care doctors. For years, physicians cared for patients in their offices, and then juggled their schedules to travel to the hospital to check on any patients whom they had admitted.
The program is staffed by Cleveland Clinic staff physicians and will consist of one day time and one night time service. There will be no difference in the level of service provided on weekdays and weekends. There is 24/7 coverage.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Who will care for me if I am admitted to the main campus of Cleveland Clinic, Fairview Hospital, Hillcrest Hospital or Medina Hospital?
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Physicians dedicated to Hospital Medicine can direct all inpatient care once patients are admitted to the hospital, keeping primary care physicians fully informed of their progress. This streamlined arrangement allows physicians to focus their full attention on their patients in their office practice, while the hospitalist devotes their full attention to patients admitted to the hospital.
This creates a win-win situation. It puts patients first, and optimizes care. That’s why our dedicated Cleveland Clinic hospitalists work with the best physician for the type of problem that brings you to the hospital.
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Will my doctor continue to care for me when I leave the hospital?
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Yes. Your medical care when you are not in the hospital will not change in any way. In fact, the hospitalist program should help your physician be more available for your urgent and routine care needs in his or her office. Once discharged, your doctor will perform complete follow up care to make sure your recovery is progressing. Your doctor will help arrange for appropriate care with other physicians if necessary.
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What are the advantages of the hospitalist program?
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Most importantly, a hospitalist has extensive experience and expertise in the medical conditions requiring your hospitalization and in navigating the systems of care; in other words, how to get things done in the hospital. Additionally, because hospitalists do not need to rush back to the office to see other patients, they are in the hospital all day to answer your questions or your family’s questions, check on test results and meet and consult with the other physicians who may be participating in your care.
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Why is Cleveland Clinic using a hospitalist program?
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Many primary care physicians in the area and across the country have decided to fully dedicate themselves to their office practice. They have started to utilize a hospitalist system, working with physicians who specialize in taking care of hospitalized patients. Cleveland Clinic has used this approach since 1997, with excellent patient experience.
Welcome to the Department of Hospital Medicine. I have been privileged to be a part of the Cleveland Clinic for 12 years and to serve as department chairman since 2010. We have grown from 13 physicians when I joined Cleveland Clinic in 2001 to 82 physicians today, and we continue to grow and develop amazingly talented hospital providers. Just last year we hired 31 new physicians for our four sites and we continue to plan strategically for future hospital care at both the Main Campus and at our community hospitals in Northeast Ohio.
At the main campus of Cleveland Clinic, we have 15 inpatient internal medicine services; eight teaching services (where resident physicians and students rotate); and seven staff-only services. In addition we provide general medical consultation services to surgical and medical subspecialty colleagues, and staff a dedicated orthopaedic co-management service. These services have staff level care and supervision seven days a week, and staff is available 24 hours a day for urgent assessment.
In addition we provide outpatient preoperative internal medicine assessments at the IMPACT (Internal Medicine Preoperative Assessment, Consult and Treatment) Center, where we ensure that patients are thoroughly assessed medically and prepared for upcoming surgical procedures.
We provide clinical care at three of our outstanding community hospitals: Hillcrest, Fairview, and Medina, and we are leaders in quality of care, resource utilization, and leveraging the electronic medical record to deliver this top notch care at each of our sites. These sites continue to grow and develop; hospitalists deliver care seven days per week in all sites, and 24 hours per day at Fairview Hospital and Medina Hospital.
We are proud educators and steward the education of internal medicine residents and students from the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine and from numerous other schools in Ohio and beyond. In addition we have one of the first hospital medicine postgraduate fellowships in the country, and we continue to innovate in newer educational models of care, leveraging problem based curricula and online learning tools.
If you require care with us in the hospital, we aspire to treat you with cutting edge clinical knowledge, compassion, and concern, as we know that hospitalization is a challenging life event. If you aspire to join our team, we welcome you to explore our exciting career opportunities.
Sincerely
Christopher Whinney, MD, FACP, FHM
Chair- Hospital Medicine
The mission of Cleveland Clinic’s Department of Hospital Medicine is to provide compassionate, world class, evidence based quality inpatient and perioperative care. We serve as educators to the next generation of hospital based providers, perform research to advance the field of hospital medicine, and strive to deliver an outstanding patient experience in all phases of care.