National Hospitalist Day

A hospital is a facility for medical examination, treatment and health care for patients. The term "hospital medicine", English is "Hospital Medicine", was introduced by the University of Chicago - USA in 1977, according to which this is one of many specialties in the field of internal medicine, training focuses on internal medicine specializes in practicing patient care during hospital stay, after graduating to become a specialist in hospital medicine - with the name "Hospitalist". Providing quality, safe, and affordable health care has been a changing requirement for the US healthcare system, whereby the work of hospital specialists has changed to prove the job position indispensable for this goal. And the first Thursday of March is National Hospital Day, celebrated to recognize the great contributions of more than 60,000 hospitals across the country.

Hospital medicine has become the fastest-growing specialty in the US over the past 20 years. It is estimated that the current number of hospital medical specialists has reached more than 50,000 people. Currently, in the US, the number of hospital medicine specialists is second only to Internal Medicine (109,000), Family Medicine (107,000) and almost equal to Pediatrics (55,000).

Hospitalists are doctors, so they have to attend medical school for 4 years after earning their bachelor's degree. After earning a medical degree, they must complete a hospital residency program, which can last three to eight years. The daily work of a hospitalist includes: referring patients to specialists for examination, social services or other professionals as needed; direct, coordinate, or supervise the patient care activities of nursing or support staff; one of the main responsibilities of the hospitalist is to write the patient summary to prepare the patient for discharge and to send to the primary care physician; some hospitalists are responsible for directing the operations of specialty day care units; prescribe drugs or prescribe treatment regimens for inpatients; Order and interpret the results of tests and radiographs (X-rays)…

Currently, in the US, hospital medicine specialists work in more than 80% of hospitals with more than 200 beds. Initially, Hospital Medicine was concerned with patient care using general medicine teaching services, but today includes direct care of hospitalized patients in collaboration with nursing, other specialists and physician assistants. Their work covers most parts of the hospital, such as emergency, postoperative, blood banking, cesarean section,... The flexibility in the hospitalist's job description allows to fill in the gaps related to hospital care. Moreover, the hospitalist also plays an academic role in most of the training activities in the hospital.

One of the innovative activities of the hospital medicine profession in the US is to improve the quality of hospitals at the stage of patient care transitioning from the hospital to home, or to another care facility after the period, acutely, this operation reduced the likelihood of re-hospitalization days or weeks after discharge. The establishment of a post-discharge clinic by health care centers and management within 3 days of discharge and scheduling for patient assessment was first implemented in California, USA. Post-discharge clinics, run by hospital medical doctors, in addition to hospitalists, also have pharmacists, nurses and social workers to assess patients' health after discharge, prescribe and provide care. injuries, as well as organizing home health services or doing physical therapy and moving to an assisted living or nursing facility. These clinics have achieved a patient satisfaction score of 5/5 since opening and have reduced patient admission rates by 50% 30 days after discharge.

With practical effectiveness in improving the quality of patient care during hospital stay but reducing treatment costs, the specialty of hospital medicine has now spread beyond the United States, many other countries such as the United States and the United States. North America, UK, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, etc. have implemented the type of hospitalist in hospitals.

History of National Hospitalist Day

National Hospital Day was established in 2019 by the leading non-profit medical organization, the Association of Hospital Medicine. With the purpose of organizing an anniversary to honor and recognize the contributions and increasing number of dedicated and excellent hospital doctors across the country.

The Hospital Medical Association is an organization serving the entire medical team, the medical care team of the hospital. The purpose of the Hospital Medicine Association is to encourage and promote intensive care for hospitalized patients through various activities such as education, advocacy, research, quality improvement...

Observing National Hospitalist Day

On National Hospitalist Day, you can learn and improve your understanding of hospital medicine as well as the work of medical staff, health care professionals in hospitals. On this day, the official website of the Hospital Medicine Association will post banners and banners, posters, flyers to share with social media on hospital medicine topics. Or you can visit other official websites to find out the information provided about the profiles of outstanding hospital doctors from across different hospitals, with their contributions to the medical field. Share your information, share a picture of the hospital doctor you have received help on social media with the hashtag #NationalHospitalistDay.