Hospitalists and Clinical Care Settings

Following the announcement of Memorial Hospital of Carbon County’s (MHCC) intent to establish a clinic in the Valley, the county hospital issued a press release about hospitalists and clinical care settings. In the release, Dr. Stephanie Chiu, a hospitalist and outpatient clinic physician at MHCC, explained her role at the hospital.

“A hospitalist is a physician who evaluates and treats patients in the hospital setting. For instance, if you are diagnosed with pneumonia in the emergency department/emergency room and require hospitalization, I would be one of the physicians that would take care of you while you are admitted to our hospital,” said Chiu.

Chiu stated that she works for Rural Physician Group and rotates with other hospitalists so that a person is always on-call for emergencies and daily evaluation of patients. She added that she has worked, or currently works, as a physician in hospitals, outpatient clinics, rehabilitation and nursing home patients and explained the different in seeing a patient in those various settings.

“Patients are treated in clinic for routine follow up visits or acute visits if they are sick. When I see a patient in the clinic, I am able to manage their long-term medications for chronic illnesses like gout, or manage their health maintenance plans which include vaccinations and cancer screenings. I also evaluate patients if they are ill with an acute illness like a cold or pneumonia. Occasionally, I need to transfer a patient to the hospital if they need an urgent work-up that I am not able to complete in the clinic or need closer monitoring than we are able to perform in the clinic,” Chiu said.

According to Chiu, outpatient clinics are very important in that they often compliment the services provided by a hospital or skilled nursing facility. 

“Good follow up with outpatient clinic providers decrease unnecessary hospitalizations and can ensure that patients can have good follow up after discharge from a hospital or nursing home,” said Chiu.

In a hospital setting, Chiu often treats patients if they require longer hospital care than in an emergency room. She stated that, as a hospitalist, she will evaluate the patient and make a treatment plan when she first sees a patient and follow-up on a daily basis.

“Sometimes a patient is ready to be discharged from the hospital but not quite ready to go back home,” Chiu said. “Most nursing homes will provide rehabilitation services that allow the patient to focus on getting physically stronger prior to returning home. This service is extremely valuable as it can decrease the frequency of life-threatening bone fractures and bleeding events through decreasing at-home falls. If a patient requires long-term care that cannot be achieved at home, the patient will then need to make arrangements to go to a nursing home.  In this case, the move is often permanent, and based on the patient’s increased medical and physical needs.”