In the U.S., the quality of acute surgical care is
threatened by a shortage of surgeons performing emergency
procedures. This is due to the rising costs of uncompensated
care, liability concerns, declining reimbursement, and lifestyle
considerations. We hypothesized that a surgical hospitalist
program could improve timeliness of care, emergency department (ED)
efficiency and physician satisfaction, resident supervision,
continuity of care, and revenue generation.
Our preliminary benchmarks seem to validate this approach.
Future research will assess the effect of surgical hospitalists on
average length of hospital stay for several complex conditions and
determine whether morbidity and mortality are reduced (which will
require adequate sample sizes and a possible multicenter study).
Patient satisfaction, and the satisfaction of the other
non-hospitalist surgical faculty members, will be assessed through
survey instruments.