How are hospitalists trained?
About 78 percent of practicing hospitalists are trained in general internal medicine. Another 4 percent are trained in an internal medicine subspecialty, most commonly pulmonary or critical care medicine. About 3 percent of hospitalists are trained in family practice; about 8% are pediatricians and 2% are trained as med-peds. The remaining 5% of hospitalists are non-physician providers, usually nurse practitioners and physician assistants. While there is no board certification in Hospital Medicine at the present time, the concept is moving rapidly towards recognition as a distinct subspecialty. A few distinct residency and fellowship training programs are currently operating at major universities.
