Hospitalist Program Toolkit: A Comprehensive Guide to Implementation of Successful Hospitalist Programs

By Vandad Yousefi MD, CCFP

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the design and implementation of hospitalist programs in the Canadian healthcare setting, and includes various tools and resources for creation of such successful programs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Apr 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9781257371488

Book preview

Hospitalist Consulting Solutions Inc.

Hospitalist Program Tool Kit

A Comprehensive Guide to Implementation of Successful

Hospitalist Programs

Vandad Yousefi MD CCFP

Mark Evans MD CCFP

© 2010 Hospitalist Consulting Solutions Inc.

762 Bay Street • Suite 1905

Toronto Ontario M5G 2R3

Phone [phone] • [e-mail]

Hospitalist Consulting Solutions Inc. is Canada’s leading healthcare consulting firm specializing in the field of Hospital Medicine. With many years of on-the-ground experience, our consultants are clinicians with a wealth of clinical and administrative experience. Independently, each consultant has been involved in helping hospitals and physicians develop viable hospitalist programs and improve existing ones. By pooling their individual experience and skills, HCS is pleased to offer its clients a much more versatile and powerful consulting tool.

Copyright© 2010 Hospitalist Consulting Solutions Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced for commercial, for-profit use in any form or by any means, or republished under any circumstances, without the written permission of the Hospitalist Consulting Solutions Inc.

eISBN: 978-1-25737-148-8

About the Authors

Vandad Yousefi

Vandad Yousefi is a hospitalist at Lakeridge Health Corporation in Ontario, Canada. Upon receiving his medical degree from the University of British Columbia , he moved to Calgary to complete his family medicine residency. After completing his training, he started work in various urban and rural communities covering hospitals and emergency rooms. He joined the Lakeridge Health hospitalist group in 2007, and has since been heavily involved in various aspects of the program.

Vandad is currently a member of the Medical Advisory Committee of the Lakeridge Health Corporation, where he has taken on the role of Physician Lead- Quality. In this position, he is responsible for engaging the medical staff on quality improvement issues, and developing and implementing quality improvement initiatives within and across various departments. He is the founder of a network of physicians involved in quality improvement across various hospitals in Southern Ontario, and also serves as the Chair of the Canadian Society of Hospital Medicine's Quality and Safety Committee.

Vandad is interested in researching the effectiveness of the hospitalist model in the Canadian setting, as well as the role of hospital based physicians in quality and safety. He is the CEO of Hospitalist Consulting Solutions Inc.

Mark Evans

Mark Evans was born in rural Alberta, and has lived and travelled extensively in many areas of Canada and the world. He has worked as a farm laborer, ranch hand, ski instructor, rough neck, truck driver, explosives expert, and garbage man. Mark attended the University of British Columbia where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Ethics, and subsequently earned his medical degree from the University of Western Ontario followed by a residency program in family medicine at the University of Calgary.

Mark has worked many in rural and urban settings, providing a full spectrum of care that included both family and emergency medicine. Since 2002, Mark has been working as a full time hospitalist at the Calgary General Hospital - Peter Lougheed Centre. In addition to his clinical duties, he has served on many local and provincial committees, and is currently the Quality Improvement Physician for the Division of Acute Care of the Department of Family Medicine and the Calgary Health Region. He currently serves as a member of the CSHM's Quality and Safety Committee. He is also, the Medical Site Leader for the innovative Chronic Complex Care Unit at the Vernon Fanning Centre. Mark is the president of Hospitalist Consulting Solutions Inc.

Foreword

One of the most important developments in the Canadian healthcare landscape over the past ten years has been the development of the hospitalist model of inpatient care delivery. Since the early programs were first initiated in the late 1990’s, there has been an exponential growth in the number of hospitalist programs across Canada. Hospitalist programs currently exist in large academic centres, as well as community hospitals of varying sizes. Despite this growth there are few written guides or resources for physicians and administrators interested in developing similar programs in their healthcare organizations.

The current volume aims to address this gap. The Tool Kit provides a comprehensive overview of various aspects of the design and implementation of Hospital Medicine programs in a Canadian context. It provides practical strategies to address such challenges, and highlights important principles any program leader should consider.

Hospitalist Consulting Solutions Inc (HCS) is the first and only healthcare consulting firm that focuses on hospital medicine. By designing unique solutions and products specifically geared to address the needs of hospitalist programs, and by focusing on developing educational materials and resources, HCS aims to play its role in promoting the growth of hospitalist model of care. The current volume is the first step in our efforts to provide useful resources specifically designed to address the needs of Canadian hospital medicine leaders.

Vandad Yousefi, MD, CCFP

Mark Evans, MD, CCFP

Chapter one: History of Hospital Medicine

This chapter provides a description of the development of hospital medicine in Canada, and reviews the value added benefits of adopting the hospitalist model.

Vandad Yousefi

Chapter one

History of Hospital Medicine

Hospital Medicine in North America

The first formal description of a hospitalist was provided by Bob Wachter and Lee Goldman in 1996 ¹. In their landmark New England Journal of Medicine article, they described the emerging role of general internists who primarily dedicated their practice to provision of inpatient care in hospital settings. Since then there has been an exponential increase in the numbers of hospitalists and hospitalist programs in North America. A survey in 2006 estimated the number of hospitalists in the United States to be more than 20,000 ², and according to the Society