Today's Mailbag
Letters to the Editor
Continuity the key
I commend Jennifer Booth Reed for the article "Committed to the admitted," Feb 2. An additional quality concern is in-hospital continuity of care of patients by hospitalists, i.e., the same hospitalist caring for the same patient over time.
I have been witness to a schedule of hospitalist coverage that is oriented to the convenience of hospitalists, resulting in as many as three or more hospitalists caring for a particular patient in the same hospital location in a 7-day period. That decreases continuity and quality of care.
One of the leading medical schools and hospitalist training programs in the United States (Northwestern, Chicago) states that continuity is a priority.
That institution addresses this problem by having their hospitalists "work for seven consecutive days when on the hospital medicine service. Using a seven-day rotation cycle maximizes continuity of care while preventing physician fatigue. (They) also make every attempt to have hospitalists take over the care of their prior patients when coming back on service, especially for complicated patients."
It would be in the public's interest to know how the Lee Memorial Hospital system addresses this issue.
MAYNARD D. POLAND, MD
Fort Myers
