In an article recently published in Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers at the University of Chicago found that 75 percent of hospitalized patients could not name even one of the doctors who were taking care of them during their stay. Less than half of the patients were correct when they did give a name.
These findings are not at all surprising. Medical teams, especially in large, academic medical centers, consist of 3 or more people, which may include medical students, interns, residents, and "attending" physicians. In addition, you may be interviewed and examined by consultants—specialists with expertise in a specific field.
If you are admitted to a hospital by your family physician, internist, or a specialist you have gone to see, they may act as your attending physician and you will know them. You may, however, be assigned to someone you don't know, such as a faculty or hospital physician, who will serve as your attending doctor. Medical school faculty members usually spend a month each year as ward attendings.
A relatively new brand of doctor, termed a hospitalist, might also be taking care of you in the hospital. Hospitalists are mostly internists whose primary professional focus is the general medical care of hospitalized patients.
Neither the faculty member nor hospitalist will be fully aware of your past medical problems and care, and they will not participate in your continuing care after you leave the hospital. It is quite important, therefore, for your outside physician to receive a note that fully describes what happened in the hospital and the recommendations of the hospital physicians. This note, however, is usually dictated not by the faculty member or hospitalist, but by a resident.
To complicate matters further, the particular interns, residents, faculty attending physicians, and hospitalists who were on duty when you arrived may change during your hospital stay.
Why is it important to know these doctors? Interns and residents are involved in your day-to-day care and so you will see them more frequently than your attending physician. Yet, the attending physician is responsible for making important final decisions about your care, and he or she is the one you or your family members should go to with questions during your hospital stay. I suggest that you or a family member write down the name and role of each doctor involved in your care.
