As a locum tenens provider, you may be debating which areas suit you and your profession the best. Wellhart offers jobs ranging from emergency rooms to dental clinics. Hospitals use locum tenens providers to staff their facilities and provide quality care. For hospitalist physicians seeking employment, this guide is just for you.
What is the scope of practice for hospitalists?
Hospitalists refers to medical professionals that work solely in their respective medical centers. Hospitalists work solely in hospitals. They are most commonly physicians, or MDs, but physician assistants (PAs) or nurse practitioners (NPs) can also be hospitalists.
However, they are not always primary care physicians. Hospitalist physicians usually come from backgrounds in general internal medicine, pediatrics, neurology, and family medicine. They work to admit patients and formulate treatment plans.
Caring for inpatients requires them to diagnose and treat health problems during their hospital stay. This includes prescribing medication and reviewing a patient’s medical history.
How do I become a licensed hospitalist?
Becoming a hospitalist physician consists of the regular process of becoming a doctor and practicing medicine. This includes earning a bachelor’s degree and taking the MCAT. The American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) handles the MCAT. Students then attend four years of medical school and complete a residency program for about three years.
Hospitalists do not have a specified residency program. Instead hospitalists specialize in a variety of fields, including internal medicine, family medicine or pediatrics. Any of these specialties should familiarize physicians with a hospital setting.
The residency programs for hospitalist physicians depend on their specialty. Physicians could work solely in their department as well. During or after the residency concludes, students must take the national board exam to become certified. The two exams are the USMLE and the COMLEX.
How long does it take to become a hospitalist?
It takes about 11 years in total to become a hospitalist physician. This includes the four years of undergraduate studies, four years of medical school, and three years of residency. The length of the residency program may take longer than three years, depending on the field of medicine.
What exams do hospitalists need to take?
All licensed physicians must complete the MCAT to attend medical school, but also take a national board exam afterwards. The National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) and the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners (NBOME) handle the exams. MD students take the USMLE by the NBME, while osteopathic medical students take the COMLEX offered by the NBOME. More exams may arise depending on the specific area of study the physician pursues, such as board certification.
What licenses do hospitalists need?
Hospitalist physicians should receive board certification, as most employers now require it. The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), the American Osteopathic Association (AOA), or the American Board of Physician Specialties (ABPS) grant certification. They offer board certification for different specialties including hospital medicine, orthopedics, psychiatry and more. The ABMS highlights the specific requirements for their specialty certifications.
What are the continuing education requirements for hospitalists?
The Continuing Medical Education (CME) requirements for hospitalist physicians varies by state and their specialty. One example is the recertification in hospital medicine from the APBS. Recertification requires 50 hours of CME per year. Hospital medicine accounts for 25 of those hours, along with 15 hours of self-assessment CME in the same topic.
Hospital medicine physicians accumulate 400 CME hours over the course of eight years. Sixteen of those must be from Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS)-approved programs. Four of these CME hours must be from an AAPS-approved Medical Ethics program every eight years.
For information on hospitalist salaries, check out our hospitalist nurse practitioner salary guide.
Are you a hospitalist looking for a job? Check out our job board to see available positions all over the United States.
This article was written by Desirae Sin