I would imagine that to most nurses, it makes little difference what specialty training the Hospitalist has. Clearly, these nurses were not concerned with the type of training that the physician had received. On the other hand, the nurses I spoke with were very clear on what type of person would make a good Hospitalist. It was very important to the nurses I spoke with that this type of physician possess excellent communication skills and understand the value of contributions from all members of the health care team. The essence of what these nurses were describing was a physician who would promote a collaborative environment.
Collaboration is the process of working together and sharing in decision-making.
More than any other quality, it seems crucial that a Hospitalist must possess this collaborative spirit. This scenario where the patient, family member, nurse, intern, or resident struggles to get the attending physician's attention is very real. The dilemma described by the harried attending is also no fallacy. The pressures on an attending physician can be tremendous. Clearly, the answer is no.