Scholarly productivity and growth of academic hospital medicine full professors

The Hospitalist Movement 25 Years Later

Hospitalists are generalists who specialize in the care of hospitalized patients. In the 25 years since the term hospitalist was coined, the field of hospital medicine has grown exponentially and established a substantial footprint in the medical community. There are now more hospitalists than practicing physicians in any other internal medicine subspecialty. Several key forces catalyzed the growth in the field of hospital medicine, including the quality, safety, and value movements; residency duty hour restrictions; the emergence of electronic health records; and the COVID-19 pandemic. Looking ahead, we see new opportunities in the realms of technology and telemedicine, and challenges persist in regard to balancing financial considerations with increasing workload and burnout. Hospitalists must remain nimble and seize emerging opportunities to continue supporting the field's prominence and growth.

Characteristics of adult hospital medicine fellowships in the United States: A cross-sectional survey study

BACKGROUND

Hospitalists who seek academic careers are interested in developing skills in research, education, and quality improvement (QI). Since these are not major foci of residency programs, hospitalists may pursue a hospital medicine fellowship to acquire these skill sets.

OBJECTIVE

We sought to characterize the current state of hospital medicine fellowships in the United States, including demographics, clinical requirements, curricular focus, financial structure, and scholarly outputs. DESIGNS, SETTINGS, AND PARTICIPANTS: This was a cross-sectional study of 32 hospital medicine fellowship programs across the United States in 2020-2021. An electronic survey was emailed to program leaders.

RESULTS

Out of 32 eligible programs contacted, 19 (59.4%) programs responded, representing 22 fellowship tracks. Most (63.2%) programs have been in existence for 5 years or less. Fourteen (63.6%) of the tracks had multiple focus areas, while 8 (36.4%) had a single focus. Of the 14 fellowship tracks with multiple focus areas, 6 (42.8%) reported research, QI and medical education as curricular elements. All 14 reported research as one of the curricular elements. The majority (68.4%) of programs offered opportunities to obtain a master's degree, though the field of degree varied widely. A median of 50% (IQR 0) of fellows' time was spent in clinical activities. Considerable heterogeneity exists among adult hospital medicine fellowship programs. The majority focus on research, QI, and/or medical education. Hospital medicine fellowships offer opportunities for intesive faculty development and unique career pathways.