Greg Twachtmann

As has become tradition, Robert Wachter, MD, MHM, of the University of California, San Francisco, will close the conference today and will focus on the broader changes that must happen as the role of the hospitalist continues to evolve.

“I am going to talk about the changes in the world of hospital care and the importance of the field to innovate,” Dr. Wachter said. “To me, there are gravitational forces in the health care world that are making … patients who are in hospitals sicker than they were before. More and more patients are going to be cared for in outpatient settings and at home. We are going start to ... see things like sensors and telemedicine to enable more care outside of the hospital.”

Dr. Wachter said hospital medicine must evolve and mature to continue to prove that hospitalists are indispensable staff members within the hospital.

“That was why the field became the fastest-growing profession in medical history. We can’t sit on our laurels. We have to continue to innovate,” he said. “Even as the system changes around us, I am confident that we will innovate. My talk will be a pep talk and will include reflections on how the world of health care is changing and what those changes will mean to hospitalists.”

Dr. Wachter noted that the trend of steering patients who are less sick to the outpatient setting, as well as other economic factors, would change the nature of hospitalist practice.

“It will be more acuity, more intensity, more complex relationships with your own hospital and often with partner hospitals,” he said. “More of the work will be digitally enabled than it would have been 5 or 10 years ago.”

 

Integration of data and technology innovation will be a key to better serving this sicker population, Dr. Wachter predicted. We need “to take much fuller advantage than we have so far of the fact that we are all dealing with digital records, and the decision support, the data analytics, the artificial intelligence that we get from our computer systems is pretty puny,” he said. “That is partly why physicians don’t love their computers so much. They spend huge amounts of time entering data into computers and don’t get much useful information out of it.”

Dr. Wachter also warned that too much data could have negative effects on the delivery of care.

“One of the challenges we face is continuing to stay alert, not turn our brains off, and become increasingly dependent on the computer to give us information,” he said. “How do we avoid the challenges we’ve already seen from things like alert and alarm fatigue as the computer becomes more robust as an information source? There is always the risk our computers are going to overwhelm us with too much information, and we are going to fall asleep at the switch. Or when the computer says something that really is not right for a patient, we will not be thinking clearly enough to catch it.”

Despite the looming challenges and industry consolidations that are expected, Dr. Wachter doesn’t believe there will be any shortage of demand for hospitalists.

“I think, in most circumstances, [hospitalists are a protected] profession given the complexity, the high variations, and the dependence that it still has on seeing the patient, talking to the patient, and having discussions with multiple consultants,” he said. “It’s a pretty hard thing to replace with technology. Overall, the job situation is pretty bright.”

As has become tradition, Robert Wachter, MD, MHM, of the University of California, San Francisco, will close the conference today and will focus on the broader changes that must happen as the role of the hospitalist continues to evolve.

“I am going to talk about the changes in the world of hospital care and the importance of the field to innovate,” Dr. Wachter said. “To me, there are gravitational forces in the health care world that are making … patients who are in hospitals sicker than they were before. More and more patients are going to be cared for in outpatient settings and at home. We are going start to ... see things like sensors and telemedicine to enable more care outside of the hospital.”

Dr. Wachter said hospital medicine must evolve and mature to continue to prove that hospitalists are indispensable staff members within the hospital.

“That was why the field became the fastest-growing profession in medical history. We can’t sit on our laurels. We have to continue to innovate,” he said. “Even as the system changes around us, I am confident that we will innovate. My talk will be a pep talk and will include reflections on how the world of health care is changing and what those changes will mean to hospitalists.”

Dr. Wachter noted that the trend of steering patients who are less sick to the outpatient setting, as well as other economic factors, would change the nature of hospitalist practice.

“It will be more acuity, more intensity, more complex relationships with your own hospital and often with partner hospitals,” he said. “More of the work will be digitally enabled than it would have been 5 or 10 years ago.”

 

Integration of data and technology innovation will be a key to better serving this sicker population, Dr. Wachter predicted. We need “to take much fuller advantage than we have so far of the fact that we are all dealing with digital records, and the decision support, the data analytics, the artificial intelligence that we get from our computer systems is pretty puny,” he said. “That is partly why physicians don’t love their computers so much. They spend huge amounts of time entering data into computers and don’t get much useful information out of it.”

Dr. Wachter also warned that too much data could have negative effects on the delivery of care.

“One of the challenges we face is continuing to stay alert, not turn our brains off, and become increasingly dependent on the computer to give us information,” he said. “How do we avoid the challenges we’ve already seen from things like alert and alarm fatigue as the computer becomes more robust as an information source? There is always the risk our computers are going to overwhelm us with too much information, and we are going to fall asleep at the switch. Or when the computer says something that really is not right for a patient, we will not be thinking clearly enough to catch it.”

Despite the looming challenges and industry consolidations that are expected, Dr. Wachter doesn’t believe there will be any shortage of demand for hospitalists.

“I think, in most circumstances, [hospitalists are a protected] profession given the complexity, the high variations, and the dependence that it still has on seeing the patient, talking to the patient, and having discussions with multiple consultants,” he said. “It’s a pretty hard thing to replace with technology. Overall, the job situation is pretty bright.”

As has become tradition, Robert Wachter, MD, MHM, of the University of California, San Francisco, will close the conference today and will focus on the broader changes that must happen as the role of the hospitalist continues to evolve.

“I am going to talk about the changes in the world of hospital care and the importance of the field to innovate,” Dr. Wachter said. “To me, there are gravitational forces in the health care world that are making … patients who are in hospitals sicker than they were before. More and more patients are going to be cared for in outpatient settings and at home. We are going start to ... see things like sensors and telemedicine to enable more care outside of the hospital.”

Dr. Wachter said hospital medicine must evolve and mature to continue to prove that hospitalists are indispensable staff members within the hospital.

“That was why the field became the fastest-growing profession in medical history. We can’t sit on our laurels. We have to continue to innovate,” he said. “Even as the system changes around us, I am confident that we will innovate. My talk will be a pep talk and will include reflections on how the world of health care is changing and what those changes will mean to hospitalists.”

Dr. Wachter noted that the trend of steering patients who are less sick to the outpatient setting, as well as other economic factors, would change the nature of hospitalist practice.

“It will be more acuity, more intensity, more complex relationships with your own hospital and often with partner hospitals,” he said. “More of the work will be digitally enabled than it would have been 5 or 10 years ago.”

 

Integration of data and technology innovation will be a key to better serving this sicker population, Dr. Wachter predicted. We need “to take much fuller advantage than we have so far of the fact that we are all dealing with digital records, and the decision support, the data analytics, the artificial intelligence that we get from our computer systems is pretty puny,” he said. “That is partly why physicians don’t love their computers so much. They spend huge amounts of time entering data into computers and don’t get much useful information out of it.”

Dr. Wachter also warned that too much data could have negative effects on the delivery of care.

“One of the challenges we face is continuing to stay alert, not turn our brains off, and become increasingly dependent on the computer to give us information,” he said. “How do we avoid the challenges we’ve already seen from things like alert and alarm fatigue as the computer becomes more robust as an information source? There is always the risk our computers are going to overwhelm us with too much information, and we are going to fall asleep at the switch. Or when the computer says something that really is not right for a patient, we will not be thinking clearly enough to catch it.”

Despite the looming challenges and industry consolidations that are expected, Dr. Wachter doesn’t believe there will be any shortage of demand for hospitalists.

“I think, in most circumstances, [hospitalists are a protected] profession given the complexity, the high variations, and the dependence that it still has on seeing the patient, talking to the patient, and having discussions with multiple consultants,” he said. “It’s a pretty hard thing to replace with technology. Overall, the job situation is pretty bright.”