brand logo

Fam Pract Manag. 2003;10(7):14-16

To the Editor:

“Seven Ways to Help Your Hospital Stay in Business” was right on target. I’d like to suggest an additional strategy: the family physician must act as the “captain of the ship.” As a family physician and medical director of a community hospital, I have seen too many delays in care and discharge that resulted from a physician abdicating his or her role to the subspecialists. At our facility, some patients admitted for chest pain and ruled out for cardiac disease have remained in the hospital for three additional days while the subspecialists performed everything from CT scans to endoscopies. I suggest developing care maps or guidelines that start in the ED and assist the physician in the most expeditious work-up of his or her patients.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

Send your comments to fpmedit@aafp.org. Submission of a letter will be construed as granting AAFP permission to publish the letter in any of its publications in any form. We cannot respond to all letters we receive. Those chosen for publication will be edited for length and style.

Continue Reading


More in FPM

Copyright © 2003 by the American Academy of Family Physicians.

This content is owned by the AAFP. A person viewing it online may make one printout of the material and may use that printout only for his or her personal, non-commercial reference. This material may not otherwise be downloaded, copied, printed, stored, transmitted or reproduced in any medium, whether now known or later invented, except as authorized in writing by the AAFP.  See permissions for copyright questions and/or permission requests.