Pediatric hospitalists in Canada and the United States: A survey of pediatric academic department chairs

Objectives.-To document the prevalence and practice patterns of pediatric h ospitalists in academic centers in Canada and the United States to characte rize academic pediatric department chairs' definition of the term hospitali st;, and to characterize pediatric department chairs' views of the training requirements for pediatric hospitalists. Methods.-A 14-item questionnaire was sent to all 145 pediatric department chairs from Canada and the United States during the fall of 1998. We defined hospitalists as physicians spend ing at least 25% of their time in inpatient care. Results.-Of the 145 eligi ble pediatric chairs, 128 (89%) responded (United States, 111/126: Canada. 14/16: Puerto Rico, 3/3). Ninety-nine (77%) of 128 pediatric chairs either have (64/128) or are planning to have (35/128) hospitalists in their instit utions. Within academic programs with hospitalists, 82% of hospitalists cur rently work on general pediatric wards. Two thirds of hospitalists teach. 5 0% provide outpatient care, 50% have administrative duties. and 44% conduct research. One hundred eight (84%) of 128 believe that hospitalists should spend at least 50% of their time in inpatient care. Less than one third (30 %) of pediatric chairs believe that hospitalists require training not curre ntly provided in residency. Conclusions.-A large proportion of academic ped iatric centers either employed or planned to employ hospitalists in 1998. P ediatric academic department chairs do not see a need for training beyond r esidency for hospitalists. Further studies should address how pediatric hos pitalists affect quality of care, cost, and patient satisfaction.