hospitalist

noun hos·pi·tal·ist \ ˈhä-(ˌ)spi-tə-list \

Definition of hospitalist

: a physician who specializes in treating hospitalized patients of other physicians in order to minimize the number of hospital visits by other physicians

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Recent Examples of hospitalist from the Web

Our past experience with hospitalists has not been optimum.

— Philly.com, "Hospitalists, first do no harm. Pay attention to each patient's needs," 23 Jan. 2018
Our hospitalist was an incredibly smart, compassionate caring physician.

— Philly.com, "Hospitalists, first do no harm. Pay attention to each patient's needs," 23 Jan. 2018
The company, founded in 2007, uses teams of hospitalists and nurse practitioners to provide care.

— meredith cohn, baltimoresun.com, "Maryland-based Adfinitas Health buys stake in PA hospitalist group," 8 Jan. 2018
Also, the hospitalists are good doctors who are devoted to care.

— andy lazris, Columbia Flier, "Healthy communication needed between physicians [Commentary]," 31 Aug. 2017
The hospitalist movement is a national phenomenon, certainly not something confined to Howard County.

— andy lazris, Columbia Flier, "Healthy communication needed between physicians [Commentary]," 31 Aug. 2017
The parade of specialists, hospitalists, residents, and nurses treating him seem like Vegas palm readers, spouting theories and hunches that only lead to confusion and further despair.

— jenny mollen, Marie Claire, "Actress and Author Jenny Mollen Opens Up About Her Family's Scary Health Crisis," 17 July 2017
Dr. Karpoff, 31, is an attending hospitalist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

— New York Times, "Marissa Karpoff, Daniel Friedman," 14 May 2017
One night last fall, Victoria Rodriguez, a pediatric hospitalist at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, was paged from the emergency room for a consultation on a case.

— alice callahan, Washington Post, "New type of baby monitors offers ‘peace of mind’ but may deliver just the opposite," 6 May 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'hospitalist.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Hospitalist refers to what is rapidly becoming a new specialty in medicine, perhaps due in part to the rise of organized health care. These days, the care that you receive during a hospital stay may be coordinated and monitored by a doctor who is not your regular doctor or the referring physician. The word hospitalist itself first appeared in print in 1996 and derives, of course, from "hospital," which in turn can be traced back to the Medieval Latin hospitale, meaning "hospice" or "guest house."

First Known Use of hospitalist

1996

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year

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Medical Dictionary

hospitalist

noun hos·pi·tal·ist \ ˈhäs-(ˌ)pit-ᵊl-əst \

medical Definition of hospitalist

: a physician who specializes in seeing and treating other physicians' hospitalized patients in order to minimize the number of hospital visits by the patients' regular physicians