Ashtabula County Medical Center | ACMC Pulse | Winter 2017

A history of Hospitalists at ACMC In 2002, several primary care physicians came to ACMC administrators and said it was growing increasingly more difficult to split their time between caring for patients in the office and making rounds in the hospital. Excessive paperwork, high patient volume and other demands often put a strain on their time and availability. Hospitalists help alleviate the challenge of making sure patients in the office and those in the hospital both receive the highest level of attention needed. ACMC listened to those physicians and started the Hospitalist program in 2003. The program allows primary care providers to remain focused and readily available for patients in their offices while Hospitalists focus on patients admitted to ACMC. ACMC’s Hospitalist team now includes more than two dozen internal medicine physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners who work alongside nurses, technicians, diagnosticians and other caregivers. Rajwinder Kaur, MD, Medical Director Ahmed Elsherbiny, MD Vivian Bochenek, DO Meet our Hospitalist team Houssam Mhanna, MD Mauro Quaglia, MD Dirk McKnight, MD Brian Dlugos, PA patients. Being on-site also allows them to spend more time answering questions and conducting patient education. They also help lessen the risk of medical errors and reduce length of stay and hospital costs. Q Does my primary care provider know what is happening to me? A ACMC Hospitalists work closely with primary care providers and keep them updated on their patient’s treatment and recovery. Your primary care provider will receive a complete discharge summary after you leave the hospital. The discharge summary will have information about your diagnosis, tests and results, medications and treatment plan. If your primary care provider is affiliated with ACMC, he or she will be able to see everything about your hospital stay in real time in your electronic health record. ACMC Pulse • acmchealth.org 13