Nocturnist
Encyclopedia
A Nocturnist is a specialist hospital
-based doctor
who only works overnight. Some nocturnists are trained in internal medicine
, and have experience in hospital medicine
. However, there are nocturnists trained in other specialties, such as psychiatry. The main role of a nocturnist is to admit patients from an emergency room, and to cross-cover previously admitted inpatients, through the night. A typical nocturnist works from 7pm to 7am.
The main advantages to a hospital from employing a nocturnist are:
Nocturnists were first described in literature by Aman D. Sabharwal, MD in The Hospitalist in 2005.
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
-based doctor
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
who only works overnight. Some nocturnists are trained in internal medicine
Internal medicine
Internal medicine is the medical specialty dealing with the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of adult diseases. Physicians specializing in internal medicine are called internists. They are especially skilled in the management of patients who have undifferentiated or multi-system disease processes...
, and have experience in hospital medicine
Hospital medicine
Hospital medicine in the United States is the discipline concerned with the medical care of acutely ill hospitalized patients. Physicians whose primary professional focus is hospital medicine are called hospitalists; this type of medical practice has extended beyond the US into Canada...
. However, there are nocturnists trained in other specialties, such as psychiatry. The main role of a nocturnist is to admit patients from an emergency room, and to cross-cover previously admitted inpatients, through the night. A typical nocturnist works from 7pm to 7am.
The main advantages to a hospital from employing a nocturnist are:
- Improved patient safety
- Improved quality of care to inpatients
- No "on-call" for physicians at home
- Immediate admission and history & physical of patients waiting to be admitted.
- Immediate decompression of an emergency room
- Decreased length of stay
- Increased patient satisfaction
Nocturnists were first described in literature by Aman D. Sabharwal, MD in The Hospitalist in 2005.
External links
- US Nocturnist Positions
- Sabharwal, Aman, "Life as a Nocturnist", in The Hospitalist, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 43–44