Hospitalist Neurology

Due to changes in the delivery of medical care toward greater emphasis on primary care and ambulatory medicine, the need for hospitalists has grown. These physicians and surgeons spend all of their time in the hospital where they meet current demands for speed and efficiency that the primary care physicians can no longer provide given their heavy patient load, focuses on less acute ambulatory medicine. The hospitalists, called on to provide consultations on patients who are not under the primary care of a neurologist, have an urgent need to recognize, diagnose, and treat neurologic problems that arise in their patients.

The text is divided into two main parts:: Major neurological issues faced by the consulting neurologist, such as headache and seizures, are addressed in the first section, and major neurologic consultation problems seen on various hospital services, such as oncology and cardiology, are discussed in the second half. This structure, which reflects the organizational scheme of a modern hospital, will enable neurologists to quickly find the information they need. When asked to consult on a patient, the neurologist faces problems that are specific to the service where the patient resides. By thinking about the problems in this way, the physician can reduce the large number of possible diagnoses to a manageable few that are commonly encountered in each clinical context. By reading this unique text, neurologists will increase their knowledge of the conditions frequently found in other hospital services and be better equipped to provide thorough consultations.