About the Hospitalist Service: Inpatient Medicine at BWFH

Physicians in Brigham and Women’s Hospital Medicine Unit (HMU) serve as attendings on the core internal medicine teaching services at both of our hospitals, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital. In addition, they provide direct patient care with the support of a hospitalist NP or PA, an advanced practice provider (APP).

Our providers are able to participate in medical education with Harvard Medical students and Brigham and Women's Hospital Internal Medicine residents, as well as peer and APP education. Our hospitalists take advantage of a rich set of opportunities to contribute to research, quality, and process improvement in domains including: patient safety, health equity, health information systems, clinical and educational scholarship, social medicine, and global health.

The diverse and flexible career paths we offer encourage providers to pursue their individual career interests in a dynamic and supportive environment.

What is a hospitalist?

Hospitalists are providers who care for patients during their admission to a hospital. You could think of them as your primary care provider during your hospital stay. Hospitalists are skilled in management of many of the most common medical problems that require admission to the hospital, and work closely with other specialists (like a cardiologist or infectious disease provider) when necessary to provide the best care. The hospitalist responsible for your care during your hospital stay will work closely with you to provide diagnostics and treatment options, and also help discuss what care you should receive after your hospital stay. At HMU we employ both doctors, and APPs (advance practice providers) as clinicians on our hospital medicine service.

What is an APP?

An Advance Practice Provider (APP) is a Nurse Practitioner or Physician Assistant who has received advanced training. Brigham and Women’s Hospital medicine unit employs APPs who work closely with supervising attending physicians as part of many of our inpatient teams. Our APPs have chosen to specialize in Hospital Medicine and receive ongoing training and support from our physicians. During your hospital stay you may receive most of your care planning and communication from either a physician or an APP.

Mission Statement

Our mission is to:

Provide high-quality, efficient, comprehensive, compassionate inpatient care for the patients we serve.
Redefine and improve the standard of inpatient care including seamless communication across multiple settings.
Excel as educators in conveying the principles of evidence based inpatient medicine to students, residents, colleagues, APPs, and patients.
Become national leaders in hospital medicine and agents of change in quality improvement initiatives, patient safety, and clinical research.

Our mission as hospitalists…

...to our patients

We strive to provide care that is safe, effective, and patient-centered. We strive to offer the best possible patient care experience as individuals and as a service.

To fulfill this responsibility, we recruit and retain the finest hospitalists and APPs who engage in satisfying, sustainable careers in hospital medicine. And we remain fully committed to designing and promoting care models that put patients first.

...to our trainees

We are responsible to our trainees: The residents, medical students, and advanced practice providers who rely on us to provide evidence-based teaching, mentorship, and role modeling in the care of hospitalized patients.

We fulfill this responsibility by remaining in the educational mission of BWH and Harvard Medical School, and by seeking out every opportunity to teach and promote the core competencies of hospital medicine as a distinct specialty.

...to the broader community

We recognize that we are members of a larger care team, and we must foster excellent teamwork with other providers including nursing, other specialists and primary care physicians. It is our responsibility to join and lead efforts to improve the care we provide, and to be responsible stewards of resources to ensure the long-term survival of the institution, the larger mission of the hospital, and the health care system overall.

...to hospital medicine

Our final responsibility is to hospital medicine as a field and to the creation and dissemination of new knowledge in our specialty. We strive to advance knowledge in clinical research, quality improvement, patient safety, and education, and share lessons learned with colleagues across the nation.

Clinical Sites

BWFH is a 171-bed community teaching hospital in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. Our hospitalists care for 110 inpatient medical beds inclusive of all medical admissions. Our hospitalists provide care on both BWH-resident teaching services and hybrid direct-care and APP-staffed services which we call our “FACT services”.

In addition, we offer medical consultation to BWFH inpatient psychiatry and surgical services. BWFH offers one of the only level IV inpatient addiction recovery programs in Massachusetts. This program is run with a unique co-management model by our hospitalists in collaboration with board-certified addiction medicine providers.

Clinical Services at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital

Faulkner General Medicine Service (FGMS) - Teams which consist of a hospitalist attending who supervises residents, interns and medical students as part of the medical team, covered overnight by a hospitalist attending physician.

Faulkner Advanced Clinician Team (FACT) - Teams which consist of a hospitalist and an APP (NP/PA), covered overnight by a hospitalist attending physician.

Interested in a rewarding career in hospital medicine? Learn more about FACT.