Keynote speaker addresses record number of attendees at Hospital Medicine 2012

SAN DIEGO—Hospital Medicine 2012, the annual meeting of the Society of Hospital Medicine, brought more than 2,500 hospitalists to San Diego this week for the largest ever gathering of inpatient-based clinicians.

After three days of scientific sessions, Robert Wachter, MD, FACP, closed out the meeting with an address on “The Great Physician 2012,” in which he warned attendees about significant changes in store for physicians but also reassured them that hospitalists are well-positioned to lead the future of medicine.

He noted many positives of contemporary hospitalist practice, including improved quality and safety and potential for cost-cutting, but he also discussed potentially negative aspects, especially related to an increasing focus on technology. Hospitalists should be “constantly asking ourselves what we have lost in terms of our relationship with patients” because of computers, Dr. Wachter said. He also expressed concern that physicians' body of skills and knowledge could shrink due to their reliance on technology and instant access to information, asking “Is Google making us stupider?”

Dr. Wachter encouraged hospitalists not to let ongoing efforts toward better teamwork distract from the need for strong leadership within the hospital. “Teamwork is absolutely vital and yet I've been to a lot of institutions that seem to be really good at teamwork, but what they're missing is leadership. I think we've got to be a little careful about going too far in the ‘Kumbaya’ direction,” he said.

Dr. Wachter will become chair of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) later this year, and he discussed the challenges of assessing the competence of current and future internists. Other forums for physician assessment (such as HealthGrades) may make the public less concerned about board certification, while the increasing complexity of practice—for example, the need to judge a doctor's team behavior, systems thinking, and professionalism as well as clinical knowledge—makes assessment more difficult.

He predicted that a component of the ABIM exam will allow physicians to use the Internet to answer questions within the next five to ten years, although he also expects part of the exam to continue to rely on memorized knowledge. “It's vital that we don't ditch all of the old competencies,” he said. He closed his speech by reassuring hospitalists that these changes will not be too much for them to handle. “If any field is going to sort out how to be this new great physician while holding onto the parts of the old great physician that have enduring value, it will be us,” he said.

—By Stacey Butterfield, Associate Editor