A shortage of physicians with experience treating hospitalized patients could threaten the next surge response

A shortage of doctors with experience treating hospitalized patients looms Fewer than half of U.S. physicians treat hospitalized patients. That could pose hospital staffing problems as Covid-19 cases surge. Patrick Skerrett STAT

Covid-19 cases reach a record high in the U.S., models project that this third wave of the pandemic may be the worst yet. The confluence of weather patterns, pandemic fatigue, loose social distancing guidelines, and the upcoming flu season have led to a surge of hospitalizations that will continue to rise over the next few months.

Concerns are once again growing about hospital capacity in terms of available beds and equipment, as well as the availability of frontline health care providers and how to keep them from getting Covid-19. One looming shortage that has been overlooked is the shortage of providers with experience in treating hospitalized patients.

Most physicians in the U.S. stop treating patients in the hospital when they complete their residencies or fellowships. This lack of experience could have a significant impact on patient outcomes and should be considered in pandemic planning.

In the past, physicians treated patients across different settings, often attending to their patients when they were hospitalized or admitted to a nursing home. Since the 1990s, some generalist physicians have focused their practice exclusively on hospitalized patients. They have come to be known as hospitalists. This trend of some physicians seeing patients solely in the hospital and others seeing patients primarily in clinic settings has major implications during a pandemic in which 20% of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 need to be hospitalized.