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Slide 1: Hospitalists Growing in Popularity for Physicians By now we've all heard it ad infinitum: the medical profession is the fastest growing in the United States. Statistics from the US Department of Labor now say that the number of jobs available in the medical field will continue to increase substantially into the year 2018. When you break down those numbers, there are few physician jobs that are growing faster than others. One of the fastest growing specialties is hospitalist’s doctors. The hospitalist is a general practitioner who works only in a hospital setting. He is sort of a cross between a primary care physician and a resident, although he doesn't leave after a year. The hospitalist provides the same type of care in a hospital setting that he would in private practice, without the need to worry about making business ends meet or dealing with employees. For some doctors, it is the best of all worlds. The 9-to-5 Schedule Anyone involved in the medical profession knows that it's nearly impossible for a doctor to maintain a 9-to-5 schedule. But hospitalists jobs come about as close as possible. Most doctors working in the hospital environment have steady and dependable hours, less time spent on call, and more time to spend on other things. Even when these doctors are working 10 to 12 hours a day, they know when they clock out they are completely done until their next shift. Private practice physicians don't have it so well. Many physicians start the day working on paperwork before the practice even opens. They see endless numbers of patients throughout the day then finish up with another hour or so of paperwork before heading home. Even at that, many private practice physicians are on call at least a couple of times a week, if they can make arrangements with other local doctors to share the responsibility. If not, they'll be on call seven days a week, 365 days a year. Business Can Be Difficult Being a doctor is certainly a difficult job in and of itself. But private practice physicians also have the business aspects to worry about. This means constantly dealing with a plethora of government regulations, insurance company demands, employee needs, and other aspects of general business management. All of those things combined can make private practice unbearable for the physician who is ill prepared for it. For some doctors, physician jobs at hospitals are much better. The hospitalist doctor can treat patients without having to worry about whether employees are getting paid. He can go home night and not have to wonder about insurance company reimbursements. In other words, the hospitalist physician has the opportunity to practice medicine without all of the distractions of business. For doctors who really don't like business, a hospital job could be the perfect scenario. Working as a hospitalist certainly isn't right for everyone; then again private practice isn't either. It's a good thing that there are so many different types of physician jobs available to meet the different needs and desires of individual doctors.