As a family medicine physician and someone likely far from your location, I won’t have hospital privileges and won’t be managing your inpatient care.
However, just because I am not the hospitalist directly involved in your care, it doesn’t mean I won’t be involved.
The Inpatient Process
In the US and other countries, you often will go to the ER for any health emergency and may be admitted to the hospital. The ER and the hospital are considered inpatient. The outpatient is the primary care clinic or specialty clinic where you have a consult.
Once admitted, a hospitalist will manage your care. It’s common to see several hospitalists who pass patients between each other during your stay.
Many specialists will come and go, ordering many tests. The goal for a hospital is to see as many patients as possible and bill as high as possible.
Coordinating the Care of Our Patients
At Digital Nomad Health we follow all our patients regardless of which hospital and which country they end up in for inpatient care.
Managing your inpatient care by communicating with the hospitalist is important to catch any of their errors, and unnecessary tests are avoided.
When to go to the ER
When is inpatient care necessary? Whenever you believe you have a life-threatening emergency, it’s important to call 911 or activate your local emergency services.
The EMTs will evaluate you and determine if something life-threatening is happening. If not, we arrange an immediate appointment with the patient and Dr. Mo for evaluation.
If necessary, you’ll be directed to the ER. Otherwise, your care can be managed by Dr. Mo with close supervision.
Ongoing Chronic Care
In the inpatient setting, that’s when we often find new diagnoses in the average US patient. However, at DNH, we catch such conditions far before they get bad enough to necessitate inpatient care.
The average American learns about their heart condition, diabetes, or COPD when they end up in the hospital for shortness of breath or sepsis.
A virtual-first practice allows the patient to have ongoing access to their primary care doctor and catch any signs or symptoms of disease early.