On April 25th, we were pleased to welcome Dr David Gryglia from Dixie Regional Medical Center as our speaker. Dr. Gryglia practices as one of eighteen Hospitalists at Intermountain, who staff various medical and surgical specialties including Emergency Medicine, Pediatrics and Obstetrics. Hospitalists may be, professionally, a DO, MD, Nurse Practitioner or Physician's Assistant and each must stay current with training in their chosen area of practice. While an in-patient at Dixie Regional Medical Center, your doctor will be a Hospitalist. All Saint George physicians entrust care of their hospitalized patients to the Intermountain hospitalist staff and, local pharmacies are online to the medical center, allowing responsible caregivers access to the patient's medication history. The Hospitalist communicates with the patient's personal physician and, upon discharge, the patient receives a packet of information about the hospital stay including care notes, results of lab tests and medical orders.

Although there are benefits to be realized by the usual model of in-patient care being administered by a physician familiar with an individual patient, studies have shown that the role of the Hospitalist offers added value by:

  • providing timely access to in-house medical care upon admission
  • improving resource utilization
  • easing the time burden of private physicians
  • educating through both formal and informal learning processes
  • improving patient safety and quality of care because of being able to address issues or test results as soon as they are known
  • maximizing throughput and improving patient flow in the hospital system
  • assuring care for patients who have no assigned doctor

The Hospitalist serves as director of the multi-disciplinary team of pharmacists, nurses, medical assistants, dietitians, social workers, discharge planners, chaplains, and family members, whose common goal is providing the best patient-centered care and restoring optimum health as soon as is possible.