Personally, I think it takes a special kinda Doc to want to be a Hospitalist in the same vein as I see people who become Nurses.

Not sure what you mean by that... it was quickly becoming the default option at the IM residency at the hospital where I trained (for those IM'ers who didn't land a fellowship.)

I'd argue that it's a special kind of doc who wants to run a practice and still admit all her own patients.

Sounds like the comments I use to hear about people who went into Pathology, ie they couldn't get into any other residency program. :rolleyes:
Yeah one of the term's I've heard was money hungry. :p

Honestly I think there are enough indirect (yours) and direct(mine) snide comments to make about Docs to around, don't you?

Like I said before, Nurses and Hospitalists, VERY special medical professionals IMHO.

Thanks! as I am for sure considering hospitalist and NOT considering fellowship due to the healthcare debacle to come. I could not for sure do primary care (at least not at this point of my life) with the endless phone calls, pages, e-mails and issues with patients. I spend more time fielding calls on some patients than I would spend time on a new admission
Also, each career track has it's ups and downs but my personality is work hard then play hard (aka a la military). I love the flexibility of a hospitalist position and the plethora of different practice styles to choose from.

No Problem, you know I've always been one of your fans anyway, LOL!! And it's no suprise that this would appeal to you as a former Soldier!

But perhaps this is yet again, one of those things where perhaps a little experience with Hospitalists as a PATIENT as I have, is required to gain a full appreciation for this specialty.

I agree, and not all hospitalist groups are the same either. It can sure be lucrative ($$$$) but at the expense of a lot IMHO. You can not manage 20-30 patients and do the best for the patient and keep your sanity. I prefer to make less but have the right amount of patients to do the best for their care, keep myself sane, and be happy doing an excellent job with good outcomes for the folks I will take care of.

I just had a baby this past January and am planning on having more children down the line.It's hard to drop everything and run to the hospital. Hospitalists do a specific job, and they are generally good at it.I mean that somewhat defeats the purpose of having a hospitalist service available. Sure, patients love it, but at some point the line has to be drawn.

Well there is no doubt that hospitalist service is very good but you have to take care about your child carefully . I also say that you need to join hospitalist group too .

Can you do part-time work as a hospitalist? If so, how is the schedule worked out?

Yes, there is part-time hospitalist usually (but lots of combinations depending on group) is one week/month or so. There are hospitalists that work M-F 8-5 no weekends or weekend call no night call, there are really many permutation but YOU may have to move/relocate.