Chapter 2: Introduction to the OB/GYN Hospitalist Speciality

THE EVOLUTION OF THE OB/GYN HOSPITALIST MOVEMENT

OB/GYN hospitalists have mirrored the evolution of the first general hospitalists—the internal medicine and family practice physicians who focused their clinical care on the hospitalized patient in the early and mid-1990s. Wachter coined the term in an article published in August 1996¹ and the earliest form of the eventual Society of Hospitalist Medicine (SHM) met in April 1997. The SHM definition of general hospitalist was: “A physician who specializes in the practice of hospital medicine.”

Although a few isolated hospitals had OB/GYN hospitalist programs as early as 1989, it was not until Dr. Louis Weinstein published his article² and spoke at the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) annual clinical meeting in 2005 that the subject was extensively discussed and eventually widely implemented.

(Fig. 2-1)

We do not have precise numbers, but the spread of OB/GYN hospitalist programs mirrors the success of the general hospitalist.

(Table 2-1)

Here is a summary of the OB/GYN hospitalist movement:

• 2003

  • The term OB/GYN hospitalist was widely embraced.

• May 2010

  • The first OB/GYN Hospitalist Special Interest Group meeting, ACOG, was held in San Francisco.

• October 2010

  • Society of OB/GYN Hospitalists (SOGH) was named.

• July, 2010

  • ACOG issued a Committee Opinion on OB/GYN hospitalists, which acknowledged their potential to solve or improve many of the problems and concerns addressed, stating that it “supports the continued development of the obstetric-gynecologic hospitalist model as one potential approach to achieving increased professional and patient satisfaction while maintaining safe and effective care across delivery settings.”

• May 2011

  • SOGH Special Interest Group meeting took place at the ACOG ACM meeting in Washington, D.C.

  • A second Special Interest Group meeting was held at the same event, which provided the impetus and the volunteers to start organizing the society's first ACM.

• September 2011

  • First SOGH Annual Clinical Meeting and First Emergency OB Simulation Workshop held in Denver, CO.

  • With 43 enthusiastic OB/GYN hospitalists, generalists, and administrators in attendance, SOGH was officially born.

    • The ACM was well received, as was the first-of-its-kind Obstetrical Emergency Simulation Workshop.

  • The SOGH board of directors was elected. Volunteers signed up for four separate committees, and committee chairs were elected.

• October 2011

  • At the inaugural meeting of the OB/GYN Hospitalist Society, the ACOG District VIII chair, J. Joshua Kopelman, MD, gave credence to OB/GYN hospitalists as a profession, stating that “ACOG recognizes this is the new paradigm of care” and that “OB/GYN Hospitalists in this country are ...