%0 Journal Article
%T Who Consults Us and Why? An Evaluation of Medicine Consult/Comanagement Services at Academic Medical Centers
%A Christopher Moreland
%A MD
%A MPH
%A Emily S. Wang
%A MD
%A Luci K. Leykum
%A MD
%A MBA
%A MSc
%A Michael Shoffeitt
%A MD
%A and
%J Journal of Hospital Medicine
%D 2018
%R 10.12788/jhm.2996
%X Although general medicine consultation is an integral component of inpatient medical care and a requirement of internal medicine training, little is known about current consultative practice. We used a cross-sectional, prospective survey design to examine current practices at 11 academic medical centers over four 2-week periods from July 2014 through July 2015. Out of 11 consult services, 4 had comanagement agreements with surgical services, primarily with orthopedic surgery. We collected data regarding 1,264 consultation requests. Most requests (82.2%) originated from surgical services, with most requests originating from either orthopedic surgery (44.4%) or neurosurgery (11.6%). The most common reason for consultation at sites with a consult and comanagement service was medical management/comanagement (23.3%) and at sites with a consult-only service was preoperative evaluation (16.4%). On average, consultants addressed more than 2 reasons per encounter. Many of these reasons were unidentified by the consulting service. Learners on these services should perform comprehensive evaluations to identify potentially unidentified issues
%U https://www.journalofhospitalmedicine.com/jhospmed/article/172939/hospital-medicine/who-consults-us-and-why-evaluation-medicine-consult