Consultation requests varied widely by attending physician and type of general medicine service.
When inpatient consultation requests are underused, diagnostic or management errors can occur; however, if they are overused, healthcare costs and hospital lengths of stay can rise. University of Chicago investigators retrospectively evaluated more than 6000 admissions to their general medicine service from 2011 through2016 and identified physician-, patient-, and admission-level factors that influenced inpatient consultation requests.
Three fourths of admissions included at least one consultation, but consultation use varied significantly by physician (mean consults in highest vs. lowest quartile of consultation frequency, 3.5 vs. 0.6 per admission). Hospitalists on direct-care (i.e., “nonteaching”) services requested ≈10% more consultation…
Reviewing Author
DisclosuresConsultant/Advisory BoardNEJM Healer Advisory Group; Aquifer Clinical Excellence; NBME Clinical Reasoning
Grant/Research SupportSouthern Group on Educational Affairs (SGEA)
Editorial BoardsDiagnosis
Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesUndergraduate Medical Education (UME) Section Chair, Southern Group on Educational Affairs (SGEA); Chair of Early Career Physicians, American College of Physicians (ACP), Virginia Chapter
DisclosuresConsultant/Advisory BoardNEJM Healer Advisory Group; Aquifer Clinical Excellence; NBME Clinical Reasoning
Grant/Research SupportSouthern Group on Educational Affairs (SGEA)
Editorial BoardsDiagnosis
Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesUndergraduate Medical Education (UME) Section Chair, Southern Group on Educational Affairs (SGEA); Chair of Early Career Physicians, American College of Physicians (ACP), Virginia Chapter