Pediatric Hospital Medicine: Looking for Its Rightful Place

As membership in the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) continues to grow, so does the number of practicing pediatric hospitalists. As many as 10% of the SHM’s current members are pediatricians. In the March 2009 issue of the Journal of Hospital Medicine, an editorialist notes that a benchmark in pediatric hospital medicine has been reached — all of this issue’s research content concerns pediatric inpatient medicine.

Article topics include the costs associated with obesity in pediatric hospitalizations, interhospital transfer patterns for critically ill children, and treatment with oseltamivir in children who were hospitalized with community-acquired, laboratory-confirmed influenza. In several other studies, commissioned by the American Board of Pediatrics, researchers examined pediatric hospitalist training, practice, career goals, and fellowship programs.

So how should Journal Watch Hospital Medicine meet the ever-increasing needs of both the adult and pediatric communities? To answer that, we take a cue from the SHM’s 2009 national meeting to be held in Chicago in May. According to the conference schedule, most clinical conferences will focus on adult inpatient management topics. Among the seven scientific sessions, only one caters specifically to pediatrics. However, you are equally likely to see adult and pediatric hospitalists at sessions that deal with practice management, quality, patient safety, or evidence-based medicine. At Journal Watch Hospital Medicine, we have taken a similar tack. Because the Journal Watch family has a physician board that is dedicated to pediatrics and adolescent medicine, we defer most inpatient pediatric articles to them; we publish on pediatric topics that have wide applicability across hospital medicine. We believe that this is the best way to bring value to our readership. Your comments on this decision are welcome as we continue to monitor the field for the most clinically relevant information.