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General Information About SHM

General Information Overview

Mission Statement and Goals
SHM is dedicated to promoting the highest quality care for all hospitalized patients. SHM is committed to promoting excellence in the practice of hospital medicine through education, advocacy and research.
Read more about SHM's Mission Statement and Goals.

History
In 1996 Dr. Bob Wachter coined the term “hospitalist” in the New England Journal of Medicine.  Subsequently, the National Association of Inpatient Physicians (NAIP) was founded, followed by the commencement of NAIP’s first annual meeting in 1998.  NAIP changed its name to the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) in 2003.  SHM continues to be the only medical society devoted entirely to hospitalists and the hospital medicine movement.
Read more about SHM's History.

Ethics
Part of SHM’s mission is to ensure the delivery of patient care, the development of research and the implementation of policies that reflect the highest standard of ethics in medicine. To direct that effort, SHM has formed an Ethics Committee to formulate and uphold high standards for the organization and its members.
Read more about Ethics.

Definition of a Hospitalist
A physician who specializes in the practice of hospital medicine. Following medical school, hospitalists typically undergo residency training in general internal medicine, general pediatrics, or family practice, but may also receive training in other medical disciplines.
Read more about Hospitalists.

Definition of Hospital Medicine
A medical specialty dedicated to the delivery of comprehensive medical care to hospitalized patients.
Read more about Hospital Medicine.

SHM Overview

• Publishes the nation’s first and only peer-reviewed journal for hospital medicine, The Journal of Hospital Medicine, which was selected for inclusion in MEDLINE
• Provides continuing education, and industry updates, through our monthly news magazine, The Hospitalist
• Conducts surveys, prepares written analyses and provides discussion forums that define the specialty of hospital medicine as it continues to evolve
• Develops policy and position statements addressing our shared concerns and issues
• Advocates on behalf of hospital medicine before other medical societies as well as government and regulatory agencies

Membership Overview

• SHM has been growing rapidly, and includes approximately 10,000 members
• Membership is open to physicians and non-physicians in training and in practice who are practicing, or interested, in hospital medicine

Over the past decade hospitalists have grown from just a few hundred to over 30,000 hospitalists now practicing and SHM’s anticipates there will be more than 40,000 in the next few years.  The growth is largely due to several factors:

• The changing role of the primary care physician-
  Hospitalists allow primary care physicians to focus on their office patients.
• A growing volume of research supporting the value of hospital medicine-
  Studies show that hospitalists help reduce patient lengths of stay, treatment costs, and improve overall efficiency of care.