Perioperative Management of Neurosurgical Patients by Hospitalists: Time for Specialized Training

Abstract

Management of patients that undergo neurosurgery increasingly involves hospitalists. In this article, we outline and discuss the roles of these neurosurgery hospitalists, and training which is required. We describe both commonalities of their work with hospitalists which take care of non-neurosurgical patients, as well as the differences. We highlight the decision process which led to forming of the first of its kind fellowship, which builds on the new body of knowledge which accumulated over years. We believe that extended training of neurosurgery hospitalists will lead to increased quality of patient care.