it gets personal

i had no idea when i chose my beat for this class that it would actually turn out to be useful in my personal life.
you see, my grandmother was admitted to Athens Regional on Sunday evening because she had some blurred vision and slurred speech. I went to visit her today and she seemed to be doing well. She had a host of tests all Monday but had yet to see a doctor that told her anything. She said she had three doctors visit her since she was admitted -- which of course made sense to me.
Friday I interviewed the head of the hospitalist program at Athens Regional, Dr. Chris Edwards. The interview was interesting, but pretty much everything I had expected to hear -- save one detail (more on this later). Hospitalists at Athens Regional work in 12 hour shifts for 7 days in a row, with Tuesday being the turn around day for the new shift. So, my grandmother (since she won't leave until Tuesday afternoon at the earliest) will theoretically see three doctors. The first hospitalist, a second when the first goes home, and a third when the shift change happens Tuesday morning.
Is this the best method? Sure, Dr. Edwards was right that hospitalist save the hospitals money by being always available and shortening patient stay -- but how is a patient supposed to be assured continuity of care when a case such as my grandmother's case comes up? Dr. Edwards assured me that the computerized records in the hospital would be able to keep doctors up to date -- but that revealing comment keeps me wary. Dr. Edwards actually works for PrimeDoc, a private company that provides hospitalist services for hospitals throughout the country. According to the site and Dr. Edwards, PrimeDoc has been in Athens Regional since 2004 and just this year has launched a branch at the Barrow Regional Medical Center in neighboring Barrow County. PrimeDoc is obviously on the move in Northeast Georgia and we'll see what an actual hospitalist has to say about this soon.