ER Consulting Inc currently deploys hospitalist doctors at 6 emergency units nationally. These hospitalists are experienced senior doctors who provide a niche set of services in the intensive care unit, high care, theatre and emergency units.

During COVID it became evident that specialists in the hospitals were often times overwhelmed by patient load. This resulted in their patients in the wards having to wait long periods of time for procedures to be performed. By providing a hospitalist doctor to assist the specialists, we were able to improve care to patients in the high care and ICU wards by delivering an efficient and high quality procedural service, allowing the specialists time to focus on consulting patients or operating on them in theatre. This service has been so successful that it has become an established practice in several hospitals.

Typically a hospitalist will be asked by a specialist to assist with the following procedures:

• Central line placement and replacement
• Intubations
• Ultrasound guided line placement
• Chest drain placement
• Placement of cannulas for chemotherapy or dialysis
• Procedural sedation
• Resuscitations

These procedures are claimed for by the hospitalist doctor directly from the medical aid. Neither the specialist or the hospital incurs any cost.

The hospitalists are also able to provide additional services in the hospital directly.
These services include the following:

• Night time ward rounds with the nursing managers of various units
• Assistance with resuscitations in wards
• General nursing advice and assistance
• Nurse training in resuscitation and peri-collapse scenario
• Procedural sedation
• Procedures that nurses are need of assistance with

These services can be procured from ER Consulting Inc by hospitals where; an improved availability of onsite senior clinician is required (particularly at night), where specialists could be delayed in attending to their patients, live far from the hospital, where it is unsafe to travel at night.

Further information about the hospitalist services can be obtained by contacting us at info@erconsulting.co.za with the subject line of the email HOSPITALIST.