The Role of the Medical Consultant

Medical consultation is an important clinical responsibility for most hospitalists. Traditionally, consultants evaluated patients at the request of the referring physician (RP) and provided an assessment and recommendations. Today, hospitalists are also asked to provide both informal “curbside” advice and more comprehensive comanagement of medical problems. Hospitalists who are effective consultants communicate skillfully and act professionally. The following module describes the different roles that hospitalists can perform as medical consultants and provides strategies for improving communication and RP satisfaction.

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On-Demand

Expires on Mar 01, 2026

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Non-Member: $95.00

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Learning Objectives
After completing this activity, learners should be able to:

Recognize why consultative medicine is an important topic and describe how it has been traditionally performed.
Compare the different responsibilities and expectations of the medical consultant when performing comanagement or curbside consultation.
Assess strategies that may increase referring physician (RP) compliance with the consultant’s recommendations.
Propose methods that promote more effective communication with RPs through verbal discussion and written consultation reports.
Model professional behavior for medical consultants.

If you are a Program Director and would like to grant access to your trainees, please reach out to education@hospitalmedicine.org for an academic access code.

Faculty

Hugo Q. Cheng, MD
Leonard Feldman, MD, FACP, FAAP, MHM
Kurt Pfeifer, MD, FACP, SFHM, DFPM

Faculty Disclosures
The faculty and planners of these activities have no relevant relationships to disclose. All relevant relationships were mitigated prior to the start of this activity.

Conflict of Interest Disclosure Policy
In accordance with the ACCME Standards for Commercial Support, SHM requires that individuals in a position to control the content of an educational activity disclose all relevant financial relationships with any commercial interest. SHM mitigates all conflicts of interest to ensure independence, objectivity, balance, and scientific rigor in all its educational programs. All relevant financial relationships shall be disclosed to participants prior to the start of the activity.

Furthermore, SHM seeks to verify that all scientific research referred to, reported, or used in a continuing medical education (CME) activity conforms to the generally accepted standards of experimental design, data collection, and analysis. SHM is committed to providing its learners with high-quality CME activities that promote improvements in healthcare and not those of a commercial interest.