Defining the Hospitalist Workforce in the Care of Newborns.

Abstract

Objective: Pediatric hospital medicine is a rapidly growing new subspecialty. Although many practice newborn care, this subset of hospitalists has not been described. The objective of this study was to define the hospitalist workforce in the care of newborns during the birth hospitalization, including describing job characteristics of newborn hospitalists and nursery sites for clinical practice.

Methods: An 81-question web-based survey was distributed to a convenience sample of 418 hospitalists taking care of newborns during the birth hospitalization in September and October 2024. We performed descriptive statistics and tests of association.

Results: We had 336 respondents, for a response rate of 80%. Among 336 respondents, 451 nursery sites were described. Hospitalists at nearly all sites independently managed infants in level I nurseries (n = 436, 97%), with 38% (n = 170) managing infants in level II special care nurseries. Hospitalists attended deliveries at 45% (n = 203) of sites and were more likely to attend at community sites (P < .001), in rural settings (P < .001), and at sites with lower annual delivery volumes (P < .001). Hospitalists at most sites spent most of their daily clinical time on the care of newborns (n = 378, 84%) with 47% (n = 210) spending more than 90% of daily clinical time on newborn care.

Conclusions: Among surveyed hospitalists who provide care for newborns during the birth hospitalization, newborn care presented most of their clinical workload. Nearly all independently managed infants in level I nurseries, with a subset managing infants in level II special care nurseries. This survey is the first characterization of hospitalists and their care of newborns and serves as a primer for further understanding of this workforce.