PAGE HEAD
Georgetown Hospital System
P.O. Box 421718
Georgetown, SC 29442
Nonprofit Org.
U.S. Postage
PAID
Georgetown Hospital
System
If
you or someone you know has recently been
admitted to Waccamaw Community Hospital or
Georgetown Memorial Hospital, chances are your
inpatient care was provided by a medical specialist
focused solely on caring for hospitalized patients.
Hospitalists, who are highly quali
ed internal
medicine or family medicine specialists, have the same
education and training as other primary care providers
in private practice.
Always available
Because they limit their practice
only to hospital inpatients,
hospitalists are available 24
hours a day, 7 days a week. is
unlimited availability can result in
more rapid response to diagnostic
testing results, leading to early
diagnosis and the beginning of
treatment. Because they spend
all of their time in the hospital, hospitalists are available
to attend to medical needs that arise throughout the day,
explain test results and answer questions for the patient
and family members.
Georgetown Hospital System hospitalists manage
and coordinate the entire inpatient episode of care.
Hospitalists work closely and communicate with each
patient’s primary care provider or specialists, functioning
as an inpatient partner of the primary care physician.
Care doesn’t end at the hospital door
When patients are discharged, hospitalists provide a
full summary of the patient’s diagnosis, care plan and
treatment to the patient’s primary care provider, and the
patient is returned to the primary care practice
for follow-up.
Hospital medicine is one of the fastest-growing medical
specialty areas of practice. e program was piloted at
Georgetown Memorial Hospital and quickly expanded to
include Waccamaw Community Hospital. Today, more
than 20 physicians are part of Georgetown Hospital
System’s hospitalist service. James M. Principe, MD,
FACP, FAAP, is the program’s medical director.
What is a hospitalist?
“Like” us on Facebook.
Look for Georgetown
Hospital System.
Follow us on
Twitter. Search for
GHShospitals.
Social
media
The winner of the October/November Visa gi card
drawing is Jackie Corbin, of Murrells Inlet.
Hidden somewhere in this edition of HealthWaves is an apple.
Tell us where you found the apple and you will be eligible to
win a Resting Metabolic Rate assessment (see story on page
¯), valued at °±, plus a free three-month membership to Georgetown
Hospital System’s HealthPoint—Center for Health and Fitness. To enter,
visit
www.georgetownhospitalsystem.org/healthieryou
.
Find the apple and be eligible
to win a Healthier You prize package!
James M. Principe,
MD, FACP, FAAP