ADVISORY/National Association of Inpatient Physicians Brings Hospitalists to San Francisco to Discuss Quality of Hospital Care.

Assignment Editors and Medical/Health Writers

ADVISORY...for Tuesday through Saturday (Oct. 9-13)

--(BW HealthWire)

October 14-20 is National Healthcare Quality Week, a time when the healthcare community focuses on key trends and issues impacting quality of care in this country.

You can learn the latest on hospital quality issues by meeting with some of the nation's leading hospitalist practitioners when they gather in San Francisco, October 9-13, at the National Association of Inpatient Physicians' (NAIP) Western Regional Meeting.

This will be the largest gathering of hospitalists on the West Coast this year and will include distinguished hospitalist physicians and faculty from the University of California at San Francisco, the University of Washington, Harvard Medical School, University of Pittsburgh and other universities and hospitals throughout the country.

If your publication hasn't yet prepared a story on the hospitalist movement or the trends that are shaping hospital care in the coming years, now is the time to explore how hospitalists are influencing quality of care for hospital patients. Media representatives may obtain special reservations to attend sessions of the meeting or arrange special one-on-one interviews with the founders of NAIP and key leaders in this rapidly growing medical specialty.

Hospitalists are physicians whose primary professional focus is the general medical care of hospitalized patients, as well as research, teaching and leadership related to hospital care. The NAIP is the premier medical society representing hospitalists. For more information about NAIP or hospitalists, visit the Web site at www.naiponline.org.

For reservations or interviews contact: Lisa Freeman at Kevin/Ross Public Relations, 818/597-8453.

Quality improvement and patient safety will share the spotlight when the National Association of Inpatient Physicians holds its fifth annual Western Regional Meeting in San Francisco, October 11-13.

More than 300 physicians from California, Nevada, Washington and Oregon will meet to explore recent findings in clinical research, survey results, practice innovations, clinical guidelines, case reports and quality improvement programs in the field of hospital medicine. Clinical care issues and healthcare trends are also on the program's agenda.

"Hospitalists have become an integral part of inpatient care at most of the premier hospitals in the western states," said NAIP President Ron Angus, M.D. "In representing hospitalists nationwide NAIP is deeply committed to continuing education for physicians practicing hospital medicine and to demonstrating the distinct advantage hospitalists bring to patients, hospitals and other physicians. Our regional and national meetings provide exceptional forums for the presentation, discussion and recognition of original investigation and clinical projects in hospital medicine."

The meeting, "Management of the Hospitalized Patient," will focus on issues that frequently arise in the hospital setting, such as management of acute medical problems, infectious diseases, end-of-life care, critical care support and patient safety. Pre-meeting conferences, to be held October 9-10, will include "End-of-Life Care for the Hospitalized Patient," "Improving Patient Safety and Decreasing Errors in the Hospital," and "Fundamental Critical Care Support."

Hospitalists can obtain more information by calling the University of California at San Francisco's Continuing Medical Education Department at 415/476-5208 or by visiting its Web site at http://medicine.ucsf.edu/cme.

NAIP is the premier medical society representing hospitalists, physicians whose primary professional focus is the general medical care of hospitalized patients. Hospitalists' activities include patient care, research, teaching and leadership related to hospital care. The Association was established in 1997 specifically to support and enhance the practice of hospitalists and the patients they serve. Currently there are approximately 5,000 hospitalists nationwide. This number is projected to grow fourfold by the end of the decade.

For more information about NAIP, call 1-800-843-3360, or visit the Web site at www.naiponline.org.