The Ethics of Efficiency in Hospital Medicine: Developing a New Paradigm for the Patient-Physician Relationship

Amercan Medical Association Journal of Ethics
December 1, 2008

Teaching the New Professional Paradigm
If we are to prepare medical students to practice today's medicine effectively, we must present a model of medical ethics that reflects and responds to real practice. Medical students must learn that physicians play an active role in the allocation of resources and that such a role is integral to the routine practice of medicine...

At the very least, practicing medicine justly means freeing up resources that are being used unnecessarily so they can help those who truly need them. Some experts estimate that as much as 30 percent of medical spending is unnecessary, given the large variation in health care expenditures we see across geographic areas with little benefit in outcomes in the high expenditure areas [12, 13]. As a group of physicians who have dedicated themselves toward practicing medicine safely, effectively, and efficiently, hospitalists represent a true change in the professional role of the physician and patient-physician relationship...

Link to Full Article: http://virtualmentor.ama-assn.org/2008/12/msoc1-0812.html