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Skilled Doctors Playing an Important Role

At Saint Vincent Hospital, we’re dedicated to providing comprehensive, compassionate care to those in our community. As part of our ongoing commitment to excellence, our Hospitalist Program plays a critical part in providing you with support in getting the care you need. Hospitalists are doctors whose primary focus is providing general medical care for anyone admitted to our hospital.

What Do Saint Vincent Hospitalists Do?

Hospitalists are responsible for many important tasks, including:

 

  • Working in partnership with your primary care doctor to coordinate inpatient care
  • Working closely with nurses, ancillary staff and other specialists involved in your care
  • Being familiar with the hospital’s systems for ordering tests, analyzing results and arranging for treatment
  • Being trained to quickly recognize and respond to changes in the patient’s condition
  • Being available at the hospital 24 hours a day, so they can see patients as frequently as their medical conditions require
  • Promptly providing your doctor with a written report of your hospital visit to facilitate any follow-up care you may need

 

If you do not have a primary care doctor, the Hospitalist team will provide you with a list and arrange your follow-up care.

How Hospitalists Help Primary Care Doctors

Hospitalists practice full-time in the hospital, so they are readily available to help your doctor. When you enter the hospital, a Saint Vincent Hospitalist will immediately begin acting as attending doctor for the length of the hospital stay.

Hospitalists will:

 

  • Provide prompt admission and treatment
  • Oversee your entire hospital stay to provide quality care
  • Communicate ongoing patient status to your primary care doctor on a timely basis

 

Daily activities include:

 

  • Coordinating hospital admissions
  • Arranging diagnostic testing and specialty consultations
  • Explaining findings and discussing recommendations with patients
  • Orchestrating all patient care
  • Providing medical care for patients who need surgical treatment
  • Managing urgent situations that may arise during the hospitalization
  • Reviewing hospital treatment with insurance companies and payers

 

Career Opportunities

If you’re interested in a career as a Hospitalist at Saint Vincent Hospital, call (508) 363-6849 to learn more.

More Information

What You Should Know Before Taking Supplements


While we consider ways to rejuvenate our bodies after enduring an abundance of sweet treats over the holidays, it may seem obvious to add dietary supplements to our daily intake.

“Everyone wants to take a vitamin, but for a lot of supplements, we don’t really know what’sDr. Timothy Tyler-min in them,” said Dr. Timothy Tyler, PharmD, who is Director of Pharmacy at the Comprehensive Cancer Center at Desert Regional. He suggests individuals consider carefully the benefits and potential harms before starting a supplement regimen.

He points to a review in the Cochrane Library* which states that current evidence does not support the use of antioxidant supplements in the pursuit to live a longer life.

“Certain tablets have coatings and shellacs to make them look good, and in some, if you put them in a flask that mimics the gastric environment in the body, they don’t break down which means the contents of the vitamins inside select supplements aren’t being digested,” Dr. Tyler said.

The best way to get key nutrients and vitamins into our bodies is by eating the right foods – those that aren’t highly refined or filled with preservatives. “For example, orange juice is okay, but eating an orange is better because you are getting the fiber, too, and there is more of a slow release of the sugar within the fruit so your body isn’t being hit with it like a stick of dynamite,” explained Dr. Tyler.

On January 24, 2023, Dr. Tyler will be one of the featured speakers at Desert Care Network’s Ringing in the New Year Health Fair – a half-day event which includes mindful meditation sessions and yoga. He plans to talk about supplements and what should be considered before taking them.

“When looking at taking supplements, I’ve heard people say, ‘well it’s natural so it’s healthy,’” said Dr. Tyler. “Strychnine is natural too, but it doesn’t mean it’s healthy. It simply means it came from the ground.”

He goes on to say that some supplements can be linked to health benefits, such as milk thistle, which is known for promoting liver health. “It’s not a magic bean, but it will help detox the liver,” Dr. Tyler said. “Turmeric is an antioxidant and it’s good for inflammation, as well.”

If you are going to take supplements, Dr. Tyler urges individuals to talk with their doctors first. The Comprehensive Cancer Center at Desert Regional Medical Center recently asked its patients whether or not they were taking supplements. Most admitted they were, but had not told their health care providers.

“There are medical reasons why you maybe shouldn’t be taking certain supplements, so you should always list everything you are taking. Since 1999, our intake forms have included asking about supplements.”

Dr. Tyler is the Director of Pharmacy, Lab & Oncology Supportive Care at the Comprehensive Cancer Center, and is also the head of pain management. He travels around the world to give roughly three lectures per month. To hear Dr. Tyler share more about supplements, register for the Ringing in the New Year Health Fair on January 24, 2023, at https://www.desertcarenetwork.com/events#8017.

*Source: Cochrane Library; Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., in Issue 3, 2012.

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