Caring for patients in a hospital setting involves an integrated team of medical professionals. At Portsmouth Regional Hospital, our hospital medical teams work together to provide you with the best possible treatment and outcomes in a comfortable, well-equipped setting that's close to home.
Medical Team Roles
Many medical team members may play a part in your care while you're hospitalized, including:
- Physicians – Examine patients, take medical histories, prescribe medications and order, perform and interpret diagnostic tests
- Surgeons – Operate on patients to treat injuries such as broken bones, diseases such as cancerous tumors and deformities such as cleft palate
- Registered nurses (RN) – Provide and coordinate patient care, offer guidance and emotional support to patients and families and educate people about health conditions
- Hospitalists – Board-certified internal medicine physicians who specialize in the care of hospitalized patients
- Intensivists – Physicians who care for critically ill patients being treated in a hospital intensive care unit
- Physician assistants (PA-C) – Practice medicine under the direction of physicians and surgeons; formally trained to examine patients, diagnose injuries and illnesses and provide treatment
- Anesthesiologists – Specialize as physicians who deliver anesthetics to safely manage consciousness and pain for patients during surgical procedures
- Radiologists – Physicians who use a variety of advanced imaging technologies to diagnose and/or treat diseases
- Pathologists – Physicians who examine the body's cells and tissues at the microscopic level to develop a precise diagnosis of disease
- Medical technologists and technicians – Provide technical assistance to members of the hospital team
- Medical therapists (Speech, Occupational, Physical, Respiratory) – Provide therapeutic treatment to patients in a variety of specialties to support healing and health
- Nurse practitioner – Advanced-practice nurse with the additional education and training needed to provide diagnoses, treatments and medication prescriptions
- Pharmacist – Specialized healthcare professional who focuses on the safe and effective use of medications
- Phlebotomist – Medical technologist who collects samples for lab testing
Hospitalists Partner With Your Primary Care Physician
Your primary care physician continues to play an important role in caring for you while you're hospitalized and receives regular updates from the medical team, primarily the hospitalist, regarding your plan of care and your progress.
Even if you're admitted to the hospital through the emergency room, a hospitalist notifies your physician, confers about your condition and status and coordinates care with appropriate specialists. When you're ready to go home, our medical team helps you make a smooth transition to your primary care physician, providing detailed reports from your visit, including lab results, diagnostic images and recommendations for follow-up care to ensure you make a full recovery.
How You Benefit
- Our hospital team members employ their special training in family, internal, pulmonary and critical care medicine to provide you the highest level of inpatient care and improved results.
- Our team members—compassionate and knowledgeable professionals—answer your questions and explain inpatient details such as discharge procedures to you and your family.
- Our experience and sole focus on caring for hospital patients leads to faster, more accurate clinical decisions made with a high degree of confidence. This results in better outcomes, shorter hospital stays and fewer readmissions.