Meet the Experts

Dr. Andres Soto

Internal Medicine Physician with Baptist Health South Florida

Videos

Members Of A Hospitalist Team

Dr. Andres Soto, Chief of Hospital Medicine with Baptist Health South Florida, explains in a hospitalist team there are physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. He says the team needs to get information from the primary care doctors, making sure that they know as much as they can about this patient, and coordinate with the specialists what the next treatment is going to be.

Aging And Accidental Injuries

Dr. Andres Soto, Chief of Hospital Medicine with Baptist Health South Florida, explains as we get older, our cognitive capacity changes, and that is a risk factor to have more falls. "When you have a fall, a lot of things start going downhill." He also says diabetes is also a risk factor, because you can have more falls if you have neuropathy, and you cannot know exactly what happened, you can trip something, not feel it and have a fall.

Being A Good Patient

Dr. Andres Soto, Chief of Hospital Medicine with Baptist Health South Florida, says as much technology they have, the history of what happened to the patient is still the most important thing to do in a diagnosis. "Every information the patient can give us is extremely important, that's what we use to create a diagnosis and make sure that we do the necessary tests to confirm what we are suspecting." He also explains a lot of the things that they see can be preventable or can be treated in a different way if they have the information on time.

The Role Of A Hospitalist

Dr. Andres Soto, Chief of Hospital Medicine with Baptist Health South Florida, explains a hospitalist is a doctor who is specialized in the care of acutely ill patients in the hospital. "We do not have an office, we expand all of our time and expertise in the care of patients in the hospital." He says in a hospital they need a hospitalist, because as healthcare becomes more complex, and patients are sicker, you need the expertise of different specialties, "You need somebody who takes care of the patients as a whole."

Functions Of A Chief Of Medicine

Dr. Andres Soto, Chief of Hospital Medicine with Baptist Health South Florida, explains a chief of hospital medicine coordinates the care for the patients, making sure they receive the best care they need. "We have a 24/7 service, 365 days a year, and we need to coordinate that care with specialists and other physicians. It's a lot of coordination of care, we support every initiative our health system has in terms of patient care in the inpatient arena," he says.

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