Hospitalists—the relatively new breed of physicians who work full time inside hospitals—infuse the coldly clinical environment they inhabit with a nicely counterbalancing mix of compassion, care management, and personal communication skills.

That, at least, was the strong impression I formed recently after spending a night at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center, my first overnight stay at a hospital in 36 years, for diagnosis of some concerning symptoms.

The reason I was there is immaterial, and I was discharged the following afternoon after test results failed to reveal anything alarming enough to warrant more probing. I felt unusually upbeat about the whole, expensive experience, though, not just because the tests didn't turn up anything worrisome, but also due to the attentive, caring attitude shown by two of Sacred Heart's hospitalists, Drs. Rich Parker and Alice McCauley.

Parker stopped by my room the night I was admitted, quizzed me gently about the symptoms I had been experiencing and my medical history, responded reassuringly to my questions, and suggested a medication change that later proved beneficial. Seemingly unhurried, which by itself was a pleasant departure from the norm for doctors these days, he then chatted with me—like a visiting friend—about a common interest unrelated to health care, before finally departing.

McCauley, meanwhile, showed up at my room the following day just moments after I'd completed a key diagnostic test. While questioning me about my health status, she received via her cell phone and passed along to me immediately encouraging results from the test I'd just taken, mentioned some additional medication options, and generally displayed the same almost concierge-like attentiveness that Parker had shown.

The Journal has reported on the high demand here and nationally for hospitalists, a term that only came into being in the mid-1990s, so I was aware of that growing trend, but I guess it took becoming a hospital patient—even if just for little more than a day—to appreciate the value of the service they provide.

Proponents of the use of hospitalists, which Group Health Cooperative pioneered here in 1997, say such practitioners can reduce medical costs and provide better patient care than primary-care doctors who come into the hospital for brief periods. They also can take pressure off of those doctors' schedules by reducing or negating the need for them to make hospital rounds.

One of the less heralded benefits, I would submit based on my brief direct exposure with hospitalists, is their ability to improve overall satisfaction levels through more attuned communication with patients and, no doubt, their families.

They might lack the knowledge of a patient's history that a family doctor possesses, but they provide an enhanced layer of care management and a calming, nearby presence in what for many can be a frightening, unfamiliar setting.

"We still have to make sure there's the handoff into the hospital and the handoff out of the hospital" that reflects good communication between physicians who deal with a particular patient, says Dr. Jeff Liles, lead hospitalist at Sacred Heart.

Liles is one of maybe 80 or so hospitalists now working at hospitals in Spokane and Kootenai counties, which is up from fewer than 20 four years ago. Their numbers have exploded nationally as well, with one analysis projecting there would be more than 33,000 of them practicing in the U.S. by the end of this year.

That rapid growth aside, "A lot of people still don't understand what a hospitalist is," Liles says. He adds, though, that for hospital patients, "After they understand it, usually it's a very, very positive experience."

Count me among those who give it a thumbs-up.