Mohamed M. Ghoneim, M.D.                                                           
Washington Post
Every year, an estimated 20,000 to 40,000 patients who receive general anesthesia wake up during surgery because they are not adequately anesthetized. This may result from an error or because doctors fear a higher dose of anesthetic could be dangerous. “Anesthesiologists think they can measure the depth of anesthesia, but there are times when this is not true," said Ghoneim, a professor of anesthesiology at University of Iowa of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. "It may be really difficult to measure the depth of anesthesia, especially when administering light anesthesia during cases such as cardiac surgery or trauma surgery with lots of blood loss." An excellent way to detect whether a patient is sufficiently anesthetized is by using a specialized EEG machine that monitors brain waves, Ghoneim said, noting that he uses such a  monitor machine in all his cases. He predicts EEG monitoring will become the standard of care in a few years.

Peter Kaboli, M.D.                                                                        
Wall Street Journal
Citing the example of a female patient admitted to UI Hospitals and Clinics with a lung infection, a Journal article noted that the patient never saw her regular physician. Instead, she was cared for by a new breed of doctor she hadn't heard of before: a hospitalist. Hospitalists—whose sole responsibility is the care of hospitalized patients, from admission through discharge—constitute the fastest-growing field in medicine. Hospitalists coordinate care by all staffers from nurses to specialists, order tests, make treatment decisions in consultation with primary care doctors, and are trained to recognize and respond quickly to changes in a patient's condition. Unlike other attending physicians who frequently have other clinical responsibilities, hospitalists spend all their time on care or administrative duties and don’t see outside patients or follow inpatients once they leave the hospital. The field's growth reflects efforts by hospitals to cut costs, reduce medical errors, and improve the quality of care. At many academic hospitals, hospitalists have reduced lengths of stay by more than 30 percent and cut costs by 20 percent. At UI Hospitals and Clinics, the hospitalist program saved more than $370,000 during its first year and had 450 fewer days of care compared with non-hospitalists, according to Kaboli, UI assistant professor of internal medicine.