84-03 Attending assignment

(A)  All patients entering university hospitals who have not requested the services of a member of the medical staff of university hospitals to be responsible for their care and treatment while a patient therein shall be assigned to a member of the attending staff of the clinical division or service concerned with the treatment of the disease, injury, or condition which necessitated the admission of the patient to university hospitals. This shall also apply to the transfer of patients within the clinical divisions or services of the university hospitals.

(B)  Alternate attending medical staff member coverage. Each member of the medical staff shall designate on his or her medical staff application one or more members of the attending or courtesy medical staff who have accepted this responsibility and who shall be called to attend his or her patients if the responsible attending medical staff member is not available. The chief of the medical staff member's clinical department or the medical director or his designee shall have authority to contact any member of the medical staff and arrange for coverage should the attending medical staff member and the alternate be unavailable. If the chief of the medical staff member's clinical department or the medical director or his designee is unavailable, the emergency department physician on duty is responsible for arranging appropriate medical coverage until the attending medical staff member is available to care for the patient.

(Board approval dates: 9/6/2002, 3/5/2003, 4/6/2016)