Toto, I don't think we're on the adult inpatient unit anymore

T he March issue of the Journal of Hospital Medicine represents a landmark for pediatric hospital medicine (PHM), with 100% of the original research content devoted to pediatrics. Since the days of the National Association of Inpatient Physicians, pediatric hospitalists have consistently constituted 8% to 10% of the membership of the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM). SHM has always welcomed pediatrics and pediatricians into the community of hospital medicine. A pediatrician has sat on the board since the founding of the National Association of Inpatient Physicians, and for the past 3 years, there has been a formal pediatric board seat. The Hospitalist has consistently included pediatric content with program descriptions and literature reviews. This past July, more than 325 pediatric hospitalists gathered in Denver for the largest PHM meeting ever, a 4-day event trisponsored by SHM, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and the Academic Pediatric Association (APA). As pediatric hospitalists, we have prospered by following the successes of adult hospitalists. We have flattered/imitated our adult colleagues with pediatric voluntary referral policies, core competencies, salary surveys, fellowship programs, and quality improvement projects. In other areas, pediatrics has set trends for (adult) hospital medicine. Pediatrics developed the ‘‘medical home’’ concept. We zealously advocate for family-centered rounds. (Imagine actually rounding in the room with the patient, family, nurse, and physician. It certainly beats flipping cards in the conference room)! Pediatricians have developed global fee codes for evaluation and management services (albeit limited to neonatal and pediatric critical care). As evidenced by the trisponsored meeting mentioned previously and the Pediatric Research in Inpatient Settings Network, we have created collaborative relationships among the pediatric academic (APA), professional (AAP), and hospitalist organizations (SHM) that serve as models for other disciplines and their respective sandboxes. Research and publications are where we most lag behind our adult colleagues and where the most work needs to be done for us to achieve legitimacy as practitioners and as a discipline. This issue of the Journal of Hospital Medicine is a harbinger of more pediatric content to come, with topics that run the gamut of PHM. Woolford et al. highlight clinical, public health, and public policy issues with their analysis of the increased costs and morbidity associated with obesity and inpatient hospitalizations. Wilkes et al. explore the logistic issues surrounding influenza testing. As is frequently true for hospitalists, our expertise is not purely clinical: Is oseltamvir effective and, if so, in what age groups? That question is probably best left to the infectious