Yesterday was Doctor’s Day throughout the country, and Dr. Almuhammad Alfran, a Hospitalist at IU Health Starke Hospital, explained a bit about the gratification he gets from being a physician.

“I appreciate Doctor’s Day because I get the impression that people really appreciate what we do. I tell you the biggest reward for a doctor though is when they see the patient improve, or you see a look of satisfaction in the eyes of a patient. I think this is the greatest reward we can get as physicians,” Alfran said.

Alfran explained what the duties of a hospitalist are.

“A hospitalist is a specialist of hospital medicine. A physician who specializes in treating patients in the hospital, as compared to an outpatient physician who spends most of the time in the clinic. When they have free time they can stop by the hospital and check on their patients. For the hospitalist this is a physician who dedicates the entire day to working in the hospital. So when the patient is in the hospital the hospitalist is there, and the primary care physician is there when the patient needs him or her,” Alfran said.