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Focus on Robert J. Mahoney, MD

Hospital Medicine is the fastest growing specialty in recent years. A “hospitalist” is a clinician who specializes in the care of hospitalized patients -- coordinating care using all of the hospital and medical consultant resources available. Hospitalists are greatly appreciated by their patients, who benefit from having a dedicated physician available to them while in the hospital setting. Primary care physicians also value hospitalists, who can act as “inpatient partners” for their patients.

Robert J. Mahoney, MD, CCS-P is a full-time Washington University faculty member and is board-certified in internal medicine. He is Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and a consulting physician with The Rehabilitation Institute of St. Louis. He was one of the founding members of the hospitalist program at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in August, 2000, and has been with the program ever since. He now serves as assistant program director in the division.

TO CONTACT THE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY DIVISION OF HOSPITAL MEDICINE AT BARNES-JEWISH AND BARNES-JEWISH WEST COUNTY HOSPITALS, PLEASE CALL (314) 362-1700.


Dr. Mahoney, why did you choose Hospital Medicine?

Hospitalists diagnose and initiate treatment for patients with a wide range of medical conditions. Personally I chose hospital medicine because I like the variety and scope of the medical conditions I am presented with, and I love the problem solving aspect of this specialty. It’s a little like detective work, but in a situation where patients can be treated and helped.

I started medical school thinking I would specialize in psychiatry, but after I did my internal medicine clerkship, I decided that internal medicine was a great fit for me. To diagnose difficult problems in a short period of time, and then to use that information to make patients better, are the most rewarding to me.

The benefit of an academic hospitalist program, particularly in our setting, is that we rely on scientific evidence to improve the quality of patient care. And because we are familiar with the resources of the medical center, we can utilize them efficiently, and that helps everyone.

Why did you choose Washington University?

I went to Princeton for my undergraduate education. When looking for a medical school, I narrowed the field to just a few. What I liked about Washington University was the caliber of the other medical students and the tremendous quality of the teaching faculty. I knew I would have to work hard every hour of the day to keep up with the expectations of the students and faculty here. The faculty help you, of course, but there is a clear expectation that students will perform. It was a good fit for me. After my training was complete, it was hard to imagine going anywhere else to practice.

Beside clinical medicine, what are your other interests?

I am interested in medical informatics – the processing and provision of medical information. I’ve always been drawn to computer technology and would like to find ways to better utilize it in patient care. I think that medicine lags behind other fields in the development and use of information systems. This is probably because the language of the physician and the language of the software developer are fundamentally different.

What achievement has been most gratifying to you?

For me, the most gratifying achievements are the small ones that may happen over and over. Any time I get a Thank You note from a patient, I feel good about it. To think someone was sick in the hospital for only a few days, yet appreciated the care I gave them enough to send a card - that is very gratifying.

Making a diagnosis that no one else was able to make, or helping to arrange successful treatment for a patient who may have been in two other hospitals before ours - these events are gratifying to me.

What is the best advice you ever received?

My father told me I should do for a living whatever I would choose to do even if I didn’t get paid for it. I have changed his advice a little. I believe you should do for a living what you are good at, and you should do for a hobby what you enjoy. When people pick something they really enjoy doing, and then start doing it for a living, they find they have to do so much of it that they stop enjoying it. With a hobby you can stop and start when you want to. You don’t even have to be good at a hobby; you just have to enjoy it.

What do you do in your spare time?

I used to have a lot of hobbies; but now my family is my number one hobby. I also moderate a “Virtual Journal Club” (http://beckerinfo.net/JClub) to help keep hospitalists up-to-date on the latest research. When I do have time to myself, I enjoy reading, cooking, and composing music.

What lifestyle change could most benefit our health?

I think we, as a society, are too busy – we try to burn the candle at both ends. There is so much pressure on each of us to be productive at all times and at all costs. We tell ourselves we all have to have exciting careers, we have to work 80 hours a week, we have to love what we do, and we have to stay up all night doing even more. This has resulted in generations of burned out people.

I think the best lifestyle change would be: slow down. I would love to see people working fewer days per week, and maybe some offices and stores could be closed a day or two. This would make people relax for at least a while. People should rest more and “do” less.


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Copyright 2013 Washington University School of Medicine