{{Short description|Licensed medical doctor practicing at a clinic or hospital}} {{redirect|Attending|other uses|Attention (disambiguation)}} {{Multiple issues| {{More citations needed|date=April 2022}} {{Globalize|date=April 2022}} }}
In the United States and Canada, an '''attending physician''' (also known as a '''staff physician''' or '''supervising physician''') is a physician (usually an M.D., or D.O. in the United States) who has completed residency and practices medicine in a clinic or hospital, in the specialty learned during residency.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/attending+physician |title = Attending physician |access-date=11 May 2021 }}</ref> An attending physician typically supervises<ref name = ECFMG>{{cite web |url =https://www.ecfmg.org/echo/team-doctors-attending-physician.html |work = ECFMG |title= Attending Physician |access-date = 11 May 2021 }}</ref> fellows, residents, and medical students. Attending physicians may also maintain professorships at an affiliated medical school.<ref name = ECFMG/> This is common if the supervision of trainees is a significant part of the physician's work. Attending physicians have final responsibility, legally and otherwise, for patient care, even when many of the minute-to-minute decisions are being made by house officers (residents) or non-physician health-care providers (i.e. physician assistants and nurse practitioners).<ref>{{ cite journal |title = The Role of the Attending Physician |first=M. Andrew |last=Greganti|first2=Douglas A. |last2=Drossman|first3=John F. |last3=Rogers |journal = Archives of Internal Medicine |year= 1982 |volume = 142 |issue = 4 |pages =698–699 |doi=10.1001/archinte.1982.00340170054011 |pmid=7073412 }}</ref> Attending physicians are sometimes the 'rendering physician' listed on the patient's official medical record, but if they are overseeing a resident or another staff member, they are 'supervising.'
The term "attending physician" or "attending" also refers to the formal relationship of a hospitalized patient and their primary medic during the hospitalization, as opposed to ancillary physicians assisting the primary care physician. {{citation needed|date=May 2021}} However, even on a consultation service, at an academic center, the physician who has finished their training is called the attending or consultant,<ref name = uphawaii>{{cite web |url =https://uhphawaii.org/index.php/attending-physician-vs-intern-vs-resident-whats-the-difference/ |title= Attending Physician Vs. Intern Vs. Resident—What's The Difference? |work = University Health Partners of Hawaii |date = 21 August 2020 |access-date = 11 May 2021 }}</ref> as opposed to a resident physician.
Attending physicians may also still be in training, such as a fellow in a subspecialty. For example, a cardiology fellow may function as an internal medicine attending, as they have already finished residency in internal medicine.{{cn|date=September 2025}} The term is used more commonly in teaching hospitals. In non-teaching hospitals, essentially all physicians function as attendings in some respects after completing residency.
== See also == * Consultant (medicine) (equivalent title in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth) * Attending physician statement
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:Medical doctors Category:Medicine in the United States Category:Medicine in Canada