A medical doctor who directs a patient’s care during a hospital confinement.
The physician legally responsible for the care given a patient in a hospital or other health program. Usually the private physician of a private patient who is also responsible for the patient is typically chosen by the hospital upon the patient’s admission from among members of its medical staff, or is one of its teaching physicians.
A doctor who is looking after a particular patient.
The physician in charge of a person’s overall care in the hospital. The term is also used to refer to full-fledged members of a hospital medical staff. An attending physician may be a primary care doctor, a doctor on the hospital staff, or a specialist.
In a teaching hospital, an attending physician also teaches and directs staff composed of medical students, residents (doctors who recently graduated from medical school and training in a specialty), and fellows (doctors have completed residency and are receiving training in a subspecialty).
A physician who is on the staff of a hospital and regularly cares for patients therein.