Attending physician

In America, an attending physician is a physician who has completed residency and practices medicine in a clinic or hospital, often focusing on the specialty learned during residency. An attending physician can also supervise residents and medical students.

Legally, attending physicians have final responsibility for patient care, even when many of the minute-to-minute decisions are being made by subordinates (physician assistants, resident physicians, and medical students).

The term attending physician or attending also refers to the formal relationship of a hospitalized patient and their primary doctor, as opposed to ancillary physicians assisting the primary doctor, referred to as consultants.