Attending

Attending refers to doctors who have completed residency and practices medicine in that specialty unsupervised. Attending is one of the highest positions in a hospital and they supervise students who are a fellow, resident, intern and medical student.

About
An attending has the final say in the care of the patient as they are the primary, lead medic, regardless of the previous decision made by residents and practice providers such as nurses. They supervise the work of residents, interns and medical students and are legally responsible for patient care.

Following completion of a residency or a fellowship, the doctor had to apply for attending status. In rare cases, a doctor can skip the required sub-specialty fellowship for a reasonable excuse, such as in the case of April Kepner who was trained by Owen Hunt in Trauma Surgery.

An attending can also be in training for a fellowship in a sub-specialty, meaning they have still achieved attending status for their residency specialty, such as OB/GYN, and are training for their sub-specialty, such as Medical Genetics.

Former Staff

 * Addison Forbes Montgomery - former Head of Neonatal Surgery, former Head of Obstectrics and Gynecology, and Maternal-Fetal Medicine and Medical Genetics Attending
 * Dr. Derek Shepherd - former Head of Neurosurgery Surgery
 * Dr. Mark Sloan - former Head of Plastic Surgery and ENT Attending
 * Dr. Cristina Yang - former Cardiothoracic Surgery Fellow
 * Dr. Preston Burke - former Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery
 * Dr. Erica Hahn - former Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery
 * Dr. Teddy Altman - former Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery
 * Dr. Jeff Russell - - former Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery
 * Dr. Callie Torres - former Head of Orthopedic Surgery
 * Dr. Chang - former Head of Orthopedic Surgery
 * Dr. Robert Stark - former Head of Pediatric Surgery
 * Dr. Jordan Kenly - former Head of Pediatric Surgery
 * Dr. Nicole Herman - former Head of Fetal Surgery
 * Dr. Lucy Fields - former OB/GYN Attending and Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellow
 * Dr. Ben Warren  - former Anesthesiology Attending
 * Dr. Eliza Minnick -  - former Orthopedic Sports Medicine Attending

Behind the Scenes

 * An attending can act as interim head of the department of their specialty. Dr. Jim Nelson stepped in as interim Head of Neurosurgery when Dr. Derek Shepherd was recovering from injuries sustained to his hand. Dr. April Kepner also stepped in for Head of Trauma Surgery when Dr. Meredith Grey was suspended.