Danielle Scheurer

A panel of diverse hospital systems shared successes and challenges with SHM's Project BOOST program, which aims to reduce readmissions for older adults. Although each initiative is (purposefully) tailored to the site, each share common themes, including the use of multidisciplinary teams, discharge process redesign, the use of teach back, and the use of follow up phone calls.

Key Takeaways:

• BOOST has been widely successful in improving the discharge process in a variety of hospital settings;
• Mentored implementation is a critical factor to it’s success.

Dr. Scheurer is physician editor of The Hospitalist

A panel of diverse hospital systems shared successes and challenges with SHM's Project BOOST program, which aims to reduce readmissions for older adults. Although each initiative is (purposefully) tailored to the site, each share common themes, including the use of multidisciplinary teams, discharge process redesign, the use of teach back, and the use of follow up phone calls.

Key Takeaways:

• BOOST has been widely successful in improving the discharge process in a variety of hospital settings;
• Mentored implementation is a critical factor to it’s success.

Dr. Scheurer is physician editor of The Hospitalist

A panel of diverse hospital systems shared successes and challenges with SHM's Project BOOST program, which aims to reduce readmissions for older adults. Although each initiative is (purposefully) tailored to the site, each share common themes, including the use of multidisciplinary teams, discharge process redesign, the use of teach back, and the use of follow up phone calls.

Key Takeaways:

• BOOST has been widely successful in improving the discharge process in a variety of hospital settings;
• Mentored implementation is a critical factor to it’s success.

Dr. Scheurer is physician editor of The Hospitalist

Mark and Jeff set the bar: What are we going to do for hospital medicine?

“Write an article, about a thousand words long. Just make sure you turn it in on time every month.” These were verbatim the instructions I received from the editorial staff about a year ago before I started writing this monthly column in The Hospitalist. Most hospitalists, even those in academia, don’t write an article every month. In fact, for most hospitalists, it’s probably been years, possibly decades, since they have penned a piece for publication. The last probably was turned in for a grade.

Well, the good news was that I was given carte blanche to write about topics of my choice. I thought that was a good idea until it came time to write my first column. Yikes! What do I write about? It certainly was easier in school when I was told I had to write about specific topics─say, why Napoleon scapegoated Snowball in Orwell’s “Animal Farm.” Now, not only did I have to write, but I also had to come up with the topic.

Partly because of my obligation to The Hospitalist, I have developed great admiration for interesting, prolific writers. What else did I learn from writing this column? I found out that it is hard to write in a vacuum. Although I knew the editorial staff would be proofreading my language and grammar, I didn’t expect them to give me feedback about content or style.

Soon after my first column, I started putting my email address at the end of the column. Some of the best feedback I received this year as SHM president came because I listed my email address with this column. Secretly, I am hoping that future SHM presidents will do the same and that SHM members will take advantage of the opportunity to communicate with their president.

There is a lesson to be learned here: In order to improve, all of us need consistent, timely, constructive feedback. I have enjoyed writing this monthly column and thank everyone at SHM and The Hospitalist for this opportunity. It was not always easy coming up with a topic or finding the time to string together coherent ideas on a keyboard.

As challenging as it has been at times for me, I think about what Jeff Glasheen has done for the past five years as physician editor of The Hospitalist. Not only did Jeff produce a monthly column five times longer than I did, he also worked tirelessly with the editorial staff to shape, expand, and improve the content of The Hospitalist. Under his leadership, we finally have a professional magazine with content that the advertisers can be proud of. He did this on top of his day job as chief of the hospitalist program at University of Colorado Denver. I won’t elaborate on his multiple other SHM commitments, which including roles as course director of the Academic Hospitalist Academy and chair of the Academic Hospitalist Committee. By the way, Jeff was HM12 course director, too. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank him for his service.

Jeff has been a tireless advocate not only for SHM, but for our profession. Enjoy Jeff’s column this month (see "The End," p. 52). I don’t know ahead of time what he will write about, but rest assured, it will be timely and interesting. This will be Jeff’s final column as physician editor of The Hospitalist. He recently made the decision to step down and hand over the reins to another incredibly talented hospitalist, Danielle Scheurer.

Luckily, Jeff is not one to rest on his laurels. He will be joining the editorial staff of the Journal of Hospital Medicine. Jeff has been the face of The Hospitalist for so long that it will be hard to think of The Hospitalist without him. Danielle, I’m sure, will do a great job. She also knows she has massive shoes to fill.

What I just said about Jeff can and should be said also for Mark Williams, who recently stepped down as JHM’s editor in chief. As the first editor of our field’s preeminent scientific journal, Mark set a high standard. His successor, Andy Auerbach, will be challenged to surpass this high standard. Like Jeff, Mark’s leadership of JHM was only the tip of the iceberg. Mark has done virtually everything there is do at SHM, including serving as an annual meeting course director, SHM board member, and SHM president. Mark is a recognized national leader in transitions of care and was instrumental in development of SHM’s Project BOOST. All of us owe Mark and Jeff a tremendous debt of gratitude. I am a big fan of both of them and feel fortunate to know both HM leaders.

My expectation is that Mark and Jeff, like others who have been so influential in our field—Jeff Wiese, Tina Budnitz, and Larry Wellikson among them—will one day join the Wachters, Nelsons, and Whitcombs as Masters in Hospital Medicine. The views and ideas in The Hospitalist and JHM formulated and shaped the ideas of this young profession. Over the past few years, nobody’s voice has been louder than those of our editors, Mark Williams and Jeff Glasheen.

The field of hospital medicine and our professional society, the Society of Hospital Medicine, has been blessed with visionary leaders, hard-working volunteers, and a talented staff in its first 15 years. They have laid a solid foundation for our field. HM and SHM will continue to grow only if we are able to produce high-value care for our patients. Our ability to increase healthcare value will be based on our ability to improve the quality of care for patients inside and outside the hospital. Individuals like Mark and Jeff have shown us the way. The challenge is for individuals like you and me to help them carry the torch over the next decade and beyond.

I welcome your feedback. Email me at [email protected]; catch me on Twitter: @_JosephLi; or contact me via LinkedIn at Joseph Li.

Dr. Li is president of SHM.

Mark and Jeff set the bar: What are we going to do for hospital medicine?

“Write an article, about a thousand words long. Just make sure you turn it in on time every month.” These were verbatim the instructions I received from the editorial staff about a year ago before I started writing this monthly column in The Hospitalist. Most hospitalists, even those in academia, don’t write an article every month. In fact, for most hospitalists, it’s probably been years, possibly decades, since they have penned a piece for publication. The last probably was turned in for a grade.

Well, the good news was that I was given carte blanche to write about topics of my choice. I thought that was a good idea until it came time to write my first column. Yikes! What do I write about? It certainly was easier in school when I was told I had to write about specific topics─say, why Napoleon scapegoated Snowball in Orwell’s “Animal Farm.” Now, not only did I have to write, but I also had to come up with the topic.

Partly because of my obligation to The Hospitalist, I have developed great admiration for interesting, prolific writers. What else did I learn from writing this column? I found out that it is hard to write in a vacuum. Although I knew the editorial staff would be proofreading my language and grammar, I didn’t expect them to give me feedback about content or style.

Soon after my first column, I started putting my email address at the end of the column. Some of the best feedback I received this year as SHM president came because I listed my email address with this column. Secretly, I am hoping that future SHM presidents will do the same and that SHM members will take advantage of the opportunity to communicate with their president.

There is a lesson to be learned here: In order to improve, all of us need consistent, timely, constructive feedback. I have enjoyed writing this monthly column and thank everyone at SHM and The Hospitalist for this opportunity. It was not always easy coming up with a topic or finding the time to string together coherent ideas on a keyboard.

As challenging as it has been at times for me, I think about what Jeff Glasheen has done for the past five years as physician editor of The Hospitalist. Not only did Jeff produce a monthly column five times longer than I did, he also worked tirelessly with the editorial staff to shape, expand, and improve the content of The Hospitalist. Under his leadership, we finally have a professional magazine with content that the advertisers can be proud of. He did this on top of his day job as chief of the hospitalist program at University of Colorado Denver. I won’t elaborate on his multiple other SHM commitments, which including roles as course director of the Academic Hospitalist Academy and chair of the Academic Hospitalist Committee. By the way, Jeff was HM12 course director, too. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank him for his service.

Jeff has been a tireless advocate not only for SHM, but for our profession. Enjoy Jeff’s column this month (see "The End," p. 52). I don’t know ahead of time what he will write about, but rest assured, it will be timely and interesting. This will be Jeff’s final column as physician editor of The Hospitalist. He recently made the decision to step down and hand over the reins to another incredibly talented hospitalist, Danielle Scheurer.

Luckily, Jeff is not one to rest on his laurels. He will be joining the editorial staff of the Journal of Hospital Medicine. Jeff has been the face of The Hospitalist for so long that it will be hard to think of The Hospitalist without him. Danielle, I’m sure, will do a great job. She also knows she has massive shoes to fill.

What I just said about Jeff can and should be said also for Mark Williams, who recently stepped down as JHM’s editor in chief. As the first editor of our field’s preeminent scientific journal, Mark set a high standard. His successor, Andy Auerbach, will be challenged to surpass this high standard. Like Jeff, Mark’s leadership of JHM was only the tip of the iceberg. Mark has done virtually everything there is do at SHM, including serving as an annual meeting course director, SHM board member, and SHM president. Mark is a recognized national leader in transitions of care and was instrumental in development of SHM’s Project BOOST. All of us owe Mark and Jeff a tremendous debt of gratitude. I am a big fan of both of them and feel fortunate to know both HM leaders.

My expectation is that Mark and Jeff, like others who have been so influential in our field—Jeff Wiese, Tina Budnitz, and Larry Wellikson among them—will one day join the Wachters, Nelsons, and Whitcombs as Masters in Hospital Medicine. The views and ideas in The Hospitalist and JHM formulated and shaped the ideas of this young profession. Over the past few years, nobody’s voice has been louder than those of our editors, Mark Williams and Jeff Glasheen.

The field of hospital medicine and our professional society, the Society of Hospital Medicine, has been blessed with visionary leaders, hard-working volunteers, and a talented staff in its first 15 years. They have laid a solid foundation for our field. HM and SHM will continue to grow only if we are able to produce high-value care for our patients. Our ability to increase healthcare value will be based on our ability to improve the quality of care for patients inside and outside the hospital. Individuals like Mark and Jeff have shown us the way. The challenge is for individuals like you and me to help them carry the torch over the next decade and beyond.

I welcome your feedback. Email me at [email protected]; catch me on Twitter: @_JosephLi; or contact me via LinkedIn at Joseph Li.

Dr. Li is president of SHM.

Mark and Jeff set the bar: What are we going to do for hospital medicine?

“Write an article, about a thousand words long. Just make sure you turn it in on time every month.” These were verbatim the instructions I received from the editorial staff about a year ago before I started writing this monthly column in The Hospitalist. Most hospitalists, even those in academia, don’t write an article every month. In fact, for most hospitalists, it’s probably been years, possibly decades, since they have penned a piece for publication. The last probably was turned in for a grade.

Well, the good news was that I was given carte blanche to write about topics of my choice. I thought that was a good idea until it came time to write my first column. Yikes! What do I write about? It certainly was easier in school when I was told I had to write about specific topics─say, why Napoleon scapegoated Snowball in Orwell’s “Animal Farm.” Now, not only did I have to write, but I also had to come up with the topic.

Partly because of my obligation to The Hospitalist, I have developed great admiration for interesting, prolific writers. What else did I learn from writing this column? I found out that it is hard to write in a vacuum. Although I knew the editorial staff would be proofreading my language and grammar, I didn’t expect them to give me feedback about content or style.

Soon after my first column, I started putting my email address at the end of the column. Some of the best feedback I received this year as SHM president came because I listed my email address with this column. Secretly, I am hoping that future SHM presidents will do the same and that SHM members will take advantage of the opportunity to communicate with their president.

There is a lesson to be learned here: In order to improve, all of us need consistent, timely, constructive feedback. I have enjoyed writing this monthly column and thank everyone at SHM and The Hospitalist for this opportunity. It was not always easy coming up with a topic or finding the time to string together coherent ideas on a keyboard.

As challenging as it has been at times for me, I think about what Jeff Glasheen has done for the past five years as physician editor of The Hospitalist. Not only did Jeff produce a monthly column five times longer than I did, he also worked tirelessly with the editorial staff to shape, expand, and improve the content of The Hospitalist. Under his leadership, we finally have a professional magazine with content that the advertisers can be proud of. He did this on top of his day job as chief of the hospitalist program at University of Colorado Denver. I won’t elaborate on his multiple other SHM commitments, which including roles as course director of the Academic Hospitalist Academy and chair of the Academic Hospitalist Committee. By the way, Jeff was HM12 course director, too. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank him for his service.

Jeff has been a tireless advocate not only for SHM, but for our profession. Enjoy Jeff’s column this month (see "The End," p. 52). I don’t know ahead of time what he will write about, but rest assured, it will be timely and interesting. This will be Jeff’s final column as physician editor of The Hospitalist. He recently made the decision to step down and hand over the reins to another incredibly talented hospitalist, Danielle Scheurer.

Luckily, Jeff is not one to rest on his laurels. He will be joining the editorial staff of the Journal of Hospital Medicine. Jeff has been the face of The Hospitalist for so long that it will be hard to think of The Hospitalist without him. Danielle, I’m sure, will do a great job. She also knows she has massive shoes to fill.

What I just said about Jeff can and should be said also for Mark Williams, who recently stepped down as JHM’s editor in chief. As the first editor of our field’s preeminent scientific journal, Mark set a high standard. His successor, Andy Auerbach, will be challenged to surpass this high standard. Like Jeff, Mark’s leadership of JHM was only the tip of the iceberg. Mark has done virtually everything there is do at SHM, including serving as an annual meeting course director, SHM board member, and SHM president. Mark is a recognized national leader in transitions of care and was instrumental in development of SHM’s Project BOOST. All of us owe Mark and Jeff a tremendous debt of gratitude. I am a big fan of both of them and feel fortunate to know both HM leaders.

My expectation is that Mark and Jeff, like others who have been so influential in our field—Jeff Wiese, Tina Budnitz, and Larry Wellikson among them—will one day join the Wachters, Nelsons, and Whitcombs as Masters in Hospital Medicine. The views and ideas in The Hospitalist and JHM formulated and shaped the ideas of this young profession. Over the past few years, nobody’s voice has been louder than those of our editors, Mark Williams and Jeff Glasheen.

The field of hospital medicine and our professional society, the Society of Hospital Medicine, has been blessed with visionary leaders, hard-working volunteers, and a talented staff in its first 15 years. They have laid a solid foundation for our field. HM and SHM will continue to grow only if we are able to produce high-value care for our patients. Our ability to increase healthcare value will be based on our ability to improve the quality of care for patients inside and outside the hospital. Individuals like Mark and Jeff have shown us the way. The challenge is for individuals like you and me to help them carry the torch over the next decade and beyond.

I welcome your feedback. Email me at [email protected]; catch me on Twitter: @_JosephLi; or contact me via LinkedIn at Joseph Li.

Dr. Li is president of SHM.

Listen to Mark Williams, MD, FACP, FHM

When HM pioneers identified potential candidates to become editor-in-chief of a new peer-reviewed journal dedicated to their specialty, they found themselves working from a short list. The term “hospitalist” had been part of the American healthcare lexicon for less than a decade, and only a select few in the young field possessed the leadership, management experience, and research credibility to fill the role.

Mark Williams, MD, FACP, FHM, then a professor and director of the hospital medicine unit at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, met the criteria. He also demonstrated two attributes that distinguished him from other finalists. First, he understood the Journal of Hospital Medicine’s mission, having led an SHM task force that created a development plan for the publication. More importantly, he had the personality to sell JHM as a valuable tool for researchers and frontline hospitalists long before the first issue rolled off the press, says Robert Wachter, MD, MHM, professor and associate chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), chief of the division of hospital medicine and chief of medical service at UCSF Medical Center, and one of the HM leaders who advocated for the journal’s launch.

“The early phase is particularly tricky in that you are trying to get an entire specialty interested in something that is conceptual,” Dr. Wachter says. “If you can’t, you don’t ever develop the momentum to build the thing you’re talking about. If you can, you get people excited and jazzed about it before it’s real, so when it becomes real, you have accomplished, talented people truly engaged. The latter was the experience with Mark.”

Dr. Williams did more than generate excitement. He assembled a diverse editorial team and developed a comprehensive content plan that, over the next six years, helped JHM evolve into a frequently cited, well-respected publication.

“It has exceeded my expectations,” Dr. Wachter says, “and my expectations were pretty high.”

Listen to Mark Williams, MD, FACP, FHM

Getting Off the Ground

By the turn of the century, HM achieved many of the milestones its leaders believed were necessary to solidify itself as a specialty—it had formed a society, published textbooks, and held regular conferences. The next step, they believed, was the launch of a peer-reviewed journal.

Discussions continued for a few years until proponents believed a sizable readership base existed, and that HM had enough established researchers and authors to sustain a journal. In March 2005, SHM appointed Dr. Williams, who had reviewed and written journal articles but never served as an editor, as JHM ’s editor-in-chief and scheduled a February 2006 launch.

“Off we went, with me not really having any clear idea what I was getting myself into,” says Dr. Williams, a former SHM president who now is a professor and chief of the Division of Hospital Medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

He immediately immersed himself in other top-tier journals he hoped to emulate. He also began formulating strategies to tackle two significant challenges. The first—promoting the publication—meshed perfectly with his persona, says Vineet Arora, MD, FHM, assistant dean for scholarship and discovery at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine.

During HM05 in Chicago, Dr. Williams handed out business cards to annual meeting attendees and encouraged every presenter to submit his or her research to the journal.

“Everyone was so excited to meet him and to find out there was a home for their work,” Dr. Arora recalls. “Mark was really successful, right from the start, at building those bridges and making sure everybody felt part of the team.”

The second challenge—lining up content for the inaugural issue—proved easier than anticipated. Diane Meier, MD, FACP, an internationally recognized expert on palliative care, and C. Seth Landefeld, MD, FACP, chief of the Division of Geriatrics at UCSF, submitted review articles. Christine Cassel, MD, FACP, president and CEO of the American Board of Internal Medicine, wrote an editorial. Diane Payne, publications director for the Board of Regents for the University System of Georgia, submitted what remains Dr. Williams’ favorite JHM article, a patient commentary titled “Hospitals Foreign Soil for Those Who Don’t Work There.”

The first issue also included The Core Competencies in Hospital Medicine: A Framework for Curriculum Development, a blueprint created by SHM to help medical schools and post-graduate programs develop standardized curricula for teaching HM. The supplement remains the most-cited article in JHM history.

“We were told over and over the biggest problem we’d face would be getting enough content,” Dr. Williams says. “We were flooded with content from day one. That tells me we probably could have started this journal a year or two earlier, but this ensured our success.”

Success from the Start

JHM ’s success continued beyond the inaugural issue. Less than a year after the launch, it was selected for indexing and inclusion in MEDLINE, a U.S. National Library of Medicine bibliographic database that contains more than 18 million references to journal articles in medicine and other life sciences.

In summer 2009, it received a debut 3.163 Impact Factor, an industry metric that calculates average citations received by peer-reviewed journals. The score ranked JHM in the top 20% of its cohort, a stronger-than-expected showing for a journal in its fourth year of publication.

An increasing amount of original research helped JHM become a valuable educational tool, and nearly 10,000 journal articles have been downloaded since its inception, Dr. Williams says.

The journal’s clinical vignettes and articles that explain how political developments affect HM are especially beneficial, says James Neviackas, MD, a hospitalist at Decatur Memorial Hospital in Illinois. The format also serves hospitalists well.

“The articles are short and hard-hitting, so they enable me to get as much information as I can in as little time as possible,” Dr. Neviackas says.

Dr. Williams deserves credit for making the journal a viable and valuable publication, says Dana P. Edelson, MD, FHM, assistant professor at The University of Chicago’s Department of Medicine and a JHM assistant editor.

“To build it from nothing into a well-regarded academic journal in a matter of few years is pretty amazing,” Dr. Edelson says. “From a success standpoint, it’s truly remarkable.”

Dr. Williams inspires members of his editorial staff “to bring their A game” by giving them considerable authority, valuing their opinions, and demonstrating a willingness to support their decisions, even when they risk angering authors whose articles are rejected, Dr. Edelson says.

“Mark has shown a combination of operational capabilities, organizational skills, and servant leadership that is really inspirational,” adds deputy editor Brian Harte, MD, SFHM, chief operating officer of Hillcrest Hospital in Ohio and chairman of hospital medicine at The Cleveland Clinic. “He sets the strategic vision and empowers his team to execute. He is always open, and he encourages ideas. He’s a facilitator, which is what a great leader is.”

Dr. Williams, in turn, credits the support of JHM ’s publisher, John Wiley & Sons Inc., which also publishes The Hospitalist, and his editorial team for the journal’s achievements. He also praises his team for ensuring his greatest fear—constant complaints from authors whose papers were rejected—never came to fruition.

“I thought I’d get nasty emails saying, ‘Why are you rejecting my article? Clearly you don’t understand what I’m doing,’” Dr. Williams says. “Invariably, I get emails along the lines of, ‘Thank you so much for carefully reviewing the article. I deeply appreciate the insightful comments from the reviewers.’

“That has been very rewarding,” he adds. “It demonstrates we have done a terrific job of candidly and fairly reviewing articles … and that the amount of effort we put into providing those reviews is recognized and welcomed and appreciated.”

The Transition

Dr. Williams will serve as the journal’s editor-in-chief through the end of the year. Andrew Auerbach, MD, MPH, SFHM, associate professor of medicine at UCSF and director of research for the Division of Hospital Medicine, will take over in January.

Dr. Auerbach, who will serve a five-year term, says Dr. Williams has “done a remarkable job” developing HM’s only peer-reviewed journal. “He raised the visibility of the journal inside the field of hospital medicine and outside,” Dr. Auerbach says. “He built a publication that is really aligned with what hospitalists are doing and what they want to do.”

Dr. Williams is helping Dr. Auerbach develop a strategic plan for the first 18 months of his term, but he looks forward to having more time to mentor junior faculty at Northwestern. He’ll leave the editor’s chair with two pieces of unfinished business: The economic downturn thwarted his effort to increase JHM ’s publishing frequency from nine to 12 times a year, a move he hopes is made next year; he also fell short of his goal to feature regular patient commentaries, such as Diane Payne’s editorial in the inaugural issue.

Although he takes pride in the journal’s cover design, which includes three photos that he says convey HM is about caring for people, he hopes patients’ voices are better represented in future issues.

“We’re all about taking care of patients. That’s our purpose,” he says. “Too often, health care providers get busy and they forget that. They don’t realize how difficult it is for patients to go through the struggles of obtaining healthcare and being in a hospital when they are incredibly sick.”

‘A Big Tent’

Despite the challenges associated with starting a journal from scratch, Dr. Williams says his six years at the helm went more smoothly than he could have imagined. The effort has paid off.

JHM’s Impact Factor, although down from its debut figure, rose to 1.951 last year from 1.496 in 2009, ranking it 40th out of 151 journals in its cohort.

The success, Dr. Wachter says, shows Dr. Williams was the right choice to lead JHM from birth through toddlerhood.

More importantly, Dr. Williams embraced the vision of HM leaders who believed the journal needed to be a big tent in order to succeed. “We wanted to try to somehow hit the sweet spot of being relevant and interesting to folks who practice hospital medicine in a wide array of circumstances,” Dr. Wachter says, “while also being a go-to place for researchers to submit their research. That was ambitious, and that could have failed in all sorts of directions. It could have been quite relevant to clinicians, but not rigorous enough for researchers. It could have been perfect for researchers, but the clinicians could have felt it wasn’t relative to their day-to-day life. I think the journal has done a masterful job negotiating that tight wire.”

Mark Leiser is a freelance writer based in New Jersey.

Listen to Mark Williams, MD, FACP, FHM

When HM pioneers identified potential candidates to become editor-in-chief of a new peer-reviewed journal dedicated to their specialty, they found themselves working from a short list. The term “hospitalist” had been part of the American healthcare lexicon for less than a decade, and only a select few in the young field possessed the leadership, management experience, and research credibility to fill the role.

Mark Williams, MD, FACP, FHM, then a professor and director of the hospital medicine unit at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, met the criteria. He also demonstrated two attributes that distinguished him from other finalists. First, he understood the Journal of Hospital Medicine’s mission, having led an SHM task force that created a development plan for the publication. More importantly, he had the personality to sell JHM as a valuable tool for researchers and frontline hospitalists long before the first issue rolled off the press, says Robert Wachter, MD, MHM, professor and associate chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), chief of the division of hospital medicine and chief of medical service at UCSF Medical Center, and one of the HM leaders who advocated for the journal’s launch.

“The early phase is particularly tricky in that you are trying to get an entire specialty interested in something that is conceptual,” Dr. Wachter says. “If you can’t, you don’t ever develop the momentum to build the thing you’re talking about. If you can, you get people excited and jazzed about it before it’s real, so when it becomes real, you have accomplished, talented people truly engaged. The latter was the experience with Mark.”

Dr. Williams did more than generate excitement. He assembled a diverse editorial team and developed a comprehensive content plan that, over the next six years, helped JHM evolve into a frequently cited, well-respected publication.

“It has exceeded my expectations,” Dr. Wachter says, “and my expectations were pretty high.”

Listen to Mark Williams, MD, FACP, FHM

Getting Off the Ground

By the turn of the century, HM achieved many of the milestones its leaders believed were necessary to solidify itself as a specialty—it had formed a society, published textbooks, and held regular conferences. The next step, they believed, was the launch of a peer-reviewed journal.

Discussions continued for a few years until proponents believed a sizable readership base existed, and that HM had enough established researchers and authors to sustain a journal. In March 2005, SHM appointed Dr. Williams, who had reviewed and written journal articles but never served as an editor, as JHM ’s editor-in-chief and scheduled a February 2006 launch.

“Off we went, with me not really having any clear idea what I was getting myself into,” says Dr. Williams, a former SHM president who now is a professor and chief of the Division of Hospital Medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

He immediately immersed himself in other top-tier journals he hoped to emulate. He also began formulating strategies to tackle two significant challenges. The first—promoting the publication—meshed perfectly with his persona, says Vineet Arora, MD, FHM, assistant dean for scholarship and discovery at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine.

During HM05 in Chicago, Dr. Williams handed out business cards to annual meeting attendees and encouraged every presenter to submit his or her research to the journal.

“Everyone was so excited to meet him and to find out there was a home for their work,” Dr. Arora recalls. “Mark was really successful, right from the start, at building those bridges and making sure everybody felt part of the team.”

The second challenge—lining up content for the inaugural issue—proved easier than anticipated. Diane Meier, MD, FACP, an internationally recognized expert on palliative care, and C. Seth Landefeld, MD, FACP, chief of the Division of Geriatrics at UCSF, submitted review articles. Christine Cassel, MD, FACP, president and CEO of the American Board of Internal Medicine, wrote an editorial. Diane Payne, publications director for the Board of Regents for the University System of Georgia, submitted what remains Dr. Williams’ favorite JHM article, a patient commentary titled “Hospitals Foreign Soil for Those Who Don’t Work There.”

The first issue also included The Core Competencies in Hospital Medicine: A Framework for Curriculum Development, a blueprint created by SHM to help medical schools and post-graduate programs develop standardized curricula for teaching HM. The supplement remains the most-cited article in JHM history.

“We were told over and over the biggest problem we’d face would be getting enough content,” Dr. Williams says. “We were flooded with content from day one. That tells me we probably could have started this journal a year or two earlier, but this ensured our success.”

Success from the Start

JHM ’s success continued beyond the inaugural issue. Less than a year after the launch, it was selected for indexing and inclusion in MEDLINE, a U.S. National Library of Medicine bibliographic database that contains more than 18 million references to journal articles in medicine and other life sciences.

In summer 2009, it received a debut 3.163 Impact Factor, an industry metric that calculates average citations received by peer-reviewed journals. The score ranked JHM in the top 20% of its cohort, a stronger-than-expected showing for a journal in its fourth year of publication.

An increasing amount of original research helped JHM become a valuable educational tool, and nearly 10,000 journal articles have been downloaded since its inception, Dr. Williams says.

The journal’s clinical vignettes and articles that explain how political developments affect HM are especially beneficial, says James Neviackas, MD, a hospitalist at Decatur Memorial Hospital in Illinois. The format also serves hospitalists well.

“The articles are short and hard-hitting, so they enable me to get as much information as I can in as little time as possible,” Dr. Neviackas says.

Dr. Williams deserves credit for making the journal a viable and valuable publication, says Dana P. Edelson, MD, FHM, assistant professor at The University of Chicago’s Department of Medicine and a JHM assistant editor.

“To build it from nothing into a well-regarded academic journal in a matter of few years is pretty amazing,” Dr. Edelson says. “From a success standpoint, it’s truly remarkable.”

Dr. Williams inspires members of his editorial staff “to bring their A game” by giving them considerable authority, valuing their opinions, and demonstrating a willingness to support their decisions, even when they risk angering authors whose articles are rejected, Dr. Edelson says.

“Mark has shown a combination of operational capabilities, organizational skills, and servant leadership that is really inspirational,” adds deputy editor Brian Harte, MD, SFHM, chief operating officer of Hillcrest Hospital in Ohio and chairman of hospital medicine at The Cleveland Clinic. “He sets the strategic vision and empowers his team to execute. He is always open, and he encourages ideas. He’s a facilitator, which is what a great leader is.”

Dr. Williams, in turn, credits the support of JHM ’s publisher, John Wiley & Sons Inc., which also publishes The Hospitalist, and his editorial team for the journal’s achievements. He also praises his team for ensuring his greatest fear—constant complaints from authors whose papers were rejected—never came to fruition.

“I thought I’d get nasty emails saying, ‘Why are you rejecting my article? Clearly you don’t understand what I’m doing,’” Dr. Williams says. “Invariably, I get emails along the lines of, ‘Thank you so much for carefully reviewing the article. I deeply appreciate the insightful comments from the reviewers.’

“That has been very rewarding,” he adds. “It demonstrates we have done a terrific job of candidly and fairly reviewing articles … and that the amount of effort we put into providing those reviews is recognized and welcomed and appreciated.”

The Transition

Dr. Williams will serve as the journal’s editor-in-chief through the end of the year. Andrew Auerbach, MD, MPH, SFHM, associate professor of medicine at UCSF and director of research for the Division of Hospital Medicine, will take over in January.

Dr. Auerbach, who will serve a five-year term, says Dr. Williams has “done a remarkable job” developing HM’s only peer-reviewed journal. “He raised the visibility of the journal inside the field of hospital medicine and outside,” Dr. Auerbach says. “He built a publication that is really aligned with what hospitalists are doing and what they want to do.”

Dr. Williams is helping Dr. Auerbach develop a strategic plan for the first 18 months of his term, but he looks forward to having more time to mentor junior faculty at Northwestern. He’ll leave the editor’s chair with two pieces of unfinished business: The economic downturn thwarted his effort to increase JHM ’s publishing frequency from nine to 12 times a year, a move he hopes is made next year; he also fell short of his goal to feature regular patient commentaries, such as Diane Payne’s editorial in the inaugural issue.

Although he takes pride in the journal’s cover design, which includes three photos that he says convey HM is about caring for people, he hopes patients’ voices are better represented in future issues.

“We’re all about taking care of patients. That’s our purpose,” he says. “Too often, health care providers get busy and they forget that. They don’t realize how difficult it is for patients to go through the struggles of obtaining healthcare and being in a hospital when they are incredibly sick.”

‘A Big Tent’

Despite the challenges associated with starting a journal from scratch, Dr. Williams says his six years at the helm went more smoothly than he could have imagined. The effort has paid off.

JHM’s Impact Factor, although down from its debut figure, rose to 1.951 last year from 1.496 in 2009, ranking it 40th out of 151 journals in its cohort.

The success, Dr. Wachter says, shows Dr. Williams was the right choice to lead JHM from birth through toddlerhood.

More importantly, Dr. Williams embraced the vision of HM leaders who believed the journal needed to be a big tent in order to succeed. “We wanted to try to somehow hit the sweet spot of being relevant and interesting to folks who practice hospital medicine in a wide array of circumstances,” Dr. Wachter says, “while also being a go-to place for researchers to submit their research. That was ambitious, and that could have failed in all sorts of directions. It could have been quite relevant to clinicians, but not rigorous enough for researchers. It could have been perfect for researchers, but the clinicians could have felt it wasn’t relative to their day-to-day life. I think the journal has done a masterful job negotiating that tight wire.”

Mark Leiser is a freelance writer based in New Jersey.

Listen to Mark Williams, MD, FACP, FHM

When HM pioneers identified potential candidates to become editor-in-chief of a new peer-reviewed journal dedicated to their specialty, they found themselves working from a short list. The term “hospitalist” had been part of the American healthcare lexicon for less than a decade, and only a select few in the young field possessed the leadership, management experience, and research credibility to fill the role.

Mark Williams, MD, FACP, FHM, then a professor and director of the hospital medicine unit at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, met the criteria. He also demonstrated two attributes that distinguished him from other finalists. First, he understood the Journal of Hospital Medicine’s mission, having led an SHM task force that created a development plan for the publication. More importantly, he had the personality to sell JHM as a valuable tool for researchers and frontline hospitalists long before the first issue rolled off the press, says Robert Wachter, MD, MHM, professor and associate chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), chief of the division of hospital medicine and chief of medical service at UCSF Medical Center, and one of the HM leaders who advocated for the journal’s launch.

“The early phase is particularly tricky in that you are trying to get an entire specialty interested in something that is conceptual,” Dr. Wachter says. “If you can’t, you don’t ever develop the momentum to build the thing you’re talking about. If you can, you get people excited and jazzed about it before it’s real, so when it becomes real, you have accomplished, talented people truly engaged. The latter was the experience with Mark.”

Dr. Williams did more than generate excitement. He assembled a diverse editorial team and developed a comprehensive content plan that, over the next six years, helped JHM evolve into a frequently cited, well-respected publication.

“It has exceeded my expectations,” Dr. Wachter says, “and my expectations were pretty high.”

Listen to Mark Williams, MD, FACP, FHM

Getting Off the Ground

By the turn of the century, HM achieved many of the milestones its leaders believed were necessary to solidify itself as a specialty—it had formed a society, published textbooks, and held regular conferences. The next step, they believed, was the launch of a peer-reviewed journal.

Discussions continued for a few years until proponents believed a sizable readership base existed, and that HM had enough established researchers and authors to sustain a journal. In March 2005, SHM appointed Dr. Williams, who had reviewed and written journal articles but never served as an editor, as JHM ’s editor-in-chief and scheduled a February 2006 launch.

“Off we went, with me not really having any clear idea what I was getting myself into,” says Dr. Williams, a former SHM president who now is a professor and chief of the Division of Hospital Medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

He immediately immersed himself in other top-tier journals he hoped to emulate. He also began formulating strategies to tackle two significant challenges. The first—promoting the publication—meshed perfectly with his persona, says Vineet Arora, MD, FHM, assistant dean for scholarship and discovery at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine.

During HM05 in Chicago, Dr. Williams handed out business cards to annual meeting attendees and encouraged every presenter to submit his or her research to the journal.

“Everyone was so excited to meet him and to find out there was a home for their work,” Dr. Arora recalls. “Mark was really successful, right from the start, at building those bridges and making sure everybody felt part of the team.”

The second challenge—lining up content for the inaugural issue—proved easier than anticipated. Diane Meier, MD, FACP, an internationally recognized expert on palliative care, and C. Seth Landefeld, MD, FACP, chief of the Division of Geriatrics at UCSF, submitted review articles. Christine Cassel, MD, FACP, president and CEO of the American Board of Internal Medicine, wrote an editorial. Diane Payne, publications director for the Board of Regents for the University System of Georgia, submitted what remains Dr. Williams’ favorite JHM article, a patient commentary titled “Hospitals Foreign Soil for Those Who Don’t Work There.”

The first issue also included The Core Competencies in Hospital Medicine: A Framework for Curriculum Development, a blueprint created by SHM to help medical schools and post-graduate programs develop standardized curricula for teaching HM. The supplement remains the most-cited article in JHM history.

“We were told over and over the biggest problem we’d face would be getting enough content,” Dr. Williams says. “We were flooded with content from day one. That tells me we probably could have started this journal a year or two earlier, but this ensured our success.”

Success from the Start

JHM ’s success continued beyond the inaugural issue. Less than a year after the launch, it was selected for indexing and inclusion in MEDLINE, a U.S. National Library of Medicine bibliographic database that contains more than 18 million references to journal articles in medicine and other life sciences.

In summer 2009, it received a debut 3.163 Impact Factor, an industry metric that calculates average citations received by peer-reviewed journals. The score ranked JHM in the top 20% of its cohort, a stronger-than-expected showing for a journal in its fourth year of publication.

An increasing amount of original research helped JHM become a valuable educational tool, and nearly 10,000 journal articles have been downloaded since its inception, Dr. Williams says.

The journal’s clinical vignettes and articles that explain how political developments affect HM are especially beneficial, says James Neviackas, MD, a hospitalist at Decatur Memorial Hospital in Illinois. The format also serves hospitalists well.

“The articles are short and hard-hitting, so they enable me to get as much information as I can in as little time as possible,” Dr. Neviackas says.

Dr. Williams deserves credit for making the journal a viable and valuable publication, says Dana P. Edelson, MD, FHM, assistant professor at The University of Chicago’s Department of Medicine and a JHM assistant editor.

“To build it from nothing into a well-regarded academic journal in a matter of few years is pretty amazing,” Dr. Edelson says. “From a success standpoint, it’s truly remarkable.”

Dr. Williams inspires members of his editorial staff “to bring their A game” by giving them considerable authority, valuing their opinions, and demonstrating a willingness to support their decisions, even when they risk angering authors whose articles are rejected, Dr. Edelson says.

“Mark has shown a combination of operational capabilities, organizational skills, and servant leadership that is really inspirational,” adds deputy editor Brian Harte, MD, SFHM, chief operating officer of Hillcrest Hospital in Ohio and chairman of hospital medicine at The Cleveland Clinic. “He sets the strategic vision and empowers his team to execute. He is always open, and he encourages ideas. He’s a facilitator, which is what a great leader is.”

Dr. Williams, in turn, credits the support of JHM ’s publisher, John Wiley & Sons Inc., which also publishes The Hospitalist, and his editorial team for the journal’s achievements. He also praises his team for ensuring his greatest fear—constant complaints from authors whose papers were rejected—never came to fruition.

“I thought I’d get nasty emails saying, ‘Why are you rejecting my article? Clearly you don’t understand what I’m doing,’” Dr. Williams says. “Invariably, I get emails along the lines of, ‘Thank you so much for carefully reviewing the article. I deeply appreciate the insightful comments from the reviewers.’

“That has been very rewarding,” he adds. “It demonstrates we have done a terrific job of candidly and fairly reviewing articles … and that the amount of effort we put into providing those reviews is recognized and welcomed and appreciated.”

The Transition

Dr. Williams will serve as the journal’s editor-in-chief through the end of the year. Andrew Auerbach, MD, MPH, SFHM, associate professor of medicine at UCSF and director of research for the Division of Hospital Medicine, will take over in January.

Dr. Auerbach, who will serve a five-year term, says Dr. Williams has “done a remarkable job” developing HM’s only peer-reviewed journal. “He raised the visibility of the journal inside the field of hospital medicine and outside,” Dr. Auerbach says. “He built a publication that is really aligned with what hospitalists are doing and what they want to do.”

Dr. Williams is helping Dr. Auerbach develop a strategic plan for the first 18 months of his term, but he looks forward to having more time to mentor junior faculty at Northwestern. He’ll leave the editor’s chair with two pieces of unfinished business: The economic downturn thwarted his effort to increase JHM ’s publishing frequency from nine to 12 times a year, a move he hopes is made next year; he also fell short of his goal to feature regular patient commentaries, such as Diane Payne’s editorial in the inaugural issue.

Although he takes pride in the journal’s cover design, which includes three photos that he says convey HM is about caring for people, he hopes patients’ voices are better represented in future issues.

“We’re all about taking care of patients. That’s our purpose,” he says. “Too often, health care providers get busy and they forget that. They don’t realize how difficult it is for patients to go through the struggles of obtaining healthcare and being in a hospital when they are incredibly sick.”

‘A Big Tent’

Despite the challenges associated with starting a journal from scratch, Dr. Williams says his six years at the helm went more smoothly than he could have imagined. The effort has paid off.

JHM’s Impact Factor, although down from its debut figure, rose to 1.951 last year from 1.496 in 2009, ranking it 40th out of 151 journals in its cohort.

The success, Dr. Wachter says, shows Dr. Williams was the right choice to lead JHM from birth through toddlerhood.

More importantly, Dr. Williams embraced the vision of HM leaders who believed the journal needed to be a big tent in order to succeed. “We wanted to try to somehow hit the sweet spot of being relevant and interesting to folks who practice hospital medicine in a wide array of circumstances,” Dr. Wachter says, “while also being a go-to place for researchers to submit their research. That was ambitious, and that could have failed in all sorts of directions. It could have been quite relevant to clinicians, but not rigorous enough for researchers. It could have been perfect for researchers, but the clinicians could have felt it wasn’t relative to their day-to-day life. I think the journal has done a masterful job negotiating that tight wire.”

Mark Leiser is a freelance writer based in New Jersey.

FPHM Toolkit: Medical Knowledge Modules

How well do you know quality improvement (QI) and patient safety? Are you ready to prove it?

A new online assessment tool developed by SHM and approved by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) lets hospitalists put their knowledge to the test—and earn CME and MOC credits at the same time.

SHM’s Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Medical Knowledge Module, now available at www.hospitalmedicine.org, is a 25-question, multiple-choice test that assesses knowledge of topics that increasingly are assigned to hospitalists. The test is geared toward the general hospitalist and not intended exclusively for hospitalists who focus on QI issues, according to Danielle Scheurer, MD, SFHM, physician advisor to SHM and one of the test’s authors. In fact, the content applies to care providers in a hospital-based system, she says.

In addition to assessing the test-taker’s knowledge, the interactive test also educates. Correct answers are followed up with a rationale explaining the answer. If the test-taker chooses an incorrect answer, they are invited to try again; if the second try is also incorrect, the correct answer is highlighted and explained.

The module was developed as an “open book” test, so test-takers are encouraged to use any QI or patient-safety educational resources to verify their answers before submitting them. “The questions in the Medical Knowledge Module were extensively vetted for content and pilot tested for difficulty,” Dr. Scheurer says. “Each question includes a comprehensive discussion of the rationale for the correct and incorrect answers and accompanying references for more information.”

The Medical Knowledge Module costs $65 for SHM members and $100 for nonmembers.

Hospitalists receiving a score of 76% or higher are eligible for MOC credit from ABIM and three AMA PRA Category 1 credits, as designated by Blackwell Futura Media Services.

This is the first in a series of Medical Knowledge Modules. The next is scheduled to be available by midsummer.—BS

FPHM Toolkit: Medical Knowledge Modules

How well do you know quality improvement (QI) and patient safety? Are you ready to prove it?

A new online assessment tool developed by SHM and approved by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) lets hospitalists put their knowledge to the test—and earn CME and MOC credits at the same time.

SHM’s Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Medical Knowledge Module, now available at www.hospitalmedicine.org, is a 25-question, multiple-choice test that assesses knowledge of topics that increasingly are assigned to hospitalists. The test is geared toward the general hospitalist and not intended exclusively for hospitalists who focus on QI issues, according to Danielle Scheurer, MD, SFHM, physician advisor to SHM and one of the test’s authors. In fact, the content applies to care providers in a hospital-based system, she says.

In addition to assessing the test-taker’s knowledge, the interactive test also educates. Correct answers are followed up with a rationale explaining the answer. If the test-taker chooses an incorrect answer, they are invited to try again; if the second try is also incorrect, the correct answer is highlighted and explained.

The module was developed as an “open book” test, so test-takers are encouraged to use any QI or patient-safety educational resources to verify their answers before submitting them. “The questions in the Medical Knowledge Module were extensively vetted for content and pilot tested for difficulty,” Dr. Scheurer says. “Each question includes a comprehensive discussion of the rationale for the correct and incorrect answers and accompanying references for more information.”

The Medical Knowledge Module costs $65 for SHM members and $100 for nonmembers.

Hospitalists receiving a score of 76% or higher are eligible for MOC credit from ABIM and three AMA PRA Category 1 credits, as designated by Blackwell Futura Media Services.

This is the first in a series of Medical Knowledge Modules. The next is scheduled to be available by midsummer.—BS

FPHM Toolkit: Medical Knowledge Modules

How well do you know quality improvement (QI) and patient safety? Are you ready to prove it?

A new online assessment tool developed by SHM and approved by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) lets hospitalists put their knowledge to the test—and earn CME and MOC credits at the same time.

SHM’s Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Medical Knowledge Module, now available at www.hospitalmedicine.org, is a 25-question, multiple-choice test that assesses knowledge of topics that increasingly are assigned to hospitalists. The test is geared toward the general hospitalist and not intended exclusively for hospitalists who focus on QI issues, according to Danielle Scheurer, MD, SFHM, physician advisor to SHM and one of the test’s authors. In fact, the content applies to care providers in a hospital-based system, she says.

In addition to assessing the test-taker’s knowledge, the interactive test also educates. Correct answers are followed up with a rationale explaining the answer. If the test-taker chooses an incorrect answer, they are invited to try again; if the second try is also incorrect, the correct answer is highlighted and explained.

The module was developed as an “open book” test, so test-takers are encouraged to use any QI or patient-safety educational resources to verify their answers before submitting them. “The questions in the Medical Knowledge Module were extensively vetted for content and pilot tested for difficulty,” Dr. Scheurer says. “Each question includes a comprehensive discussion of the rationale for the correct and incorrect answers and accompanying references for more information.”

The Medical Knowledge Module costs $65 for SHM members and $100 for nonmembers.

Hospitalists receiving a score of 76% or higher are eligible for MOC credit from ABIM and three AMA PRA Category 1 credits, as designated by Blackwell Futura Media Services.

This is the first in a series of Medical Knowledge Modules. The next is scheduled to be available by midsummer.—BS

For hospitalists planning on attending HM11, and those who can’t make it to Dallas in May, SHM’s blogs are a vital connection to the most up-to-date information about the biggest annual event in HM. And many of the specialty’s top bloggers will be speaking or presenting at HM11.

SHM bloggers will keep readers updated before the big event, highlighting can’t-miss issues, sessions, and experts who they’re anxious to see. Plus, they’ll apply the issues of the day to HM11 sessions and pre-courses.

One of HM’s most popular bloggers not only will be blogging about HM11, he’ll be a featured presenter. Robert Wachter, MD, MHM, professor and associate chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco, chief of the Division of Hospital Medicine UCSF Medical Center, and author of the blog Wachter’s World, will deliver the May 13 keynote presentation, “Hospital Medicine at 15: The Things I Never Would Have Guessed When the Fun Began.”

Danielle Scheurer, MD, MSc, SFHM, author of the SHM blog Hospital Medicine Quick Hits: Clinical Updates for the Busy Hospitalist and SHM physician advisor, will be teaching the “ABIM Maintenance of Certification (MOC) Learning Session” pre-course May 10. Dr. Scheurer will work with hospitalists to prepare for the ABIM modules and earn up to 20 points toward the Self-Evaluation of Medical Knowledge requirement of the MOC program.

In between teaching and learning, she also will be blogging about HM11. “I do it as a way to include those members that are not able attend,” Dr. Scheurer says, “or those who can’t stay for the whole meeting, as well as people who are at the meeting but who like guidance and synopses.”

With nine tracks and hundreds of educational and networking opportunities, odds are good that her online guidance will be in high demand.—BS

HM11 Blogs to BOOKMARK

HM11 Blog

Authors: SHM experts and staff

Bookmark: www.hospitalmedicine2011.org

Hospital Medicine Quick Hits: Clinical Updates for the Busy Hospitalist

Author: Danielle Scheurer, MD, MSc, SFHM

Bookmark: http://blogs.hospital medicine.org/SHMClinicalBlog/

The Hospitalist Leader: Perspectives on How to Administer a Successful Group

Authors: Members of SHM’s Practice Management Institute

Bookmark: http://blogs.hospital medicine.org/SHMPractice ManagementBlog/

Wachter’s World

Author: Robert M. Wachter, MD, MHM, professor and associate chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco, chief of the Division of Hospital Medicine UCSF Medical Center

Bookmark: www.wachtersworld.com

For hospitalists planning on attending HM11, and those who can’t make it to Dallas in May, SHM’s blogs are a vital connection to the most up-to-date information about the biggest annual event in HM. And many of the specialty’s top bloggers will be speaking or presenting at HM11.

SHM bloggers will keep readers updated before the big event, highlighting can’t-miss issues, sessions, and experts who they’re anxious to see. Plus, they’ll apply the issues of the day to HM11 sessions and pre-courses.

One of HM’s most popular bloggers not only will be blogging about HM11, he’ll be a featured presenter. Robert Wachter, MD, MHM, professor and associate chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco, chief of the Division of Hospital Medicine UCSF Medical Center, and author of the blog Wachter’s World, will deliver the May 13 keynote presentation, “Hospital Medicine at 15: The Things I Never Would Have Guessed When the Fun Began.”

Danielle Scheurer, MD, MSc, SFHM, author of the SHM blog Hospital Medicine Quick Hits: Clinical Updates for the Busy Hospitalist and SHM physician advisor, will be teaching the “ABIM Maintenance of Certification (MOC) Learning Session” pre-course May 10. Dr. Scheurer will work with hospitalists to prepare for the ABIM modules and earn up to 20 points toward the Self-Evaluation of Medical Knowledge requirement of the MOC program.

In between teaching and learning, she also will be blogging about HM11. “I do it as a way to include those members that are not able attend,” Dr. Scheurer says, “or those who can’t stay for the whole meeting, as well as people who are at the meeting but who like guidance and synopses.”

With nine tracks and hundreds of educational and networking opportunities, odds are good that her online guidance will be in high demand.—BS

HM11 Blogs to BOOKMARK

HM11 Blog

Authors: SHM experts and staff

Bookmark: www.hospitalmedicine2011.org

Hospital Medicine Quick Hits: Clinical Updates for the Busy Hospitalist

Author: Danielle Scheurer, MD, MSc, SFHM

Bookmark: http://blogs.hospital medicine.org/SHMClinicalBlog/

The Hospitalist Leader: Perspectives on How to Administer a Successful Group

Authors: Members of SHM’s Practice Management Institute

Bookmark: http://blogs.hospital medicine.org/SHMPractice ManagementBlog/

Wachter’s World

Author: Robert M. Wachter, MD, MHM, professor and associate chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco, chief of the Division of Hospital Medicine UCSF Medical Center

Bookmark: www.wachtersworld.com

For hospitalists planning on attending HM11, and those who can’t make it to Dallas in May, SHM’s blogs are a vital connection to the most up-to-date information about the biggest annual event in HM. And many of the specialty’s top bloggers will be speaking or presenting at HM11.

SHM bloggers will keep readers updated before the big event, highlighting can’t-miss issues, sessions, and experts who they’re anxious to see. Plus, they’ll apply the issues of the day to HM11 sessions and pre-courses.

One of HM’s most popular bloggers not only will be blogging about HM11, he’ll be a featured presenter. Robert Wachter, MD, MHM, professor and associate chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco, chief of the Division of Hospital Medicine UCSF Medical Center, and author of the blog Wachter’s World, will deliver the May 13 keynote presentation, “Hospital Medicine at 15: The Things I Never Would Have Guessed When the Fun Began.”

Danielle Scheurer, MD, MSc, SFHM, author of the SHM blog Hospital Medicine Quick Hits: Clinical Updates for the Busy Hospitalist and SHM physician advisor, will be teaching the “ABIM Maintenance of Certification (MOC) Learning Session” pre-course May 10. Dr. Scheurer will work with hospitalists to prepare for the ABIM modules and earn up to 20 points toward the Self-Evaluation of Medical Knowledge requirement of the MOC program.

In between teaching and learning, she also will be blogging about HM11. “I do it as a way to include those members that are not able attend,” Dr. Scheurer says, “or those who can’t stay for the whole meeting, as well as people who are at the meeting but who like guidance and synopses.”

With nine tracks and hundreds of educational and networking opportunities, odds are good that her online guidance will be in high demand.—BS

HM11 Blogs to BOOKMARK

HM11 Blog

Authors: SHM experts and staff

Bookmark: www.hospitalmedicine2011.org

Hospital Medicine Quick Hits: Clinical Updates for the Busy Hospitalist

Author: Danielle Scheurer, MD, MSc, SFHM

Bookmark: http://blogs.hospital medicine.org/SHMClinicalBlog/

The Hospitalist Leader: Perspectives on How to Administer a Successful Group

Authors: Members of SHM’s Practice Management Institute

Bookmark: http://blogs.hospital medicine.org/SHMPractice ManagementBlog/

Wachter’s World

Author: Robert M. Wachter, MD, MHM, professor and associate chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco, chief of the Division of Hospital Medicine UCSF Medical Center

Bookmark: www.wachtersworld.com

A new study in the Journal of Hospital Medicine that reports insured hospitalized patients from ages 18-64 have 50% higher odds of surviving a heart attack or stroke than their uninsured counterparts should be a wake-up call to HM leaders looking to improve standards of care, one hospitalist says.

“It’s almost startling and embarrassing when you see the statistics on paper,” says Danielle Scheurer, MD, MSc, SFHM, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of Boston-based Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s general medicine service. “If you’re going to assign a specialty to address the problem, it’s a hospital medicine problem.”

The researchers retrospectively analyzed 150,000 discharges among patients hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction (MI), stroke, or pneumonia (DOI: 10.1002/jhm.687). Compared with the privately insured, the study reported "in-hospital mortality among AMI and stroke patients was significantly higher for the uninsured (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.52, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.24-1.85 for AMI and 1.49 OR, 1.29-1.72 for stroke) and among pneumonia patients was significantly higher for Medicaid recipients (1.21 OR, 1.01-1.45)." The lead author was Omar Hasan, MBBS, MPH, an instructor at Harvard Medical School and a hospitalist at Brigham and Women’s.

Dr. Scheurer cautions that the subject raised by her colleague is a multidimensional problem with no easy solution. Physicians may unconsciously make triage decisions that feed into the difference of care, she says, while insured patients who more actively engage their doctors could also skew the numbers.

She thinks, however, that “systematically creating protocols, policies, and procedures” could result in clinical-care delivery that helps reduce the disparity.

“Part of [the importance of the study] is having an open dialogue,” Dr. Scheurer says. “This is real. There is this disparity.”

A new study in the Journal of Hospital Medicine that reports insured hospitalized patients from ages 18-64 have 50% higher odds of surviving a heart attack or stroke than their uninsured counterparts should be a wake-up call to HM leaders looking to improve standards of care, one hospitalist says.

“It’s almost startling and embarrassing when you see the statistics on paper,” says Danielle Scheurer, MD, MSc, SFHM, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of Boston-based Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s general medicine service. “If you’re going to assign a specialty to address the problem, it’s a hospital medicine problem.”

The researchers retrospectively analyzed 150,000 discharges among patients hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction (MI), stroke, or pneumonia (DOI: 10.1002/jhm.687). Compared with the privately insured, the study reported "in-hospital mortality among AMI and stroke patients was significantly higher for the uninsured (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.52, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.24-1.85 for AMI and 1.49 OR, 1.29-1.72 for stroke) and among pneumonia patients was significantly higher for Medicaid recipients (1.21 OR, 1.01-1.45)." The lead author was Omar Hasan, MBBS, MPH, an instructor at Harvard Medical School and a hospitalist at Brigham and Women’s.

Dr. Scheurer cautions that the subject raised by her colleague is a multidimensional problem with no easy solution. Physicians may unconsciously make triage decisions that feed into the difference of care, she says, while insured patients who more actively engage their doctors could also skew the numbers.

She thinks, however, that “systematically creating protocols, policies, and procedures” could result in clinical-care delivery that helps reduce the disparity.

“Part of [the importance of the study] is having an open dialogue,” Dr. Scheurer says. “This is real. There is this disparity.”

A new study in the Journal of Hospital Medicine that reports insured hospitalized patients from ages 18-64 have 50% higher odds of surviving a heart attack or stroke than their uninsured counterparts should be a wake-up call to HM leaders looking to improve standards of care, one hospitalist says.

“It’s almost startling and embarrassing when you see the statistics on paper,” says Danielle Scheurer, MD, MSc, SFHM, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of Boston-based Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s general medicine service. “If you’re going to assign a specialty to address the problem, it’s a hospital medicine problem.”

The researchers retrospectively analyzed 150,000 discharges among patients hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction (MI), stroke, or pneumonia (DOI: 10.1002/jhm.687). Compared with the privately insured, the study reported "in-hospital mortality among AMI and stroke patients was significantly higher for the uninsured (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.52, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.24-1.85 for AMI and 1.49 OR, 1.29-1.72 for stroke) and among pneumonia patients was significantly higher for Medicaid recipients (1.21 OR, 1.01-1.45)." The lead author was Omar Hasan, MBBS, MPH, an instructor at Harvard Medical School and a hospitalist at Brigham and Women’s.

Dr. Scheurer cautions that the subject raised by her colleague is a multidimensional problem with no easy solution. Physicians may unconsciously make triage decisions that feed into the difference of care, she says, while insured patients who more actively engage their doctors could also skew the numbers.

She thinks, however, that “systematically creating protocols, policies, and procedures” could result in clinical-care delivery that helps reduce the disparity.

“Part of [the importance of the study] is having an open dialogue,” Dr. Scheurer says. “This is real. There is this disparity.”