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Hospitalists Have Opportunity to Transform Healthcare
“I’m going to the sun,” my TWO-and-a-half-year-old daughter confidently declared. She said it so casually, as if she was letting me know that she was going to the playground.
Thinking I could use this as a great parenting opportunity and push my toddler to think through her decisions, I replied in a concerned tone: “Sweetie, the sun is really, really hot. What are you going to do about that?”
She replied effortlessly, as if the solution had always been right there in front of me, and somehow I had failed to see it, “I’m going to wear a really, really big hat!”
Later that night, I was reflecting on the little exchange with my daughter. Why had I been so determined to point out to her that it was impossible to travel to the sun? After all, two is the age to dream and imagine. As we grow up, why do we stop believing that we can do anything, absolutely anything, we imagine?
Since I started working as a hospitalist in 2007, the state of healthcare has been in constant turmoil and distress. Everyone, from providers to policymakers to patients, has been critical about the current state of our healthcare system. Many are concerned with the future, too. In fact, headlines regularly describe healthcare as “deficient,” “error-prone,” “deadly,” “bankrupt,” or “wasteful.”
This is not the vision of the medical profession that I had when I was an idealistic medical student. I was filled with aspirations of curing the sick, alleviating suffering, and helping to make the world a better place.
Don’t get me wrong...I get it. Hospitals, hospitalists, and all forms of care providers have a long way to go before we provide the highest quality of care at a cost our nation and our patients can afford. But in the critical evaluation of the current state of healthcare, where is the positive beacon of hope?
When did we, providers of care, stop believing that we could do anything, absolutely anything, to improve the state of healthcare?
Over the past decade, numerous innovations have been introduced to address the deficiencies in our system. However, efforts to come together as a medical profession and address these issues systematically have been lacking. And new initiatives, such as the ABIM Foundation’s Choosing Wisely campaign, are still in the early stages of widespread acceptance and adoption.
We have come a long way from the witchcraft of early healers and the barber-surgeons of medieval times. Modern medicine comes from a tradition of discovering the germ theory, eradicating polio, sequencing the entire genome, and performing simultaneous multiple organ transplantation. Providers are more than healers of the individual patient; they are healers of populations. By advancing health, they have enabled societies to thrive, grow, discover, and innovate. We shoulder significant responsibility, and our impact has shaped the course of human history.
Despite the stated challenges in healthcare, I’d like to think this is our finest hour, our time to shine. We have a rare and unique opportunity to completely reinvent the system and redefine the practice of medicine—to transform it from how it is practiced to how it should be delivered: high quality, high value, patient-centered, yet population-focused. This goes beyond ensuring that every patient with acute myocardial infarction receives an aspirin or working to prevent surgical site infections. This opportunity affords us the possibility to deliver extraordinary care.
Can hospitalists bridge this gap and change the world? Absolutely!
Inherent in our work is continuous improvement, not solely the improvement of our specialty, but also of the services we help co-manage, the hospital-wide committees we sit on, and the C-suite conversations we partake in. And, unlike most of healthcare, we manage to do this, not in isolation, but in multidisciplinary teams of physicians, nurses, staff, and, most importantly, patients and families.
If we unleash the potential of our specialty, the possibilities are endless. Here are some examples from our own hospitalists and society:
- Imagine the future of care with mentored implementation.
SHM’s award-winning mentored implementation model has helped transform care in more than 300 hospitals through best practices in venous thromboembolism, readmissions, and care of diabetic patients.
- Lead with the academy.
The future of healthcare will belong to clinicians who can lead teams and make the case for real change. That’s one of the reasons that SHM’s Leadership Academy has been so successful: It is creating a cadre of more than 2,000 hospitalists who are armed with the confidence and know-how to envision the hospital of the future and manage hospital-based teams toward that vision.
- Collaborate with HMX.
If you’ve ever been to SHM’s annual meeting, you know that hospitalists are a collaborative bunch. In fact, it’s that tendency toward collaboration and problem solving that has led more than 2,300 hospitalists to participate in SHM’s new online community, Hospital Medicine Exchange (www.hmxchange.org). It’s unlike any other platform for hospital-based clinicians, and the conversations on HMX are helping hospitalists everywhere benefit from the experience of colleagues nationally.
- Learn through the portal.
Hospitalists can’t shape the future of healthcare without staying up to date, but the days of getting continuing medical education (CME) credit exclusively from conferences is over. SHM is helping hospitalists with its brand new eLearning Portal (www.shmlearningportal.org), which can be accessed on PCs, tablets, or mobile devices.
Expectation High
So, be bold! The sky is the limit. Continue to learn, collaborate, and lead. Most of all, never stop believing that you can create the future you imagine. After all, it was Albert Einstein who cleverly said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
As for my daughter and I, well, I guess I’m going to start investing in really big hats.
Dr. Afsar is associate chief medical officer at UCLA Hospitals in Los Angeles. She is also assistant clinical professor and executive director of quality and safety in the Department of Medicine and Neurosurgery at UCLA Hospitals. She is an SHM board member. Contact her at [email protected].
“I’m going to the sun,” my TWO-and-a-half-year-old daughter confidently declared. She said it so casually, as if she was letting me know that she was going to the playground.
Thinking I could use this as a great parenting opportunity and push my toddler to think through her decisions, I replied in a concerned tone: “Sweetie, the sun is really, really hot. What are you going to do about that?”
She replied effortlessly, as if the solution had always been right there in front of me, and somehow I had failed to see it, “I’m going to wear a really, really big hat!”
Later that night, I was reflecting on the little exchange with my daughter. Why had I been so determined to point out to her that it was impossible to travel to the sun? After all, two is the age to dream and imagine. As we grow up, why do we stop believing that we can do anything, absolutely anything, we imagine?
Since I started working as a hospitalist in 2007, the state of healthcare has been in constant turmoil and distress. Everyone, from providers to policymakers to patients, has been critical about the current state of our healthcare system. Many are concerned with the future, too. In fact, headlines regularly describe healthcare as “deficient,” “error-prone,” “deadly,” “bankrupt,” or “wasteful.”
This is not the vision of the medical profession that I had when I was an idealistic medical student. I was filled with aspirations of curing the sick, alleviating suffering, and helping to make the world a better place.
Don’t get me wrong...I get it. Hospitals, hospitalists, and all forms of care providers have a long way to go before we provide the highest quality of care at a cost our nation and our patients can afford. But in the critical evaluation of the current state of healthcare, where is the positive beacon of hope?
When did we, providers of care, stop believing that we could do anything, absolutely anything, to improve the state of healthcare?
Over the past decade, numerous innovations have been introduced to address the deficiencies in our system. However, efforts to come together as a medical profession and address these issues systematically have been lacking. And new initiatives, such as the ABIM Foundation’s Choosing Wisely campaign, are still in the early stages of widespread acceptance and adoption.
We have come a long way from the witchcraft of early healers and the barber-surgeons of medieval times. Modern medicine comes from a tradition of discovering the germ theory, eradicating polio, sequencing the entire genome, and performing simultaneous multiple organ transplantation. Providers are more than healers of the individual patient; they are healers of populations. By advancing health, they have enabled societies to thrive, grow, discover, and innovate. We shoulder significant responsibility, and our impact has shaped the course of human history.
Despite the stated challenges in healthcare, I’d like to think this is our finest hour, our time to shine. We have a rare and unique opportunity to completely reinvent the system and redefine the practice of medicine—to transform it from how it is practiced to how it should be delivered: high quality, high value, patient-centered, yet population-focused. This goes beyond ensuring that every patient with acute myocardial infarction receives an aspirin or working to prevent surgical site infections. This opportunity affords us the possibility to deliver extraordinary care.
Can hospitalists bridge this gap and change the world? Absolutely!
Inherent in our work is continuous improvement, not solely the improvement of our specialty, but also of the services we help co-manage, the hospital-wide committees we sit on, and the C-suite conversations we partake in. And, unlike most of healthcare, we manage to do this, not in isolation, but in multidisciplinary teams of physicians, nurses, staff, and, most importantly, patients and families.
If we unleash the potential of our specialty, the possibilities are endless. Here are some examples from our own hospitalists and society:
- Imagine the future of care with mentored implementation.
SHM’s award-winning mentored implementation model has helped transform care in more than 300 hospitals through best practices in venous thromboembolism, readmissions, and care of diabetic patients.
- Lead with the academy.
The future of healthcare will belong to clinicians who can lead teams and make the case for real change. That’s one of the reasons that SHM’s Leadership Academy has been so successful: It is creating a cadre of more than 2,000 hospitalists who are armed with the confidence and know-how to envision the hospital of the future and manage hospital-based teams toward that vision.
- Collaborate with HMX.
If you’ve ever been to SHM’s annual meeting, you know that hospitalists are a collaborative bunch. In fact, it’s that tendency toward collaboration and problem solving that has led more than 2,300 hospitalists to participate in SHM’s new online community, Hospital Medicine Exchange (www.hmxchange.org). It’s unlike any other platform for hospital-based clinicians, and the conversations on HMX are helping hospitalists everywhere benefit from the experience of colleagues nationally.
- Learn through the portal.
Hospitalists can’t shape the future of healthcare without staying up to date, but the days of getting continuing medical education (CME) credit exclusively from conferences is over. SHM is helping hospitalists with its brand new eLearning Portal (www.shmlearningportal.org), which can be accessed on PCs, tablets, or mobile devices.
Expectation High
So, be bold! The sky is the limit. Continue to learn, collaborate, and lead. Most of all, never stop believing that you can create the future you imagine. After all, it was Albert Einstein who cleverly said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
As for my daughter and I, well, I guess I’m going to start investing in really big hats.
Dr. Afsar is associate chief medical officer at UCLA Hospitals in Los Angeles. She is also assistant clinical professor and executive director of quality and safety in the Department of Medicine and Neurosurgery at UCLA Hospitals. She is an SHM board member. Contact her at [email protected].
“I’m going to the sun,” my TWO-and-a-half-year-old daughter confidently declared. She said it so casually, as if she was letting me know that she was going to the playground.
Thinking I could use this as a great parenting opportunity and push my toddler to think through her decisions, I replied in a concerned tone: “Sweetie, the sun is really, really hot. What are you going to do about that?”
She replied effortlessly, as if the solution had always been right there in front of me, and somehow I had failed to see it, “I’m going to wear a really, really big hat!”
Later that night, I was reflecting on the little exchange with my daughter. Why had I been so determined to point out to her that it was impossible to travel to the sun? After all, two is the age to dream and imagine. As we grow up, why do we stop believing that we can do anything, absolutely anything, we imagine?
Since I started working as a hospitalist in 2007, the state of healthcare has been in constant turmoil and distress. Everyone, from providers to policymakers to patients, has been critical about the current state of our healthcare system. Many are concerned with the future, too. In fact, headlines regularly describe healthcare as “deficient,” “error-prone,” “deadly,” “bankrupt,” or “wasteful.”
This is not the vision of the medical profession that I had when I was an idealistic medical student. I was filled with aspirations of curing the sick, alleviating suffering, and helping to make the world a better place.
Don’t get me wrong...I get it. Hospitals, hospitalists, and all forms of care providers have a long way to go before we provide the highest quality of care at a cost our nation and our patients can afford. But in the critical evaluation of the current state of healthcare, where is the positive beacon of hope?
When did we, providers of care, stop believing that we could do anything, absolutely anything, to improve the state of healthcare?
Over the past decade, numerous innovations have been introduced to address the deficiencies in our system. However, efforts to come together as a medical profession and address these issues systematically have been lacking. And new initiatives, such as the ABIM Foundation’s Choosing Wisely campaign, are still in the early stages of widespread acceptance and adoption.
We have come a long way from the witchcraft of early healers and the barber-surgeons of medieval times. Modern medicine comes from a tradition of discovering the germ theory, eradicating polio, sequencing the entire genome, and performing simultaneous multiple organ transplantation. Providers are more than healers of the individual patient; they are healers of populations. By advancing health, they have enabled societies to thrive, grow, discover, and innovate. We shoulder significant responsibility, and our impact has shaped the course of human history.
Despite the stated challenges in healthcare, I’d like to think this is our finest hour, our time to shine. We have a rare and unique opportunity to completely reinvent the system and redefine the practice of medicine—to transform it from how it is practiced to how it should be delivered: high quality, high value, patient-centered, yet population-focused. This goes beyond ensuring that every patient with acute myocardial infarction receives an aspirin or working to prevent surgical site infections. This opportunity affords us the possibility to deliver extraordinary care.
Can hospitalists bridge this gap and change the world? Absolutely!
Inherent in our work is continuous improvement, not solely the improvement of our specialty, but also of the services we help co-manage, the hospital-wide committees we sit on, and the C-suite conversations we partake in. And, unlike most of healthcare, we manage to do this, not in isolation, but in multidisciplinary teams of physicians, nurses, staff, and, most importantly, patients and families.
If we unleash the potential of our specialty, the possibilities are endless. Here are some examples from our own hospitalists and society:
- Imagine the future of care with mentored implementation.
SHM’s award-winning mentored implementation model has helped transform care in more than 300 hospitals through best practices in venous thromboembolism, readmissions, and care of diabetic patients.
- Lead with the academy.
The future of healthcare will belong to clinicians who can lead teams and make the case for real change. That’s one of the reasons that SHM’s Leadership Academy has been so successful: It is creating a cadre of more than 2,000 hospitalists who are armed with the confidence and know-how to envision the hospital of the future and manage hospital-based teams toward that vision.
- Collaborate with HMX.
If you’ve ever been to SHM’s annual meeting, you know that hospitalists are a collaborative bunch. In fact, it’s that tendency toward collaboration and problem solving that has led more than 2,300 hospitalists to participate in SHM’s new online community, Hospital Medicine Exchange (www.hmxchange.org). It’s unlike any other platform for hospital-based clinicians, and the conversations on HMX are helping hospitalists everywhere benefit from the experience of colleagues nationally.
- Learn through the portal.
Hospitalists can’t shape the future of healthcare without staying up to date, but the days of getting continuing medical education (CME) credit exclusively from conferences is over. SHM is helping hospitalists with its brand new eLearning Portal (www.shmlearningportal.org), which can be accessed on PCs, tablets, or mobile devices.
Expectation High
So, be bold! The sky is the limit. Continue to learn, collaborate, and lead. Most of all, never stop believing that you can create the future you imagine. After all, it was Albert Einstein who cleverly said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
As for my daughter and I, well, I guess I’m going to start investing in really big hats.
Dr. Afsar is associate chief medical officer at UCLA Hospitals in Los Angeles. She is also assistant clinical professor and executive director of quality and safety in the Department of Medicine and Neurosurgery at UCLA Hospitals. She is an SHM board member. Contact her at [email protected].
SHM Report Provides New Insights About Physician Practice Leaders
The Society of Hospital Medicine’s 2012 State of Hospital Medicine report (SOHM) offers new insights about physician practice leaders.
Physician Leader Presence
“Choose a hospitalist leader with the right skills and experience. Selecting the right leader is fundamental to a successful hospitalist practice. These individuals are hard to find. They must be excellent clinically and have superb communication skills.”1
The SOHM survey shows that the vast majority (97%) of hospital medicine groups (HMGs) in the U.S. now have a designated physician leader (see Figure 1). Given this high percentage, examining the outliers is intriguing. Of the 13 adult medicine HMGs that reported not having a physician leader, the large majority were hospital-owned, located in the South region, and situated in non-teaching hospitals. The size of the HMG impacted the presence of a physician leader: 100% of groups with 20 or more full-time equivalents had physician leaders.
Source: 2012 State of Hospital Medicine report
Dedicated Leadership Time
“The medical director of the hospitalist program needs sufficient, non-clinical time to address administrative and leadership issues.”1
The 2007/2008 SOHM survey reported a median of 20% administrative time for physician leaders. In the 2012 survey, the median amount of time was 25% for adult medicine HMGs. The percentages were higher in the East and West regions, in hospital-owned programs, and in non- academic programs. The percentage of protected time also went up with group size.
Compensation
The 2012 SOHM shows median compensation premiums for physician leaders of 20%; that is, leader compensation is 120% of the average salary in their group. The numbers across regions and sizes were remarkably consistent. Overall, it seems that a 15% to 20% compensation premium for hospitalist leaders is standard.
Key Takeaways
No. 1, hospitalist groups need physician hospitalist leaders with protected leadership, but who also work clinically as a hospitalist. Why? Because hospitalists need a leader they respect, someone that they believe understands their specific issues. Unless the physician in charge has worked those 12-hour overnight shifts, argued with the consultants, tried to discharge an ornery patient, received 20 pages in an hour about medication reconciliation, or disagreed with an ED doc about the appropriateness of an admission, it would be hard for that leader to fully understand the stresses hospitalists encounter on a daily basis.
Hospitalist leaders are taking on increasingly important roles to help their organizations realize key performance improvement goals.
Additionally, the roles of outpatient doctors are changing: “Many physicians are no longer able or willing to serve on hospital committees or play a leadership role for the medical staff. Hospitalists have the potential to step in and help address these key issues”1
No. 2, size matters. Given increased responsibilities that include handling focused and ongoing professional practice evaluations, designing pathways to reduce adverse events, counseling, mentoring, disciplining, conducting yearly reviews, and investigating patient and staff complaints, it makes sense that larger programs also have leaders with more protected time and commensurate compensation.
As our healthcare systems ask hospitalists to offer higher reliability and to champion more administrative, safety, and quality projects, HM leaders—who are perfectly placed to organize and manage those projects—need the time and the compensation to do so. To borrow from hospitalist pioneer Bob Wachter, MD, MHM, our future C-suite leaders are percolating in hospitalist programs, learning the skills we will need to participate in the high reliability hospitals of our present and future.
Dr. Lovins is chief of hospital medicine at Middlesex Hospital in Middletown, Conn., and assistant clinical professor of medicine at Yale University School of Medicine. She is a member of SHM’s Practice Analysis Committee.
Reference
The Society of Hospital Medicine’s 2012 State of Hospital Medicine report (SOHM) offers new insights about physician practice leaders.
Physician Leader Presence
“Choose a hospitalist leader with the right skills and experience. Selecting the right leader is fundamental to a successful hospitalist practice. These individuals are hard to find. They must be excellent clinically and have superb communication skills.”1
The SOHM survey shows that the vast majority (97%) of hospital medicine groups (HMGs) in the U.S. now have a designated physician leader (see Figure 1). Given this high percentage, examining the outliers is intriguing. Of the 13 adult medicine HMGs that reported not having a physician leader, the large majority were hospital-owned, located in the South region, and situated in non-teaching hospitals. The size of the HMG impacted the presence of a physician leader: 100% of groups with 20 or more full-time equivalents had physician leaders.
Source: 2012 State of Hospital Medicine report
Dedicated Leadership Time
“The medical director of the hospitalist program needs sufficient, non-clinical time to address administrative and leadership issues.”1
The 2007/2008 SOHM survey reported a median of 20% administrative time for physician leaders. In the 2012 survey, the median amount of time was 25% for adult medicine HMGs. The percentages were higher in the East and West regions, in hospital-owned programs, and in non- academic programs. The percentage of protected time also went up with group size.
Compensation
The 2012 SOHM shows median compensation premiums for physician leaders of 20%; that is, leader compensation is 120% of the average salary in their group. The numbers across regions and sizes were remarkably consistent. Overall, it seems that a 15% to 20% compensation premium for hospitalist leaders is standard.
Key Takeaways
No. 1, hospitalist groups need physician hospitalist leaders with protected leadership, but who also work clinically as a hospitalist. Why? Because hospitalists need a leader they respect, someone that they believe understands their specific issues. Unless the physician in charge has worked those 12-hour overnight shifts, argued with the consultants, tried to discharge an ornery patient, received 20 pages in an hour about medication reconciliation, or disagreed with an ED doc about the appropriateness of an admission, it would be hard for that leader to fully understand the stresses hospitalists encounter on a daily basis.
Hospitalist leaders are taking on increasingly important roles to help their organizations realize key performance improvement goals.
Additionally, the roles of outpatient doctors are changing: “Many physicians are no longer able or willing to serve on hospital committees or play a leadership role for the medical staff. Hospitalists have the potential to step in and help address these key issues”1
No. 2, size matters. Given increased responsibilities that include handling focused and ongoing professional practice evaluations, designing pathways to reduce adverse events, counseling, mentoring, disciplining, conducting yearly reviews, and investigating patient and staff complaints, it makes sense that larger programs also have leaders with more protected time and commensurate compensation.
As our healthcare systems ask hospitalists to offer higher reliability and to champion more administrative, safety, and quality projects, HM leaders—who are perfectly placed to organize and manage those projects—need the time and the compensation to do so. To borrow from hospitalist pioneer Bob Wachter, MD, MHM, our future C-suite leaders are percolating in hospitalist programs, learning the skills we will need to participate in the high reliability hospitals of our present and future.
Dr. Lovins is chief of hospital medicine at Middlesex Hospital in Middletown, Conn., and assistant clinical professor of medicine at Yale University School of Medicine. She is a member of SHM’s Practice Analysis Committee.
Reference
The Society of Hospital Medicine’s 2012 State of Hospital Medicine report (SOHM) offers new insights about physician practice leaders.
Physician Leader Presence
“Choose a hospitalist leader with the right skills and experience. Selecting the right leader is fundamental to a successful hospitalist practice. These individuals are hard to find. They must be excellent clinically and have superb communication skills.”1
The SOHM survey shows that the vast majority (97%) of hospital medicine groups (HMGs) in the U.S. now have a designated physician leader (see Figure 1). Given this high percentage, examining the outliers is intriguing. Of the 13 adult medicine HMGs that reported not having a physician leader, the large majority were hospital-owned, located in the South region, and situated in non-teaching hospitals. The size of the HMG impacted the presence of a physician leader: 100% of groups with 20 or more full-time equivalents had physician leaders.
Source: 2012 State of Hospital Medicine report
Dedicated Leadership Time
“The medical director of the hospitalist program needs sufficient, non-clinical time to address administrative and leadership issues.”1
The 2007/2008 SOHM survey reported a median of 20% administrative time for physician leaders. In the 2012 survey, the median amount of time was 25% for adult medicine HMGs. The percentages were higher in the East and West regions, in hospital-owned programs, and in non- academic programs. The percentage of protected time also went up with group size.
Compensation
The 2012 SOHM shows median compensation premiums for physician leaders of 20%; that is, leader compensation is 120% of the average salary in their group. The numbers across regions and sizes were remarkably consistent. Overall, it seems that a 15% to 20% compensation premium for hospitalist leaders is standard.
Key Takeaways
No. 1, hospitalist groups need physician hospitalist leaders with protected leadership, but who also work clinically as a hospitalist. Why? Because hospitalists need a leader they respect, someone that they believe understands their specific issues. Unless the physician in charge has worked those 12-hour overnight shifts, argued with the consultants, tried to discharge an ornery patient, received 20 pages in an hour about medication reconciliation, or disagreed with an ED doc about the appropriateness of an admission, it would be hard for that leader to fully understand the stresses hospitalists encounter on a daily basis.
Hospitalist leaders are taking on increasingly important roles to help their organizations realize key performance improvement goals.
Additionally, the roles of outpatient doctors are changing: “Many physicians are no longer able or willing to serve on hospital committees or play a leadership role for the medical staff. Hospitalists have the potential to step in and help address these key issues”1
No. 2, size matters. Given increased responsibilities that include handling focused and ongoing professional practice evaluations, designing pathways to reduce adverse events, counseling, mentoring, disciplining, conducting yearly reviews, and investigating patient and staff complaints, it makes sense that larger programs also have leaders with more protected time and commensurate compensation.
As our healthcare systems ask hospitalists to offer higher reliability and to champion more administrative, safety, and quality projects, HM leaders—who are perfectly placed to organize and manage those projects—need the time and the compensation to do so. To borrow from hospitalist pioneer Bob Wachter, MD, MHM, our future C-suite leaders are percolating in hospitalist programs, learning the skills we will need to participate in the high reliability hospitals of our present and future.
Dr. Lovins is chief of hospital medicine at Middlesex Hospital in Middletown, Conn., and assistant clinical professor of medicine at Yale University School of Medicine. She is a member of SHM’s Practice Analysis Committee.
Reference
Two Hospitalist Groups Join SHM's Hospital Medicine Exchange
HMX: Two New Communities, Lots of New Conversations
More than 2,500 hospitalists have logged in to HMX (www.hmxchange.org) to share their experiences and learn from the experiences of other hospitalists. And now, two other groups of hospitalists have a new reason to check out HMX.
The first community, for family medicine hospitalists, was launched in October. Approximately 10% of SHM’s active members are hospitalists trained in family medicine (HTFM), many of whom are very active within SHM. More than 60 hospitalists trained in family medicine are either Fellows in Hospital Medicine or Senior Fellows in Hospital Medicine.
And, in December, hospitalists who work in post-acute care can work together to tackle the challenges unique to post-acute care. This new community was an outgrowth of SHM’s Post-Acute Care Task Force.
Brendon Shank is SHM’s associate vice president of communications.
HMX: Two New Communities, Lots of New Conversations
More than 2,500 hospitalists have logged in to HMX (www.hmxchange.org) to share their experiences and learn from the experiences of other hospitalists. And now, two other groups of hospitalists have a new reason to check out HMX.
The first community, for family medicine hospitalists, was launched in October. Approximately 10% of SHM’s active members are hospitalists trained in family medicine (HTFM), many of whom are very active within SHM. More than 60 hospitalists trained in family medicine are either Fellows in Hospital Medicine or Senior Fellows in Hospital Medicine.
And, in December, hospitalists who work in post-acute care can work together to tackle the challenges unique to post-acute care. This new community was an outgrowth of SHM’s Post-Acute Care Task Force.
Brendon Shank is SHM’s associate vice president of communications.
HMX: Two New Communities, Lots of New Conversations
More than 2,500 hospitalists have logged in to HMX (www.hmxchange.org) to share their experiences and learn from the experiences of other hospitalists. And now, two other groups of hospitalists have a new reason to check out HMX.
The first community, for family medicine hospitalists, was launched in October. Approximately 10% of SHM’s active members are hospitalists trained in family medicine (HTFM), many of whom are very active within SHM. More than 60 hospitalists trained in family medicine are either Fellows in Hospital Medicine or Senior Fellows in Hospital Medicine.
And, in December, hospitalists who work in post-acute care can work together to tackle the challenges unique to post-acute care. This new community was an outgrowth of SHM’s Post-Acute Care Task Force.
Brendon Shank is SHM’s associate vice president of communications.
Hospitalists as Industrial Engineers
Wikipedia defines “industrial engineering” as a branch of engineering that deals with the optimization of complex processes or systems. It goes on to link industrial engineering to “operations” and use of quantitative methods to “specify, predict, and evaluate” results. Any hospitalist that’s been tapped to reduce length of stay, help manage readmissions, implement an electronic health record, or increase the quality of care likely can relate to that definition. It seems to me that hospitalists often are the de facto industrial engineers in many of our hospitals.
The hospitalist as an industrial engineer makes perfect sense. What other group of physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants provide services in virtually any clinical venue, from ED to DC, from (occasionally) PACU to ICU, the wards, and even post-discharge? Hospitalists see it all, from the first few hours of life (pediatrics) to life’s last stages (palliative care) and all stages in between. As a parody to “there’s an app for that,” Dr. Mindy Kantsiper, a hospitalist in Columbia, Md., says if there’s something that needs to be fixed, “there’s a hospitalist for that.” We are the Swiss Army knives of the medical world.
Looking through the HMX “Practice Management” discussions on the SHM website (www.hospitalmedicine.com/xchange) confirms my belief. Topics are as varied as using RNs in hospitalist practices, medication reconciliation, billing, outpatient orders (!!) after discharge, and patient-centered care/patient satisfaction. And that was just the last two weeks!
Type “hospitalist” into PubMed, and the words that auto-populate are: model, care, quality, discharge, communication, program, and handoff—all words I think of as system-related issues. Oh, sure, there are clinical-related topics, too, of course, just like for the “organ-based” specialties. However, none of the common organ-based specialties had any words auto-populate in PubMed that could be deemed related to “industrial engineering.”
Engineer Training
Like all engineers, we de facto industrial engineers need tools and skills to be effective at in our new engineering role. While we may not need slide rules and calculus like a more traditional engineer, many of the new skills we will need as industrial engineers were not taught in medical school, and the tools were not readily available for us to use in our training.
Fortunately, there are a plethora of options for us budding, de facto industrial engineers. Here are the ones I believe you will need and where to get them:
Skill No. 1: Negotiation.
HM is a team sport, and teams bring interpersonal dynamics and tension and conflict. Effective negotiation skills can help hospitalists use conflict to spur team growth and development rather than team dysfunction.
Tools: SHM’s Leadership Academies have effective negotiation modules in each of the leveled courses. If you can’t spare the time, then books to read include “Getting to Yes” by Fisher and Ury, or “Renegotiating Health Care” by Leonard Marcus (he lectures at SHM’s leadership academies).
Skill No. 2: Data analytics.
All engineers, including industrial engineers, need to be able to evaluate. Whether it’s quality and safety, clinical operations, or financial improvement, if you don’t measure it, you can’t change it. Some of the data will be handed to you, and you need to know the strengths and weaknesses to best interpret it. Some data you will need to define and develop measurement systems for on your own, and even basic dashboard development requires understanding data.
Tools: Wow. There are a lot here, so I am only going to mention the highlights. You could get your MBA, or MPH, or even a PhD! You certainly could train to become a “true” diploma-carrying industrial engineer. And I know of a few insightful hospitals that employ them. A less in-depth, but cheaper and faster, option is to take specific courses related to your area of interest.
The SHM-AAIM Quality and Safety Educators Academy and SHM’s Leadership Academies are two great examples. Participating in a mentored project (i.e., Project BOOST) provides structure and an experienced mentor with a cadre of experts to back them up. Many institutions have courses on data analytics, basic finance, and quality improvement. The easiest, cheapest, and probably the most common is to find a mentor at your own institution. CFOs, CNOs, CQOs, and CMOs often are eager to partner with clinicians—and frequently are delighted to talk about their areas of expertise.
Skill No. 3: Leadership.
I don’t know many leaders who were born that way. Most learned through experience and continuous self-improvement. Understanding your personality traits, the traits of others (as an introvert, I still am trying to understand how extroverts work, especially my wife), and how to get all of those different personalities to work together as a team is an important component of any team-based engineering success.
Tools: I have found the books “From Good to Great” by Jim Collins and “Switch” by Chip and Dan Heath to be invaluable. I think another one of my recent reads, “Drive” by Daniel Pink, had important lessons, too. Formal courses, such as SHM’s Leadership Academies, QSEA, and those offered by the American Hospital Association, are designed to provide hospitalists with the leadership skills they need in a variety of hospital environments.
Skill No. 4: Thinking “system” instead of “individual.”
So many of us were trained that to make improvements, we just need to “be better,” to know more, try harder, and to work longer. Good industrial engineers design systems that make it easier for our doctors, healthcare providers, and patients to succeed. Of course, we need to be accountable, too, but supportive systems are a key component to successful individuals. The airline industry learned this long ago.
Tools: I really think “Switch” is an excellent read for those of us trying to help re-engineer our complex systems. It discusses how humans are both rational and emotional, and how our environment can help both sides succeed. Another helpful tool for me is asking “why” whenever someone says “if only they would do something differently for a better outcome…”
For example, “if only the hospitalists would discharge before 2 p.m.,” or “if only the ED didn’t clump their admissions,” or “if only the nurse didn’t call during rounds”—these are all classic systems problems, not people problems, and the solution isn’t to mandate 2 p.m. discharges, or stand up in a meeting finger pointing at the ED, or admonish a nurse for calling during rounds. The solution is to find out why these behaviors occur, then eliminate, change, or minimize the reasons.
Hospitalists don’t discharge by 2 p.m. often because they are waiting on tests; ED docs work in an environment that has highly variable workloads, coupled with dysfunctional systems that promote “batching” work patterns; and nurses may not be included in rounds but still need to be able to manage minute-to-minute patient-care needs. Sure, there are a few bad apples that need to be scolded, but I bet most of the issues at your hospital aren’t related to evildoers but good people who are often trapped in dysfunctional, antiquated systems and are just trying to do the best they can for their patients.
In Closing
I’d like to say thank you to all of the “de facto” industrial engineers out there. Keep up the critically important work of that most complex system—the hospital.
Dr. Howell is president of SHM, chief of the division of hospital medicine at Johns Hopkins Bayview in Baltimore, and spends a significant part of his time and research on hospital operations. Email questions or comments to [email protected].
Wikipedia defines “industrial engineering” as a branch of engineering that deals with the optimization of complex processes or systems. It goes on to link industrial engineering to “operations” and use of quantitative methods to “specify, predict, and evaluate” results. Any hospitalist that’s been tapped to reduce length of stay, help manage readmissions, implement an electronic health record, or increase the quality of care likely can relate to that definition. It seems to me that hospitalists often are the de facto industrial engineers in many of our hospitals.
The hospitalist as an industrial engineer makes perfect sense. What other group of physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants provide services in virtually any clinical venue, from ED to DC, from (occasionally) PACU to ICU, the wards, and even post-discharge? Hospitalists see it all, from the first few hours of life (pediatrics) to life’s last stages (palliative care) and all stages in between. As a parody to “there’s an app for that,” Dr. Mindy Kantsiper, a hospitalist in Columbia, Md., says if there’s something that needs to be fixed, “there’s a hospitalist for that.” We are the Swiss Army knives of the medical world.
Looking through the HMX “Practice Management” discussions on the SHM website (www.hospitalmedicine.com/xchange) confirms my belief. Topics are as varied as using RNs in hospitalist practices, medication reconciliation, billing, outpatient orders (!!) after discharge, and patient-centered care/patient satisfaction. And that was just the last two weeks!
Type “hospitalist” into PubMed, and the words that auto-populate are: model, care, quality, discharge, communication, program, and handoff—all words I think of as system-related issues. Oh, sure, there are clinical-related topics, too, of course, just like for the “organ-based” specialties. However, none of the common organ-based specialties had any words auto-populate in PubMed that could be deemed related to “industrial engineering.”
Engineer Training
Like all engineers, we de facto industrial engineers need tools and skills to be effective at in our new engineering role. While we may not need slide rules and calculus like a more traditional engineer, many of the new skills we will need as industrial engineers were not taught in medical school, and the tools were not readily available for us to use in our training.
Fortunately, there are a plethora of options for us budding, de facto industrial engineers. Here are the ones I believe you will need and where to get them:
Skill No. 1: Negotiation.
HM is a team sport, and teams bring interpersonal dynamics and tension and conflict. Effective negotiation skills can help hospitalists use conflict to spur team growth and development rather than team dysfunction.
Tools: SHM’s Leadership Academies have effective negotiation modules in each of the leveled courses. If you can’t spare the time, then books to read include “Getting to Yes” by Fisher and Ury, or “Renegotiating Health Care” by Leonard Marcus (he lectures at SHM’s leadership academies).
Skill No. 2: Data analytics.
All engineers, including industrial engineers, need to be able to evaluate. Whether it’s quality and safety, clinical operations, or financial improvement, if you don’t measure it, you can’t change it. Some of the data will be handed to you, and you need to know the strengths and weaknesses to best interpret it. Some data you will need to define and develop measurement systems for on your own, and even basic dashboard development requires understanding data.
Tools: Wow. There are a lot here, so I am only going to mention the highlights. You could get your MBA, or MPH, or even a PhD! You certainly could train to become a “true” diploma-carrying industrial engineer. And I know of a few insightful hospitals that employ them. A less in-depth, but cheaper and faster, option is to take specific courses related to your area of interest.
The SHM-AAIM Quality and Safety Educators Academy and SHM’s Leadership Academies are two great examples. Participating in a mentored project (i.e., Project BOOST) provides structure and an experienced mentor with a cadre of experts to back them up. Many institutions have courses on data analytics, basic finance, and quality improvement. The easiest, cheapest, and probably the most common is to find a mentor at your own institution. CFOs, CNOs, CQOs, and CMOs often are eager to partner with clinicians—and frequently are delighted to talk about their areas of expertise.
Skill No. 3: Leadership.
I don’t know many leaders who were born that way. Most learned through experience and continuous self-improvement. Understanding your personality traits, the traits of others (as an introvert, I still am trying to understand how extroverts work, especially my wife), and how to get all of those different personalities to work together as a team is an important component of any team-based engineering success.
Tools: I have found the books “From Good to Great” by Jim Collins and “Switch” by Chip and Dan Heath to be invaluable. I think another one of my recent reads, “Drive” by Daniel Pink, had important lessons, too. Formal courses, such as SHM’s Leadership Academies, QSEA, and those offered by the American Hospital Association, are designed to provide hospitalists with the leadership skills they need in a variety of hospital environments.
Skill No. 4: Thinking “system” instead of “individual.”
So many of us were trained that to make improvements, we just need to “be better,” to know more, try harder, and to work longer. Good industrial engineers design systems that make it easier for our doctors, healthcare providers, and patients to succeed. Of course, we need to be accountable, too, but supportive systems are a key component to successful individuals. The airline industry learned this long ago.
Tools: I really think “Switch” is an excellent read for those of us trying to help re-engineer our complex systems. It discusses how humans are both rational and emotional, and how our environment can help both sides succeed. Another helpful tool for me is asking “why” whenever someone says “if only they would do something differently for a better outcome…”
For example, “if only the hospitalists would discharge before 2 p.m.,” or “if only the ED didn’t clump their admissions,” or “if only the nurse didn’t call during rounds”—these are all classic systems problems, not people problems, and the solution isn’t to mandate 2 p.m. discharges, or stand up in a meeting finger pointing at the ED, or admonish a nurse for calling during rounds. The solution is to find out why these behaviors occur, then eliminate, change, or minimize the reasons.
Hospitalists don’t discharge by 2 p.m. often because they are waiting on tests; ED docs work in an environment that has highly variable workloads, coupled with dysfunctional systems that promote “batching” work patterns; and nurses may not be included in rounds but still need to be able to manage minute-to-minute patient-care needs. Sure, there are a few bad apples that need to be scolded, but I bet most of the issues at your hospital aren’t related to evildoers but good people who are often trapped in dysfunctional, antiquated systems and are just trying to do the best they can for their patients.
In Closing
I’d like to say thank you to all of the “de facto” industrial engineers out there. Keep up the critically important work of that most complex system—the hospital.
Dr. Howell is president of SHM, chief of the division of hospital medicine at Johns Hopkins Bayview in Baltimore, and spends a significant part of his time and research on hospital operations. Email questions or comments to [email protected].
Wikipedia defines “industrial engineering” as a branch of engineering that deals with the optimization of complex processes or systems. It goes on to link industrial engineering to “operations” and use of quantitative methods to “specify, predict, and evaluate” results. Any hospitalist that’s been tapped to reduce length of stay, help manage readmissions, implement an electronic health record, or increase the quality of care likely can relate to that definition. It seems to me that hospitalists often are the de facto industrial engineers in many of our hospitals.
The hospitalist as an industrial engineer makes perfect sense. What other group of physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants provide services in virtually any clinical venue, from ED to DC, from (occasionally) PACU to ICU, the wards, and even post-discharge? Hospitalists see it all, from the first few hours of life (pediatrics) to life’s last stages (palliative care) and all stages in between. As a parody to “there’s an app for that,” Dr. Mindy Kantsiper, a hospitalist in Columbia, Md., says if there’s something that needs to be fixed, “there’s a hospitalist for that.” We are the Swiss Army knives of the medical world.
Looking through the HMX “Practice Management” discussions on the SHM website (www.hospitalmedicine.com/xchange) confirms my belief. Topics are as varied as using RNs in hospitalist practices, medication reconciliation, billing, outpatient orders (!!) after discharge, and patient-centered care/patient satisfaction. And that was just the last two weeks!
Type “hospitalist” into PubMed, and the words that auto-populate are: model, care, quality, discharge, communication, program, and handoff—all words I think of as system-related issues. Oh, sure, there are clinical-related topics, too, of course, just like for the “organ-based” specialties. However, none of the common organ-based specialties had any words auto-populate in PubMed that could be deemed related to “industrial engineering.”
Engineer Training
Like all engineers, we de facto industrial engineers need tools and skills to be effective at in our new engineering role. While we may not need slide rules and calculus like a more traditional engineer, many of the new skills we will need as industrial engineers were not taught in medical school, and the tools were not readily available for us to use in our training.
Fortunately, there are a plethora of options for us budding, de facto industrial engineers. Here are the ones I believe you will need and where to get them:
Skill No. 1: Negotiation.
HM is a team sport, and teams bring interpersonal dynamics and tension and conflict. Effective negotiation skills can help hospitalists use conflict to spur team growth and development rather than team dysfunction.
Tools: SHM’s Leadership Academies have effective negotiation modules in each of the leveled courses. If you can’t spare the time, then books to read include “Getting to Yes” by Fisher and Ury, or “Renegotiating Health Care” by Leonard Marcus (he lectures at SHM’s leadership academies).
Skill No. 2: Data analytics.
All engineers, including industrial engineers, need to be able to evaluate. Whether it’s quality and safety, clinical operations, or financial improvement, if you don’t measure it, you can’t change it. Some of the data will be handed to you, and you need to know the strengths and weaknesses to best interpret it. Some data you will need to define and develop measurement systems for on your own, and even basic dashboard development requires understanding data.
Tools: Wow. There are a lot here, so I am only going to mention the highlights. You could get your MBA, or MPH, or even a PhD! You certainly could train to become a “true” diploma-carrying industrial engineer. And I know of a few insightful hospitals that employ them. A less in-depth, but cheaper and faster, option is to take specific courses related to your area of interest.
The SHM-AAIM Quality and Safety Educators Academy and SHM’s Leadership Academies are two great examples. Participating in a mentored project (i.e., Project BOOST) provides structure and an experienced mentor with a cadre of experts to back them up. Many institutions have courses on data analytics, basic finance, and quality improvement. The easiest, cheapest, and probably the most common is to find a mentor at your own institution. CFOs, CNOs, CQOs, and CMOs often are eager to partner with clinicians—and frequently are delighted to talk about their areas of expertise.
Skill No. 3: Leadership.
I don’t know many leaders who were born that way. Most learned through experience and continuous self-improvement. Understanding your personality traits, the traits of others (as an introvert, I still am trying to understand how extroverts work, especially my wife), and how to get all of those different personalities to work together as a team is an important component of any team-based engineering success.
Tools: I have found the books “From Good to Great” by Jim Collins and “Switch” by Chip and Dan Heath to be invaluable. I think another one of my recent reads, “Drive” by Daniel Pink, had important lessons, too. Formal courses, such as SHM’s Leadership Academies, QSEA, and those offered by the American Hospital Association, are designed to provide hospitalists with the leadership skills they need in a variety of hospital environments.
Skill No. 4: Thinking “system” instead of “individual.”
So many of us were trained that to make improvements, we just need to “be better,” to know more, try harder, and to work longer. Good industrial engineers design systems that make it easier for our doctors, healthcare providers, and patients to succeed. Of course, we need to be accountable, too, but supportive systems are a key component to successful individuals. The airline industry learned this long ago.
Tools: I really think “Switch” is an excellent read for those of us trying to help re-engineer our complex systems. It discusses how humans are both rational and emotional, and how our environment can help both sides succeed. Another helpful tool for me is asking “why” whenever someone says “if only they would do something differently for a better outcome…”
For example, “if only the hospitalists would discharge before 2 p.m.,” or “if only the ED didn’t clump their admissions,” or “if only the nurse didn’t call during rounds”—these are all classic systems problems, not people problems, and the solution isn’t to mandate 2 p.m. discharges, or stand up in a meeting finger pointing at the ED, or admonish a nurse for calling during rounds. The solution is to find out why these behaviors occur, then eliminate, change, or minimize the reasons.
Hospitalists don’t discharge by 2 p.m. often because they are waiting on tests; ED docs work in an environment that has highly variable workloads, coupled with dysfunctional systems that promote “batching” work patterns; and nurses may not be included in rounds but still need to be able to manage minute-to-minute patient-care needs. Sure, there are a few bad apples that need to be scolded, but I bet most of the issues at your hospital aren’t related to evildoers but good people who are often trapped in dysfunctional, antiquated systems and are just trying to do the best they can for their patients.
In Closing
I’d like to say thank you to all of the “de facto” industrial engineers out there. Keep up the critically important work of that most complex system—the hospital.
Dr. Howell is president of SHM, chief of the division of hospital medicine at Johns Hopkins Bayview in Baltimore, and spends a significant part of his time and research on hospital operations. Email questions or comments to [email protected].
Boston Hospital Earns Quality Award
In July, four U.S. hospitals were recognized for their leadership and innovation in quality improvement (QI) and safety—as defined by the Institute of Medicine (IOM)—through the American Hospital Association’s McKesson Quest for Quality Prize.2 Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston was awarded the overall prize for its sustainable approach and hospitalwide commitment to pursuing IOM’s quality aims for safe, effective, efficient, timely, patient-centered, and equitable health care.
The award, presented since 2002, is supported by healthcare-services company McKesson Corp., based in San Francisco.
Key to BIDMC’s success is the clear message of its top leadership’s commitment to quality and a strong partnership with the medical community, says Kenneth Sands, MD, MPH, BIDMC’s senior vice president for healthcare quality. “That includes an official vote by the hospital’s board to adopt IOM’s definition of quality. And everyone here participates in the quality process,” he says.
Each year, the hospital holds a quality symposium featuring QI projects solicited from across the organization. This year’s poster contest recognized three winners, one from the finance department, one from an ICU, and a third from the hospital cafeteria (it tracked the percentage of days that fresh fish is offered as a healthy menu choice).
“To see these three winners standing together on the podium sends a powerful message,” Dr. Sands says. “These are not quality-improvement experts, but front-line staff.”
Another quality initiative involves a hospitalist leader trying to promote “conversation readiness” for a hospital staff’s ability to respond to patients’ expressed desires to complete advance directives, then make sure these documents get captured in the medical record.
Larry Beresford is a freelance writer in San Francisco.
References
- Harrison J, Quinn K, Mourad M. Is anyone home? The association between being reached for a post-discharge telephone call and 30-day hospital readmission. Harrison J, Quinn K, Mourad M. Any questions? The relationship between responses to post-discharge call questions and 30-day hospital readmissions [abstracts]. Journal of Hospital Medicine, 2013, 8 Suppl 1.
- Institute of Medicine. Crossing the quality chasm: a new health system for the 21st century. Institute of Medicine website. Available at: http://www.iom.edu/~/media/Files/Report%20Files/2001/Crossing-the-Quality-Chasm/Quality%20Chasm%202001%20%20report%20brief.pdf. Accessed Sept. 9, 2013.
- Shlaes DM, Sahm D, Opiela C, Spellberg B. Commentary: the FDA reboot of antibiotic development. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 29 Jul 2013 [Epub ahead of print].
- Alliance for Aging Research. HAIs growing problem, group says. Alliance for Aging Research website. Available at: http://www.agingresearch.org/content/article/detail/33504. Accessed Sept. 9, 2013.
- Huang SS, Septimus E, Kleinman K, et al. Targeted versus universal decolonization to prevent ICU infection. N Engl J Med. 2013;368:2255-2265.
- Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence. Eliminating catheter-associated urinary tract infections. Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence website. Available at: http://www.hpoe.org/Reports-HPOE/eliminating_catheter_associated_urinary_tract_infection.pdf. Accessed Sept. 9, 2013.
- Center to Advance Palliative Care. Growth of palliative care in U.S. hospitals 2013 snapshot. Center to Advance Palliative Care website. Available at: http://www.capc.org/capc-growth-analysis-snapshot-2013.pdf. Accessed Sept. 9, 2013.
In July, four U.S. hospitals were recognized for their leadership and innovation in quality improvement (QI) and safety—as defined by the Institute of Medicine (IOM)—through the American Hospital Association’s McKesson Quest for Quality Prize.2 Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston was awarded the overall prize for its sustainable approach and hospitalwide commitment to pursuing IOM’s quality aims for safe, effective, efficient, timely, patient-centered, and equitable health care.
The award, presented since 2002, is supported by healthcare-services company McKesson Corp., based in San Francisco.
Key to BIDMC’s success is the clear message of its top leadership’s commitment to quality and a strong partnership with the medical community, says Kenneth Sands, MD, MPH, BIDMC’s senior vice president for healthcare quality. “That includes an official vote by the hospital’s board to adopt IOM’s definition of quality. And everyone here participates in the quality process,” he says.
Each year, the hospital holds a quality symposium featuring QI projects solicited from across the organization. This year’s poster contest recognized three winners, one from the finance department, one from an ICU, and a third from the hospital cafeteria (it tracked the percentage of days that fresh fish is offered as a healthy menu choice).
“To see these three winners standing together on the podium sends a powerful message,” Dr. Sands says. “These are not quality-improvement experts, but front-line staff.”
Another quality initiative involves a hospitalist leader trying to promote “conversation readiness” for a hospital staff’s ability to respond to patients’ expressed desires to complete advance directives, then make sure these documents get captured in the medical record.
Larry Beresford is a freelance writer in San Francisco.
References
- Harrison J, Quinn K, Mourad M. Is anyone home? The association between being reached for a post-discharge telephone call and 30-day hospital readmission. Harrison J, Quinn K, Mourad M. Any questions? The relationship between responses to post-discharge call questions and 30-day hospital readmissions [abstracts]. Journal of Hospital Medicine, 2013, 8 Suppl 1.
- Institute of Medicine. Crossing the quality chasm: a new health system for the 21st century. Institute of Medicine website. Available at: http://www.iom.edu/~/media/Files/Report%20Files/2001/Crossing-the-Quality-Chasm/Quality%20Chasm%202001%20%20report%20brief.pdf. Accessed Sept. 9, 2013.
- Shlaes DM, Sahm D, Opiela C, Spellberg B. Commentary: the FDA reboot of antibiotic development. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 29 Jul 2013 [Epub ahead of print].
- Alliance for Aging Research. HAIs growing problem, group says. Alliance for Aging Research website. Available at: http://www.agingresearch.org/content/article/detail/33504. Accessed Sept. 9, 2013.
- Huang SS, Septimus E, Kleinman K, et al. Targeted versus universal decolonization to prevent ICU infection. N Engl J Med. 2013;368:2255-2265.
- Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence. Eliminating catheter-associated urinary tract infections. Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence website. Available at: http://www.hpoe.org/Reports-HPOE/eliminating_catheter_associated_urinary_tract_infection.pdf. Accessed Sept. 9, 2013.
- Center to Advance Palliative Care. Growth of palliative care in U.S. hospitals 2013 snapshot. Center to Advance Palliative Care website. Available at: http://www.capc.org/capc-growth-analysis-snapshot-2013.pdf. Accessed Sept. 9, 2013.
In July, four U.S. hospitals were recognized for their leadership and innovation in quality improvement (QI) and safety—as defined by the Institute of Medicine (IOM)—through the American Hospital Association’s McKesson Quest for Quality Prize.2 Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston was awarded the overall prize for its sustainable approach and hospitalwide commitment to pursuing IOM’s quality aims for safe, effective, efficient, timely, patient-centered, and equitable health care.
The award, presented since 2002, is supported by healthcare-services company McKesson Corp., based in San Francisco.
Key to BIDMC’s success is the clear message of its top leadership’s commitment to quality and a strong partnership with the medical community, says Kenneth Sands, MD, MPH, BIDMC’s senior vice president for healthcare quality. “That includes an official vote by the hospital’s board to adopt IOM’s definition of quality. And everyone here participates in the quality process,” he says.
Each year, the hospital holds a quality symposium featuring QI projects solicited from across the organization. This year’s poster contest recognized three winners, one from the finance department, one from an ICU, and a third from the hospital cafeteria (it tracked the percentage of days that fresh fish is offered as a healthy menu choice).
“To see these three winners standing together on the podium sends a powerful message,” Dr. Sands says. “These are not quality-improvement experts, but front-line staff.”
Another quality initiative involves a hospitalist leader trying to promote “conversation readiness” for a hospital staff’s ability to respond to patients’ expressed desires to complete advance directives, then make sure these documents get captured in the medical record.
Larry Beresford is a freelance writer in San Francisco.
References
- Harrison J, Quinn K, Mourad M. Is anyone home? The association between being reached for a post-discharge telephone call and 30-day hospital readmission. Harrison J, Quinn K, Mourad M. Any questions? The relationship between responses to post-discharge call questions and 30-day hospital readmissions [abstracts]. Journal of Hospital Medicine, 2013, 8 Suppl 1.
- Institute of Medicine. Crossing the quality chasm: a new health system for the 21st century. Institute of Medicine website. Available at: http://www.iom.edu/~/media/Files/Report%20Files/2001/Crossing-the-Quality-Chasm/Quality%20Chasm%202001%20%20report%20brief.pdf. Accessed Sept. 9, 2013.
- Shlaes DM, Sahm D, Opiela C, Spellberg B. Commentary: the FDA reboot of antibiotic development. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 29 Jul 2013 [Epub ahead of print].
- Alliance for Aging Research. HAIs growing problem, group says. Alliance for Aging Research website. Available at: http://www.agingresearch.org/content/article/detail/33504. Accessed Sept. 9, 2013.
- Huang SS, Septimus E, Kleinman K, et al. Targeted versus universal decolonization to prevent ICU infection. N Engl J Med. 2013;368:2255-2265.
- Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence. Eliminating catheter-associated urinary tract infections. Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence website. Available at: http://www.hpoe.org/Reports-HPOE/eliminating_catheter_associated_urinary_tract_infection.pdf. Accessed Sept. 9, 2013.
- Center to Advance Palliative Care. Growth of palliative care in U.S. hospitals 2013 snapshot. Center to Advance Palliative Care website. Available at: http://www.capc.org/capc-growth-analysis-snapshot-2013.pdf. Accessed Sept. 9, 2013.
Three Easy Ways to Get Ahead in Hospital Medicine
Getting involved—and getting ahead—in hospital medicine has never been easier, with just some planning and preparation. Here are three ways to move your hospital—and your career—forward this month.
1. Add “award-winning” to your CV: SHM’s Awards of Excellence deadline is Sept. 16.
Although 2013’s award-winners are still fresh in hospitalists’ minds, now is the time to put together award applications for the 2014 Awards of Excellence.
Each year, SHM presents six different awards that recognize individuals and one award to a team that is transforming health care and revolutionizing patient care for hospitalized patients:
- Excellence in Research Award;
- Excellence in Hospital Medicine for Non-Physicians;
- Award for Excellence in Teaching;
- Award for Outstanding Service in Hospital Medicine;
- Award for Clinical Excellence; and
- Excellence in Teamwork in Quality Improvement.
Last year, SHM received award nominations from a diverse group of hospitalists and looks forward to receiving even more this year. Each winner receives an all-expenses-paid trip to HM14 in Las Vegas, including complimentary meeting registration.
The deadline for applications for SHM’s five individual awards is Sept. 16. The deadline for the Excellence in Teamwork in Quality Improvement is Oct. 15. All SHM members are eligible, and nominees can be self-nominated.
For more information, visit www.hospital medicine.org/awards.
2. Bring the experts in reducing readmissions to your hospital: Apply now for Project BOOST.
There is still time to apply for SHM’s Project BOOST, which helps hospitals design discharge programs to reduce readmissions. SHM will accept applications for Project BOOST until the end of August.
Project BOOST is based on SHM’s award-winning mentored implementation model that brings individualized attention from national experts in reducing readmissions to hospitals across the country. Each Project BOOST site receives:
- A comprehensive intervention developed by a panel of nationally recognized experts based on the best available evidence.
- A comprehensive implementation guide that provides step-by-step instructions and project-management tools, such as the teachback training curriculum, to help interdisciplinary teams redesign workflow and plan, implement, and evaluate the intervention.
- Longitudinal technical assistance providing face-to-face training and a year of expert mentoring and coaching to implement BOOST interventions that build a culture that supports safe and complete transitions. The mentoring program provides a training DVD and curriculum for nurses and case managers on using the teachback process, as well as webinars that target the educational needs of other team members, including administrators, data analysts, physicians, nurses, and others.
- Collaboration that allows sites to communicate with and learn from each other via the BOOST community site and quarterly all-site teleconferences and webinars.
- The BOOST data center, an online resource that allows sites to store and benchmark data against control units and other sites and generates reports.
For more information, visit www.hospital medicine.org/boost.
3. Start Choosing Wisely today.
In 2014, as part of a grant from the ABIM Foundation, SHM will begin its first Choosing Wisely case-study competition to highlight hospitalists’ best practices within the popular campaign.
But in order to have a successful case study next year, some preparation is in order now. Developing goals, gathering a team, and, perhaps most important, developing benchmarking data on a project motivated by Choosing Wisely will all be important parts of a compelling case study.
To start brainstorming your project to implement Choosing Wisely recommendations at your hospital, visit www.hospitalmedicine.org/choosingwisely.
Brendon Shank is SHM’s associate vice president of communications.
Getting involved—and getting ahead—in hospital medicine has never been easier, with just some planning and preparation. Here are three ways to move your hospital—and your career—forward this month.
1. Add “award-winning” to your CV: SHM’s Awards of Excellence deadline is Sept. 16.
Although 2013’s award-winners are still fresh in hospitalists’ minds, now is the time to put together award applications for the 2014 Awards of Excellence.
Each year, SHM presents six different awards that recognize individuals and one award to a team that is transforming health care and revolutionizing patient care for hospitalized patients:
- Excellence in Research Award;
- Excellence in Hospital Medicine for Non-Physicians;
- Award for Excellence in Teaching;
- Award for Outstanding Service in Hospital Medicine;
- Award for Clinical Excellence; and
- Excellence in Teamwork in Quality Improvement.
Last year, SHM received award nominations from a diverse group of hospitalists and looks forward to receiving even more this year. Each winner receives an all-expenses-paid trip to HM14 in Las Vegas, including complimentary meeting registration.
The deadline for applications for SHM’s five individual awards is Sept. 16. The deadline for the Excellence in Teamwork in Quality Improvement is Oct. 15. All SHM members are eligible, and nominees can be self-nominated.
For more information, visit www.hospital medicine.org/awards.
2. Bring the experts in reducing readmissions to your hospital: Apply now for Project BOOST.
There is still time to apply for SHM’s Project BOOST, which helps hospitals design discharge programs to reduce readmissions. SHM will accept applications for Project BOOST until the end of August.
Project BOOST is based on SHM’s award-winning mentored implementation model that brings individualized attention from national experts in reducing readmissions to hospitals across the country. Each Project BOOST site receives:
- A comprehensive intervention developed by a panel of nationally recognized experts based on the best available evidence.
- A comprehensive implementation guide that provides step-by-step instructions and project-management tools, such as the teachback training curriculum, to help interdisciplinary teams redesign workflow and plan, implement, and evaluate the intervention.
- Longitudinal technical assistance providing face-to-face training and a year of expert mentoring and coaching to implement BOOST interventions that build a culture that supports safe and complete transitions. The mentoring program provides a training DVD and curriculum for nurses and case managers on using the teachback process, as well as webinars that target the educational needs of other team members, including administrators, data analysts, physicians, nurses, and others.
- Collaboration that allows sites to communicate with and learn from each other via the BOOST community site and quarterly all-site teleconferences and webinars.
- The BOOST data center, an online resource that allows sites to store and benchmark data against control units and other sites and generates reports.
For more information, visit www.hospital medicine.org/boost.
3. Start Choosing Wisely today.
In 2014, as part of a grant from the ABIM Foundation, SHM will begin its first Choosing Wisely case-study competition to highlight hospitalists’ best practices within the popular campaign.
But in order to have a successful case study next year, some preparation is in order now. Developing goals, gathering a team, and, perhaps most important, developing benchmarking data on a project motivated by Choosing Wisely will all be important parts of a compelling case study.
To start brainstorming your project to implement Choosing Wisely recommendations at your hospital, visit www.hospitalmedicine.org/choosingwisely.
Brendon Shank is SHM’s associate vice president of communications.
Getting involved—and getting ahead—in hospital medicine has never been easier, with just some planning and preparation. Here are three ways to move your hospital—and your career—forward this month.
1. Add “award-winning” to your CV: SHM’s Awards of Excellence deadline is Sept. 16.
Although 2013’s award-winners are still fresh in hospitalists’ minds, now is the time to put together award applications for the 2014 Awards of Excellence.
Each year, SHM presents six different awards that recognize individuals and one award to a team that is transforming health care and revolutionizing patient care for hospitalized patients:
- Excellence in Research Award;
- Excellence in Hospital Medicine for Non-Physicians;
- Award for Excellence in Teaching;
- Award for Outstanding Service in Hospital Medicine;
- Award for Clinical Excellence; and
- Excellence in Teamwork in Quality Improvement.
Last year, SHM received award nominations from a diverse group of hospitalists and looks forward to receiving even more this year. Each winner receives an all-expenses-paid trip to HM14 in Las Vegas, including complimentary meeting registration.
The deadline for applications for SHM’s five individual awards is Sept. 16. The deadline for the Excellence in Teamwork in Quality Improvement is Oct. 15. All SHM members are eligible, and nominees can be self-nominated.
For more information, visit www.hospital medicine.org/awards.
2. Bring the experts in reducing readmissions to your hospital: Apply now for Project BOOST.
There is still time to apply for SHM’s Project BOOST, which helps hospitals design discharge programs to reduce readmissions. SHM will accept applications for Project BOOST until the end of August.
Project BOOST is based on SHM’s award-winning mentored implementation model that brings individualized attention from national experts in reducing readmissions to hospitals across the country. Each Project BOOST site receives:
- A comprehensive intervention developed by a panel of nationally recognized experts based on the best available evidence.
- A comprehensive implementation guide that provides step-by-step instructions and project-management tools, such as the teachback training curriculum, to help interdisciplinary teams redesign workflow and plan, implement, and evaluate the intervention.
- Longitudinal technical assistance providing face-to-face training and a year of expert mentoring and coaching to implement BOOST interventions that build a culture that supports safe and complete transitions. The mentoring program provides a training DVD and curriculum for nurses and case managers on using the teachback process, as well as webinars that target the educational needs of other team members, including administrators, data analysts, physicians, nurses, and others.
- Collaboration that allows sites to communicate with and learn from each other via the BOOST community site and quarterly all-site teleconferences and webinars.
- The BOOST data center, an online resource that allows sites to store and benchmark data against control units and other sites and generates reports.
For more information, visit www.hospital medicine.org/boost.
3. Start Choosing Wisely today.
In 2014, as part of a grant from the ABIM Foundation, SHM will begin its first Choosing Wisely case-study competition to highlight hospitalists’ best practices within the popular campaign.
But in order to have a successful case study next year, some preparation is in order now. Developing goals, gathering a team, and, perhaps most important, developing benchmarking data on a project motivated by Choosing Wisely will all be important parts of a compelling case study.
To start brainstorming your project to implement Choosing Wisely recommendations at your hospital, visit www.hospitalmedicine.org/choosingwisely.
Brendon Shank is SHM’s associate vice president of communications.
SHM Allies with Leading Health Care Groups to Advance Hospital Patient Nutrition
SHM announced in May the launch of a new interdisciplinary partnership, the Alliance to Advance Patient Nutrition, in conjunction with four other organizations. The alliance’s mission is to improve patient outcomes through nutrition intervention in the hospital.
Representing more than 100,000 dietitians, nurses, hospitalists, and other physicians and clinicians from across the nation, the following organizations have come together with SHM to champion for early nutrition screening, assessment, and intervention in hospitals:
- Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses (AMSN);
- Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND);
- American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN); and
- Abbott Nutrition.
Malnutrition increases costs, length of stay, and unfavorable outcomes. Properly addressing hospital malnutrition creates an opportunity to improve quality of care while also reducing healthcare costs. Additional clinical research finds that malnourished patients are two times more likely to develop a pressure ulcer, while patients with malnutrition have three times the rate of infection.
Yet when hospitalized patients are provided intervention via oral nutrition supplements, health economic research finds associated benefits:
Nutrition intervention can reduce hospital length of stay by an average of two days, and nutrition intervention has been shown to reduce patient hospitalization costs by 21.6%, or $4,734 per episode.
Additionally, there was a 6.7% reduction in the probability of 30-day readmission with patients who had at least one known subsequent readmission and were offered oral nutrition supplements during hospitalization.
“There is a growing body of evidence supporting the positive impact nutrition has on improving patient outcomes,” says hospitalist Melissa Parkhurst, MD, FHM, who serves as medical director for the University of Kansas Hospital’s hospitalist section and its nutrition support service. “We are seeing that early intervention can make a significant difference. As physicians, we need to work with the entire clinician team to ensure that nutrition is an integral part of our patients’ treatment plans.”
The alliance launched a website at www.malnutrition.org to provide hospital-based clinicians with the following resources:
- Research and fact sheets about malnutrition and the positive impact nutrition intervention has on patient care and outcomes;
- The Alliance Nutrition Toolkit, which facilitates clinician collaboration and nutrition integration; and
- Information about educational events, such as quick learning modules, continuing medical education (CME) programs.
The Alliance to Advance Patient Nutrition is made possible with support from Abbott’s nutrition business.
SHM announced in May the launch of a new interdisciplinary partnership, the Alliance to Advance Patient Nutrition, in conjunction with four other organizations. The alliance’s mission is to improve patient outcomes through nutrition intervention in the hospital.
Representing more than 100,000 dietitians, nurses, hospitalists, and other physicians and clinicians from across the nation, the following organizations have come together with SHM to champion for early nutrition screening, assessment, and intervention in hospitals:
- Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses (AMSN);
- Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND);
- American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN); and
- Abbott Nutrition.
Malnutrition increases costs, length of stay, and unfavorable outcomes. Properly addressing hospital malnutrition creates an opportunity to improve quality of care while also reducing healthcare costs. Additional clinical research finds that malnourished patients are two times more likely to develop a pressure ulcer, while patients with malnutrition have three times the rate of infection.
Yet when hospitalized patients are provided intervention via oral nutrition supplements, health economic research finds associated benefits:
Nutrition intervention can reduce hospital length of stay by an average of two days, and nutrition intervention has been shown to reduce patient hospitalization costs by 21.6%, or $4,734 per episode.
Additionally, there was a 6.7% reduction in the probability of 30-day readmission with patients who had at least one known subsequent readmission and were offered oral nutrition supplements during hospitalization.
“There is a growing body of evidence supporting the positive impact nutrition has on improving patient outcomes,” says hospitalist Melissa Parkhurst, MD, FHM, who serves as medical director for the University of Kansas Hospital’s hospitalist section and its nutrition support service. “We are seeing that early intervention can make a significant difference. As physicians, we need to work with the entire clinician team to ensure that nutrition is an integral part of our patients’ treatment plans.”
The alliance launched a website at www.malnutrition.org to provide hospital-based clinicians with the following resources:
- Research and fact sheets about malnutrition and the positive impact nutrition intervention has on patient care and outcomes;
- The Alliance Nutrition Toolkit, which facilitates clinician collaboration and nutrition integration; and
- Information about educational events, such as quick learning modules, continuing medical education (CME) programs.
The Alliance to Advance Patient Nutrition is made possible with support from Abbott’s nutrition business.
SHM announced in May the launch of a new interdisciplinary partnership, the Alliance to Advance Patient Nutrition, in conjunction with four other organizations. The alliance’s mission is to improve patient outcomes through nutrition intervention in the hospital.
Representing more than 100,000 dietitians, nurses, hospitalists, and other physicians and clinicians from across the nation, the following organizations have come together with SHM to champion for early nutrition screening, assessment, and intervention in hospitals:
- Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses (AMSN);
- Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND);
- American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN); and
- Abbott Nutrition.
Malnutrition increases costs, length of stay, and unfavorable outcomes. Properly addressing hospital malnutrition creates an opportunity to improve quality of care while also reducing healthcare costs. Additional clinical research finds that malnourished patients are two times more likely to develop a pressure ulcer, while patients with malnutrition have three times the rate of infection.
Yet when hospitalized patients are provided intervention via oral nutrition supplements, health economic research finds associated benefits:
Nutrition intervention can reduce hospital length of stay by an average of two days, and nutrition intervention has been shown to reduce patient hospitalization costs by 21.6%, or $4,734 per episode.
Additionally, there was a 6.7% reduction in the probability of 30-day readmission with patients who had at least one known subsequent readmission and were offered oral nutrition supplements during hospitalization.
“There is a growing body of evidence supporting the positive impact nutrition has on improving patient outcomes,” says hospitalist Melissa Parkhurst, MD, FHM, who serves as medical director for the University of Kansas Hospital’s hospitalist section and its nutrition support service. “We are seeing that early intervention can make a significant difference. As physicians, we need to work with the entire clinician team to ensure that nutrition is an integral part of our patients’ treatment plans.”
The alliance launched a website at www.malnutrition.org to provide hospital-based clinicians with the following resources:
- Research and fact sheets about malnutrition and the positive impact nutrition intervention has on patient care and outcomes;
- The Alliance Nutrition Toolkit, which facilitates clinician collaboration and nutrition integration; and
- Information about educational events, such as quick learning modules, continuing medical education (CME) programs.
The Alliance to Advance Patient Nutrition is made possible with support from Abbott’s nutrition business.
IPC-UCSF Fellowship for Hospitalist Group Leaders Demands a Stretch
The yearlong IPC-UCSF Fellowship for Hospitalist Leaders brings about 40 IPC: The Hospitalist Company group leaders together for a series of three-day training sessions and ongoing distance learning, executive coaching, and project mentoring.
The program emphasizes role plays and simulations, and even involves an acting coach to help participants learn to make more effective presentations, such as harnessing the power of storytelling, says Niraj L. Sehgal, MD, MPH, a hospitalist at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) who directs the fellowship through UCSF’s Center for Health Professions.
The first class graduated in November 2011, and the third is in session. Participants implement a mentored project in their home facility, with measurable results, as a vehicle for leadership development in such areas as quality improvement (QI), patient safety, or readmissions prevention. But the specific project is not as important as whether or not that project is well-designed to stretch the individual in areas where they weren’t comfortable before, Dr. Sehgal says.
Through her QI project, Jasmin Baleva, MD, of Memorial Hermann Memorial City Medical Center in Houston, a 2012 participant, found an alternate to the costly nocturnist model while maintaining the time it takes for the first hospitalist encounter with newly admitted patients. “I think the IPC-UCSF project gave my proposal a little more legitimacy,” she tells TH. “They also taught me how to present it in an effective package and to approach the C-suite feeling less intimidated.”
Larry Beresford is a freelance writer in Oakland, Calif.
References
- Stobbe, M. Germ-zapping “robots”: Hospitals combat superbugs. Associated Press website. Available at: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/hospitals-see-surge-superbug-fighting-products. Accessed June 7, 2013.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vital Signs: Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6209a3.htm?s_cid=mm6209a3_w. Accessed June 7, 2013.
- Wise ME, Scott RD, Baggs JM, et al. National estimates of central line-associated bloodstream infections in critical care patients. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol, 2013;34(6):547-554.
- Hsu E, Lin D, Evans SJ, et al. Doing well by doing good: assessing the cost savings of an intervention to reduce central line-associated bloodstream infections in a Hawaii hospital. Am J Med Qual, 2013 May 7 [Epub ahead of print].
- Association of American Medical Colleges. Medical school enrollment on pace to reach 30 percent increase by 2017. Association of American Medical Colleges website. Available at: https://www.aamc.org/newsroom/newsreleases/ 335244/050213.html. Accessed June 7, 2013.
The yearlong IPC-UCSF Fellowship for Hospitalist Leaders brings about 40 IPC: The Hospitalist Company group leaders together for a series of three-day training sessions and ongoing distance learning, executive coaching, and project mentoring.
The program emphasizes role plays and simulations, and even involves an acting coach to help participants learn to make more effective presentations, such as harnessing the power of storytelling, says Niraj L. Sehgal, MD, MPH, a hospitalist at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) who directs the fellowship through UCSF’s Center for Health Professions.
The first class graduated in November 2011, and the third is in session. Participants implement a mentored project in their home facility, with measurable results, as a vehicle for leadership development in such areas as quality improvement (QI), patient safety, or readmissions prevention. But the specific project is not as important as whether or not that project is well-designed to stretch the individual in areas where they weren’t comfortable before, Dr. Sehgal says.
Through her QI project, Jasmin Baleva, MD, of Memorial Hermann Memorial City Medical Center in Houston, a 2012 participant, found an alternate to the costly nocturnist model while maintaining the time it takes for the first hospitalist encounter with newly admitted patients. “I think the IPC-UCSF project gave my proposal a little more legitimacy,” she tells TH. “They also taught me how to present it in an effective package and to approach the C-suite feeling less intimidated.”
Larry Beresford is a freelance writer in Oakland, Calif.
References
- Stobbe, M. Germ-zapping “robots”: Hospitals combat superbugs. Associated Press website. Available at: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/hospitals-see-surge-superbug-fighting-products. Accessed June 7, 2013.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vital Signs: Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6209a3.htm?s_cid=mm6209a3_w. Accessed June 7, 2013.
- Wise ME, Scott RD, Baggs JM, et al. National estimates of central line-associated bloodstream infections in critical care patients. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol, 2013;34(6):547-554.
- Hsu E, Lin D, Evans SJ, et al. Doing well by doing good: assessing the cost savings of an intervention to reduce central line-associated bloodstream infections in a Hawaii hospital. Am J Med Qual, 2013 May 7 [Epub ahead of print].
- Association of American Medical Colleges. Medical school enrollment on pace to reach 30 percent increase by 2017. Association of American Medical Colleges website. Available at: https://www.aamc.org/newsroom/newsreleases/ 335244/050213.html. Accessed June 7, 2013.
The yearlong IPC-UCSF Fellowship for Hospitalist Leaders brings about 40 IPC: The Hospitalist Company group leaders together for a series of three-day training sessions and ongoing distance learning, executive coaching, and project mentoring.
The program emphasizes role plays and simulations, and even involves an acting coach to help participants learn to make more effective presentations, such as harnessing the power of storytelling, says Niraj L. Sehgal, MD, MPH, a hospitalist at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) who directs the fellowship through UCSF’s Center for Health Professions.
The first class graduated in November 2011, and the third is in session. Participants implement a mentored project in their home facility, with measurable results, as a vehicle for leadership development in such areas as quality improvement (QI), patient safety, or readmissions prevention. But the specific project is not as important as whether or not that project is well-designed to stretch the individual in areas where they weren’t comfortable before, Dr. Sehgal says.
Through her QI project, Jasmin Baleva, MD, of Memorial Hermann Memorial City Medical Center in Houston, a 2012 participant, found an alternate to the costly nocturnist model while maintaining the time it takes for the first hospitalist encounter with newly admitted patients. “I think the IPC-UCSF project gave my proposal a little more legitimacy,” she tells TH. “They also taught me how to present it in an effective package and to approach the C-suite feeling less intimidated.”
Larry Beresford is a freelance writer in Oakland, Calif.
References
- Stobbe, M. Germ-zapping “robots”: Hospitals combat superbugs. Associated Press website. Available at: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/hospitals-see-surge-superbug-fighting-products. Accessed June 7, 2013.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vital Signs: Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6209a3.htm?s_cid=mm6209a3_w. Accessed June 7, 2013.
- Wise ME, Scott RD, Baggs JM, et al. National estimates of central line-associated bloodstream infections in critical care patients. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol, 2013;34(6):547-554.
- Hsu E, Lin D, Evans SJ, et al. Doing well by doing good: assessing the cost savings of an intervention to reduce central line-associated bloodstream infections in a Hawaii hospital. Am J Med Qual, 2013 May 7 [Epub ahead of print].
- Association of American Medical Colleges. Medical school enrollment on pace to reach 30 percent increase by 2017. Association of American Medical Colleges website. Available at: https://www.aamc.org/newsroom/newsreleases/ 335244/050213.html. Accessed June 7, 2013.
Empathy Can Help Hospitalists Improve Patient Experience, Outcomes
Empathy: ability to understand and share the feelings of another.
In today’s increasingly hyper-measured healthcare world, we are looking more and more at measures of patient outcomes. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) touts the Triple Aim principle as the lens through which we should be approaching our work. The Triple Aim is the three-part goal and simultaneous focus of improving the health of the community and our patients, improving affordability of care, and finally and perhaps most elusively, improving the patient experience. Who wouldn’t want to hit on these admirable goals? How do we do it?
In approaching the health aspect of the Triple Aim, we, as hospitalists, have tried-and-true frameworks of process improvement. Clinical research and peer-reviewed publication advance the knowledge of what medicines and procedures can improve care. Although powerful and generally truthful, this system results in a slow diffusion of practice improvement, not to mention idiosyncratic and nonstandardized care. This has led to a new toolkit of improvement techniques: continuous quality improvement, Lean, and Six Sigma. We learn and adopt these and watch our scores go up at a steady pace.
Improving affordability has its challenges, some huge, like our basic cultural ethos that “more is better.” Yet affordability is still something we can grasp. It is rooted in systems we are all familiar with, from basic personal finance to resource allocation to generally accepted accounting principles. We all can grasp that the current system of pay for widgets is teetering at the edge, just waiting for a shove from CMS to send it to its doom. Once this happens, affordability likely will become something we can start to make serious headway against.
Improving the experience of patients and families is perhaps the toughest of the three and where I would like to focus.
Patients First
First, a question: Are experience scores reflective of the true experience of a patient?
Two weeks after discharge, when patients receive their HCAHPS questionnaire in the mail, do they remember the details of their stay? And who was their doctor anyway? The cardiologist who placed a stent? The on-call doctor? The hospitalist who visited them every morning? If all we focus on is the scores, and we lack faith that the scores represent the true experience of patients, then how can we ever truly create a more satisfying experience for our patients?
I believe that the answer lies with empathy. What’s unique about this part of the Triple Aim is that many of the answers are within us. Gaining empathy with our patients requires us to ask questions of them and also to ask questions of ourselves. It requires us to invoke ancient methods of learning and thinking, like walking in another’s shoes for a day or using the Golden Rule. Experience doesn’t lend itself to being taught by PowerPoint. It must be lived and channeled back and out through our emotional selves as empathy.
Using the wisdom of patients themselves is one way to understand their needs and develop the empathy to motivate us to change how we do things in health care. Many organizations around the country have used some form of patient focus group to help learn from patients. Park Nicollet, a large health system in Minnesota, has incorporated family councils in nearly every clinic and care area. They usually are patients or caregivers from the area, bound together by a common disease or location. They dedicate their time, often meeting monthly, to share their stories, give opinions on care processes, and even to shape the design of a care area. Currently, there are more than 100 patient councils in the system, and the number continues to grow.
Film, when done skillfully, is a powerful tool in helping us gain empathy. The Cleveland Clinic has produced an amazing short film called “Empathy: The Human Connection to Patient Care.” It follows patients, families, and staff through the care system. As the camera focuses on each person, floating text appears near them, explaining their situation, inner thoughts, or fears, all overlaid by an emotional piano score. Tears will flow. Understanding follows.
Jim Merlino, MD, Cleveland Clinic’s chief experience officer, explains, “We need to understand that being on the other side of health care is frightening, and our job, our responsibility as people responsible for other people, is to help ease that fear.” Cleveland Clinic has done a remarkable job in reminding us why we went in to health care.
Morgan Spurlock of “Super Size Me” fame produced a reality series called “30 Days.” In each episode, a participant spent 30 days in the shoes of another. In the “Life in a Wheelchair” episode, Super Bowl-winning football player Ray Crockett lives in a wheelchair for 30 days and explores what it is like going through recovery and the healthcare system. He meets several rehabbing paraplegics and quadriplegics and accompanies them through their daily lives at home and the hospital. Viewers gain empathy directly in seeing these patients struggle to get better and work with the healthcare system. We also gain empathy watching Crockett gain empathy. The combination is powerful.
In Patients’ Shoes
In addition to listening and observation, we can begin to literally walk in the shoes of our patients.
I recently attended IHI’s International Forum in London. The National Health Service (NHS) in England is using a new tool to help providers understand what it is like for geriatric patients who must navigate the healthcare system with diminished senses and capabilities. Providers put on an age-simulation suit (www.age-simulation-suit.com) that mimics the impairments of aging. Special goggles fog the vision and narrow the visual field. Head mobility is reduced so that it becomes difficult to see beyond the field cuts. Earmuffs reduce high-frequency hearing and the ability to understand speech clearly. The overall suit impedes motion and reduces strength. Thick gloves make it difficult to coordinate fine motions. Wearing this suit and trying to go through a hospital or clinic setting instantly makes the wearer gain empathy for our patients’ needs.
Most important, be a patient. SHM immediate past president Shaun Frost, MD, SFHM, whose personal mission during his tenure was to help the society understand patient experience, explained it best to me. “In one episode in the hospital with a family member, I learned more about patient experience than all the reading and self-educating I have been doing for the last year.”
I think any of us who have been a patient in the hospital, or accompanied a loved one, comes out frustrated that the healthcare system is so convoluted and lacking in clarity for patients. Then there is often a sense of renewal, hopefully,followed by evangelism to spread their newfound empathy to others in the system.
In our busy work lives as hospitalists, it isn’t easy turning our daily focus away from efficiency and productivity. Yet we must always remain mindful of that core idea every one of us wrote down as the heart of our personal statements on our applications to medical school. Do you remember writing something like this? “I want to help people and relieve suffering in their time of need.”
Empathy is the start of our work.
Dr. Kealey is medical director of hospital specialties at HealthPartners Medical Group in St. Paul, Minn. He is an SHM board member and SHM president-elect.
Empathy: ability to understand and share the feelings of another.
In today’s increasingly hyper-measured healthcare world, we are looking more and more at measures of patient outcomes. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) touts the Triple Aim principle as the lens through which we should be approaching our work. The Triple Aim is the three-part goal and simultaneous focus of improving the health of the community and our patients, improving affordability of care, and finally and perhaps most elusively, improving the patient experience. Who wouldn’t want to hit on these admirable goals? How do we do it?
In approaching the health aspect of the Triple Aim, we, as hospitalists, have tried-and-true frameworks of process improvement. Clinical research and peer-reviewed publication advance the knowledge of what medicines and procedures can improve care. Although powerful and generally truthful, this system results in a slow diffusion of practice improvement, not to mention idiosyncratic and nonstandardized care. This has led to a new toolkit of improvement techniques: continuous quality improvement, Lean, and Six Sigma. We learn and adopt these and watch our scores go up at a steady pace.
Improving affordability has its challenges, some huge, like our basic cultural ethos that “more is better.” Yet affordability is still something we can grasp. It is rooted in systems we are all familiar with, from basic personal finance to resource allocation to generally accepted accounting principles. We all can grasp that the current system of pay for widgets is teetering at the edge, just waiting for a shove from CMS to send it to its doom. Once this happens, affordability likely will become something we can start to make serious headway against.
Improving the experience of patients and families is perhaps the toughest of the three and where I would like to focus.
Patients First
First, a question: Are experience scores reflective of the true experience of a patient?
Two weeks after discharge, when patients receive their HCAHPS questionnaire in the mail, do they remember the details of their stay? And who was their doctor anyway? The cardiologist who placed a stent? The on-call doctor? The hospitalist who visited them every morning? If all we focus on is the scores, and we lack faith that the scores represent the true experience of patients, then how can we ever truly create a more satisfying experience for our patients?
I believe that the answer lies with empathy. What’s unique about this part of the Triple Aim is that many of the answers are within us. Gaining empathy with our patients requires us to ask questions of them and also to ask questions of ourselves. It requires us to invoke ancient methods of learning and thinking, like walking in another’s shoes for a day or using the Golden Rule. Experience doesn’t lend itself to being taught by PowerPoint. It must be lived and channeled back and out through our emotional selves as empathy.
Using the wisdom of patients themselves is one way to understand their needs and develop the empathy to motivate us to change how we do things in health care. Many organizations around the country have used some form of patient focus group to help learn from patients. Park Nicollet, a large health system in Minnesota, has incorporated family councils in nearly every clinic and care area. They usually are patients or caregivers from the area, bound together by a common disease or location. They dedicate their time, often meeting monthly, to share their stories, give opinions on care processes, and even to shape the design of a care area. Currently, there are more than 100 patient councils in the system, and the number continues to grow.
Film, when done skillfully, is a powerful tool in helping us gain empathy. The Cleveland Clinic has produced an amazing short film called “Empathy: The Human Connection to Patient Care.” It follows patients, families, and staff through the care system. As the camera focuses on each person, floating text appears near them, explaining their situation, inner thoughts, or fears, all overlaid by an emotional piano score. Tears will flow. Understanding follows.
Jim Merlino, MD, Cleveland Clinic’s chief experience officer, explains, “We need to understand that being on the other side of health care is frightening, and our job, our responsibility as people responsible for other people, is to help ease that fear.” Cleveland Clinic has done a remarkable job in reminding us why we went in to health care.
Morgan Spurlock of “Super Size Me” fame produced a reality series called “30 Days.” In each episode, a participant spent 30 days in the shoes of another. In the “Life in a Wheelchair” episode, Super Bowl-winning football player Ray Crockett lives in a wheelchair for 30 days and explores what it is like going through recovery and the healthcare system. He meets several rehabbing paraplegics and quadriplegics and accompanies them through their daily lives at home and the hospital. Viewers gain empathy directly in seeing these patients struggle to get better and work with the healthcare system. We also gain empathy watching Crockett gain empathy. The combination is powerful.
In Patients’ Shoes
In addition to listening and observation, we can begin to literally walk in the shoes of our patients.
I recently attended IHI’s International Forum in London. The National Health Service (NHS) in England is using a new tool to help providers understand what it is like for geriatric patients who must navigate the healthcare system with diminished senses and capabilities. Providers put on an age-simulation suit (www.age-simulation-suit.com) that mimics the impairments of aging. Special goggles fog the vision and narrow the visual field. Head mobility is reduced so that it becomes difficult to see beyond the field cuts. Earmuffs reduce high-frequency hearing and the ability to understand speech clearly. The overall suit impedes motion and reduces strength. Thick gloves make it difficult to coordinate fine motions. Wearing this suit and trying to go through a hospital or clinic setting instantly makes the wearer gain empathy for our patients’ needs.
Most important, be a patient. SHM immediate past president Shaun Frost, MD, SFHM, whose personal mission during his tenure was to help the society understand patient experience, explained it best to me. “In one episode in the hospital with a family member, I learned more about patient experience than all the reading and self-educating I have been doing for the last year.”
I think any of us who have been a patient in the hospital, or accompanied a loved one, comes out frustrated that the healthcare system is so convoluted and lacking in clarity for patients. Then there is often a sense of renewal, hopefully,followed by evangelism to spread their newfound empathy to others in the system.
In our busy work lives as hospitalists, it isn’t easy turning our daily focus away from efficiency and productivity. Yet we must always remain mindful of that core idea every one of us wrote down as the heart of our personal statements on our applications to medical school. Do you remember writing something like this? “I want to help people and relieve suffering in their time of need.”
Empathy is the start of our work.
Dr. Kealey is medical director of hospital specialties at HealthPartners Medical Group in St. Paul, Minn. He is an SHM board member and SHM president-elect.
Empathy: ability to understand and share the feelings of another.
In today’s increasingly hyper-measured healthcare world, we are looking more and more at measures of patient outcomes. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) touts the Triple Aim principle as the lens through which we should be approaching our work. The Triple Aim is the three-part goal and simultaneous focus of improving the health of the community and our patients, improving affordability of care, and finally and perhaps most elusively, improving the patient experience. Who wouldn’t want to hit on these admirable goals? How do we do it?
In approaching the health aspect of the Triple Aim, we, as hospitalists, have tried-and-true frameworks of process improvement. Clinical research and peer-reviewed publication advance the knowledge of what medicines and procedures can improve care. Although powerful and generally truthful, this system results in a slow diffusion of practice improvement, not to mention idiosyncratic and nonstandardized care. This has led to a new toolkit of improvement techniques: continuous quality improvement, Lean, and Six Sigma. We learn and adopt these and watch our scores go up at a steady pace.
Improving affordability has its challenges, some huge, like our basic cultural ethos that “more is better.” Yet affordability is still something we can grasp. It is rooted in systems we are all familiar with, from basic personal finance to resource allocation to generally accepted accounting principles. We all can grasp that the current system of pay for widgets is teetering at the edge, just waiting for a shove from CMS to send it to its doom. Once this happens, affordability likely will become something we can start to make serious headway against.
Improving the experience of patients and families is perhaps the toughest of the three and where I would like to focus.
Patients First
First, a question: Are experience scores reflective of the true experience of a patient?
Two weeks after discharge, when patients receive their HCAHPS questionnaire in the mail, do they remember the details of their stay? And who was their doctor anyway? The cardiologist who placed a stent? The on-call doctor? The hospitalist who visited them every morning? If all we focus on is the scores, and we lack faith that the scores represent the true experience of patients, then how can we ever truly create a more satisfying experience for our patients?
I believe that the answer lies with empathy. What’s unique about this part of the Triple Aim is that many of the answers are within us. Gaining empathy with our patients requires us to ask questions of them and also to ask questions of ourselves. It requires us to invoke ancient methods of learning and thinking, like walking in another’s shoes for a day or using the Golden Rule. Experience doesn’t lend itself to being taught by PowerPoint. It must be lived and channeled back and out through our emotional selves as empathy.
Using the wisdom of patients themselves is one way to understand their needs and develop the empathy to motivate us to change how we do things in health care. Many organizations around the country have used some form of patient focus group to help learn from patients. Park Nicollet, a large health system in Minnesota, has incorporated family councils in nearly every clinic and care area. They usually are patients or caregivers from the area, bound together by a common disease or location. They dedicate their time, often meeting monthly, to share their stories, give opinions on care processes, and even to shape the design of a care area. Currently, there are more than 100 patient councils in the system, and the number continues to grow.
Film, when done skillfully, is a powerful tool in helping us gain empathy. The Cleveland Clinic has produced an amazing short film called “Empathy: The Human Connection to Patient Care.” It follows patients, families, and staff through the care system. As the camera focuses on each person, floating text appears near them, explaining their situation, inner thoughts, or fears, all overlaid by an emotional piano score. Tears will flow. Understanding follows.
Jim Merlino, MD, Cleveland Clinic’s chief experience officer, explains, “We need to understand that being on the other side of health care is frightening, and our job, our responsibility as people responsible for other people, is to help ease that fear.” Cleveland Clinic has done a remarkable job in reminding us why we went in to health care.
Morgan Spurlock of “Super Size Me” fame produced a reality series called “30 Days.” In each episode, a participant spent 30 days in the shoes of another. In the “Life in a Wheelchair” episode, Super Bowl-winning football player Ray Crockett lives in a wheelchair for 30 days and explores what it is like going through recovery and the healthcare system. He meets several rehabbing paraplegics and quadriplegics and accompanies them through their daily lives at home and the hospital. Viewers gain empathy directly in seeing these patients struggle to get better and work with the healthcare system. We also gain empathy watching Crockett gain empathy. The combination is powerful.
In Patients’ Shoes
In addition to listening and observation, we can begin to literally walk in the shoes of our patients.
I recently attended IHI’s International Forum in London. The National Health Service (NHS) in England is using a new tool to help providers understand what it is like for geriatric patients who must navigate the healthcare system with diminished senses and capabilities. Providers put on an age-simulation suit (www.age-simulation-suit.com) that mimics the impairments of aging. Special goggles fog the vision and narrow the visual field. Head mobility is reduced so that it becomes difficult to see beyond the field cuts. Earmuffs reduce high-frequency hearing and the ability to understand speech clearly. The overall suit impedes motion and reduces strength. Thick gloves make it difficult to coordinate fine motions. Wearing this suit and trying to go through a hospital or clinic setting instantly makes the wearer gain empathy for our patients’ needs.
Most important, be a patient. SHM immediate past president Shaun Frost, MD, SFHM, whose personal mission during his tenure was to help the society understand patient experience, explained it best to me. “In one episode in the hospital with a family member, I learned more about patient experience than all the reading and self-educating I have been doing for the last year.”
I think any of us who have been a patient in the hospital, or accompanied a loved one, comes out frustrated that the healthcare system is so convoluted and lacking in clarity for patients. Then there is often a sense of renewal, hopefully,followed by evangelism to spread their newfound empathy to others in the system.
In our busy work lives as hospitalists, it isn’t easy turning our daily focus away from efficiency and productivity. Yet we must always remain mindful of that core idea every one of us wrote down as the heart of our personal statements on our applications to medical school. Do you remember writing something like this? “I want to help people and relieve suffering in their time of need.”
Empathy is the start of our work.
Dr. Kealey is medical director of hospital specialties at HealthPartners Medical Group in St. Paul, Minn. He is an SHM board member and SHM president-elect.
Pediatric Hospitalist Charts Decade-Long Journey in Health Care
Dear Mark,
I am pleased and excited that you are willing to abandon your plan for being a vagabond and will give serious consideration to joining the faculty of the Department of Pediatrics to become a core member of a new [general pediatric inpatient] program that I believe has exciting potential.
So reads the first line of my very first job offer letter. Obviously, my chairman had a sense of humor. But he also was not off target, as before May 21 of my third year of residency, I had no meaningful work lined up. Dreams of locum tenens work in Hawaii or a California coastal town quickly disappeared as I received only offers for work in small-town Mississippi and Oklahoma. Eleven years later, I don’t think I could have planned a more fulfilling early career, particularly when the alternative might have been surfing on the Mississippi River.
I would like this opportunity, in my final column as The Hospitalist’s pediatric editor, to reflect on this odyssey from vagabond to hospitalist.
The Early Years
As a new attending, I was appropriately terrified of how much I didn’t know. I also had ambitious goals at first, wanting to emulate my two favorite role models from residency, Charles Ginsburg and Heinz Eichenwald. We might call them hospitalists now, but back then they were old-fashioned, generalist inpatient clinician-educators, even while chairing the department of pediatrics over their separate tenures. They were the smartest and wisest teachers that I have ever met. These early years were a pseudo-fellowship of sorts; under their tutelage, I soaked up more than I ever had during residency.
Despite all of this learning, I remained sheltered in my clinician-educator bubble. The path to excellence for me was defined through frequent trips to the library (where journals used to be stored) and trying to teach as well as my mentors did. I largely was ignorant of the national hospitalist movement, until the 2007 SHM annual meeting was held in my backyard in Dallas. Listening to Bob Wachter that year, and then Don Berwick the following year, I suddenly realized the tremendous and intertwined importance of the quality movement and hospitalists. We were going to fix medicine. OK, maybe not all of medicine, but it happened to be the perfect time for me to learn about our health-care crisis, quality, and the role of hospital medicine.
If my first five years were about clinical medicine, the next five years were all about lessons in leadership. I had a new role, directing 8 15 20 25 hospitalists—and now was accountable for the group’s results. I’ve often said that an explicit leadership role is like stepping behind a curtain, where your own previous n=1 perspective is now the challenge of herding a group of n=25. And let’s be clear that it’s one thing to manage the group and keep the ship afloat, but it’s entirely another thing to lead the group toward success.
A Path for Me
Although the cacophony of managing that many voices was deafening early on, I found solace in the lessons of quality improvement (QI), where no project lives without a team that is all going the same direction. Between the national opportunities for collaborative improvement and the day-to-day experiences within my group, I found two simple principles worked well: 1) engage the team and 2) deliver objective results.
And just as I had craved a clinical learning environment early on, I now found myself learning from local and national peers putting their leadership skills in action to produce quality outcomes. The beauty of collaborative teamwork is that it creates self-sustaining capacity for more positive results.
Looking forward, the opportunities seem limitless for pediatric hospital medicine. From the inherent fulfillment of our day-to-day bedside work to the explicit leadership that we offer the complex hospital system, our family of pediatric hospitalists has blazed career paths in all directions. We are program directors. We are directors of quality and safety. We are division directors and section chiefs. We are professors. We are fellowship-trained. We are CEOs, of entire hospitals and the CMO of CMS. There has never been a better time to be a pediatric hospitalist.
This rapid ascent has to be the fastest in the history of medicine and might surprise the unsuspecting, but these career paths really should have been expected. Residents and students still identify the most with their ward months—we always will be leaders in education. Hospitals and health-care systems recognize the value of hospitalists as systems improvers and will forever need enlightened physicians to guide safer, better care. But we also remain generalists, perched over the exact intersection of acute illness and health. From this vantage point, we have the perfect perspective from which to lead the transformation of our health-care system. I’m not sure there is a leadership position in health care that a hospitalist will not fill in the near future.
A New Frontier
With all of this opportunity before us, there exists an imperative for true leadership. And unlike all of our past requirements for achievement, relying on our quantitative abilities will no longer be enough. Rather, we will need to focus on the qualitative “soft” skills, whether you call this emotional intelligence, interpersonal communication, or behavioral economics. The creation of value-based, care-delivery systems requires high-functioning units. We will need to design and lead teams from the bedside to the boardroom.
In the coming years, this leadership imperative will only intensify, as we all will be pressured to do more with less. We will be asked to improve quality and decrease costs. We will need to broaden our focus to health in addition to acute illness. Doing more with less will require courage and leadership. If you look at our growth curve to date, we have an abundance of both.
Dr. Shen is medical director of hospital medicine at Dell Children's Medical Center in Austin, Texas. He served as The Hospitalist's pediatric editor since 2010 and this marks his last column in his role as editor. In his newfound spare time, he looks forward to defining value in health care.
Dear Mark,
I am pleased and excited that you are willing to abandon your plan for being a vagabond and will give serious consideration to joining the faculty of the Department of Pediatrics to become a core member of a new [general pediatric inpatient] program that I believe has exciting potential.
So reads the first line of my very first job offer letter. Obviously, my chairman had a sense of humor. But he also was not off target, as before May 21 of my third year of residency, I had no meaningful work lined up. Dreams of locum tenens work in Hawaii or a California coastal town quickly disappeared as I received only offers for work in small-town Mississippi and Oklahoma. Eleven years later, I don’t think I could have planned a more fulfilling early career, particularly when the alternative might have been surfing on the Mississippi River.
I would like this opportunity, in my final column as The Hospitalist’s pediatric editor, to reflect on this odyssey from vagabond to hospitalist.
The Early Years
As a new attending, I was appropriately terrified of how much I didn’t know. I also had ambitious goals at first, wanting to emulate my two favorite role models from residency, Charles Ginsburg and Heinz Eichenwald. We might call them hospitalists now, but back then they were old-fashioned, generalist inpatient clinician-educators, even while chairing the department of pediatrics over their separate tenures. They were the smartest and wisest teachers that I have ever met. These early years were a pseudo-fellowship of sorts; under their tutelage, I soaked up more than I ever had during residency.
Despite all of this learning, I remained sheltered in my clinician-educator bubble. The path to excellence for me was defined through frequent trips to the library (where journals used to be stored) and trying to teach as well as my mentors did. I largely was ignorant of the national hospitalist movement, until the 2007 SHM annual meeting was held in my backyard in Dallas. Listening to Bob Wachter that year, and then Don Berwick the following year, I suddenly realized the tremendous and intertwined importance of the quality movement and hospitalists. We were going to fix medicine. OK, maybe not all of medicine, but it happened to be the perfect time for me to learn about our health-care crisis, quality, and the role of hospital medicine.
If my first five years were about clinical medicine, the next five years were all about lessons in leadership. I had a new role, directing 8 15 20 25 hospitalists—and now was accountable for the group’s results. I’ve often said that an explicit leadership role is like stepping behind a curtain, where your own previous n=1 perspective is now the challenge of herding a group of n=25. And let’s be clear that it’s one thing to manage the group and keep the ship afloat, but it’s entirely another thing to lead the group toward success.
A Path for Me
Although the cacophony of managing that many voices was deafening early on, I found solace in the lessons of quality improvement (QI), where no project lives without a team that is all going the same direction. Between the national opportunities for collaborative improvement and the day-to-day experiences within my group, I found two simple principles worked well: 1) engage the team and 2) deliver objective results.
And just as I had craved a clinical learning environment early on, I now found myself learning from local and national peers putting their leadership skills in action to produce quality outcomes. The beauty of collaborative teamwork is that it creates self-sustaining capacity for more positive results.
Looking forward, the opportunities seem limitless for pediatric hospital medicine. From the inherent fulfillment of our day-to-day bedside work to the explicit leadership that we offer the complex hospital system, our family of pediatric hospitalists has blazed career paths in all directions. We are program directors. We are directors of quality and safety. We are division directors and section chiefs. We are professors. We are fellowship-trained. We are CEOs, of entire hospitals and the CMO of CMS. There has never been a better time to be a pediatric hospitalist.
This rapid ascent has to be the fastest in the history of medicine and might surprise the unsuspecting, but these career paths really should have been expected. Residents and students still identify the most with their ward months—we always will be leaders in education. Hospitals and health-care systems recognize the value of hospitalists as systems improvers and will forever need enlightened physicians to guide safer, better care. But we also remain generalists, perched over the exact intersection of acute illness and health. From this vantage point, we have the perfect perspective from which to lead the transformation of our health-care system. I’m not sure there is a leadership position in health care that a hospitalist will not fill in the near future.
A New Frontier
With all of this opportunity before us, there exists an imperative for true leadership. And unlike all of our past requirements for achievement, relying on our quantitative abilities will no longer be enough. Rather, we will need to focus on the qualitative “soft” skills, whether you call this emotional intelligence, interpersonal communication, or behavioral economics. The creation of value-based, care-delivery systems requires high-functioning units. We will need to design and lead teams from the bedside to the boardroom.
In the coming years, this leadership imperative will only intensify, as we all will be pressured to do more with less. We will be asked to improve quality and decrease costs. We will need to broaden our focus to health in addition to acute illness. Doing more with less will require courage and leadership. If you look at our growth curve to date, we have an abundance of both.
Dr. Shen is medical director of hospital medicine at Dell Children's Medical Center in Austin, Texas. He served as The Hospitalist's pediatric editor since 2010 and this marks his last column in his role as editor. In his newfound spare time, he looks forward to defining value in health care.
Dear Mark,
I am pleased and excited that you are willing to abandon your plan for being a vagabond and will give serious consideration to joining the faculty of the Department of Pediatrics to become a core member of a new [general pediatric inpatient] program that I believe has exciting potential.
So reads the first line of my very first job offer letter. Obviously, my chairman had a sense of humor. But he also was not off target, as before May 21 of my third year of residency, I had no meaningful work lined up. Dreams of locum tenens work in Hawaii or a California coastal town quickly disappeared as I received only offers for work in small-town Mississippi and Oklahoma. Eleven years later, I don’t think I could have planned a more fulfilling early career, particularly when the alternative might have been surfing on the Mississippi River.
I would like this opportunity, in my final column as The Hospitalist’s pediatric editor, to reflect on this odyssey from vagabond to hospitalist.
The Early Years
As a new attending, I was appropriately terrified of how much I didn’t know. I also had ambitious goals at first, wanting to emulate my two favorite role models from residency, Charles Ginsburg and Heinz Eichenwald. We might call them hospitalists now, but back then they were old-fashioned, generalist inpatient clinician-educators, even while chairing the department of pediatrics over their separate tenures. They were the smartest and wisest teachers that I have ever met. These early years were a pseudo-fellowship of sorts; under their tutelage, I soaked up more than I ever had during residency.
Despite all of this learning, I remained sheltered in my clinician-educator bubble. The path to excellence for me was defined through frequent trips to the library (where journals used to be stored) and trying to teach as well as my mentors did. I largely was ignorant of the national hospitalist movement, until the 2007 SHM annual meeting was held in my backyard in Dallas. Listening to Bob Wachter that year, and then Don Berwick the following year, I suddenly realized the tremendous and intertwined importance of the quality movement and hospitalists. We were going to fix medicine. OK, maybe not all of medicine, but it happened to be the perfect time for me to learn about our health-care crisis, quality, and the role of hospital medicine.
If my first five years were about clinical medicine, the next five years were all about lessons in leadership. I had a new role, directing 8 15 20 25 hospitalists—and now was accountable for the group’s results. I’ve often said that an explicit leadership role is like stepping behind a curtain, where your own previous n=1 perspective is now the challenge of herding a group of n=25. And let’s be clear that it’s one thing to manage the group and keep the ship afloat, but it’s entirely another thing to lead the group toward success.
A Path for Me
Although the cacophony of managing that many voices was deafening early on, I found solace in the lessons of quality improvement (QI), where no project lives without a team that is all going the same direction. Between the national opportunities for collaborative improvement and the day-to-day experiences within my group, I found two simple principles worked well: 1) engage the team and 2) deliver objective results.
And just as I had craved a clinical learning environment early on, I now found myself learning from local and national peers putting their leadership skills in action to produce quality outcomes. The beauty of collaborative teamwork is that it creates self-sustaining capacity for more positive results.
Looking forward, the opportunities seem limitless for pediatric hospital medicine. From the inherent fulfillment of our day-to-day bedside work to the explicit leadership that we offer the complex hospital system, our family of pediatric hospitalists has blazed career paths in all directions. We are program directors. We are directors of quality and safety. We are division directors and section chiefs. We are professors. We are fellowship-trained. We are CEOs, of entire hospitals and the CMO of CMS. There has never been a better time to be a pediatric hospitalist.
This rapid ascent has to be the fastest in the history of medicine and might surprise the unsuspecting, but these career paths really should have been expected. Residents and students still identify the most with their ward months—we always will be leaders in education. Hospitals and health-care systems recognize the value of hospitalists as systems improvers and will forever need enlightened physicians to guide safer, better care. But we also remain generalists, perched over the exact intersection of acute illness and health. From this vantage point, we have the perfect perspective from which to lead the transformation of our health-care system. I’m not sure there is a leadership position in health care that a hospitalist will not fill in the near future.
A New Frontier
With all of this opportunity before us, there exists an imperative for true leadership. And unlike all of our past requirements for achievement, relying on our quantitative abilities will no longer be enough. Rather, we will need to focus on the qualitative “soft” skills, whether you call this emotional intelligence, interpersonal communication, or behavioral economics. The creation of value-based, care-delivery systems requires high-functioning units. We will need to design and lead teams from the bedside to the boardroom.
In the coming years, this leadership imperative will only intensify, as we all will be pressured to do more with less. We will be asked to improve quality and decrease costs. We will need to broaden our focus to health in addition to acute illness. Doing more with less will require courage and leadership. If you look at our growth curve to date, we have an abundance of both.
Dr. Shen is medical director of hospital medicine at Dell Children's Medical Center in Austin, Texas. He served as The Hospitalist's pediatric editor since 2010 and this marks his last column in his role as editor. In his newfound spare time, he looks forward to defining value in health care.