Career Satisfaction Toolkit

The Hospitalist. 2005 December;2005(12):

December 1, 2005 | The Hospitalist

Sylvia McKean, MD ; Tosha Wetterneck, MD ; Winthrop Whitcomb, MD, MHM

The interviews were expected to be completed in the fall of 2005. Qualitative data analysis will allow us to ascertain important themes for job performance and satisfaction to be highlighted in the survey. The questionnaire development will also consider inclusion of aspects from the prior surveys to follow results over time and when possible will use validated questions from the quality of working life literature.

We anticipate completion of the questionnaire in spring 2006 followed by surveying of a random sample of hospitalists from the SHM membership through a Web-based survey. Sampling of groups of hospitalists based on job characteristics will occur because there is significant interest and need for information about hospitalist worklife in certain work settings. The questionnaire dissemination time will overlap with the annual meeting to maximize survey response. The task force will work with SHM annual meeting committee to discuss having a dedicated computer for filling out the Web-based survey on-site.

Any SHM member who would like to participate in the questionnaire on-site, even if they were not selected for the random sample, will be encouraged to do so. Data analysis will occur in mid-late 2006. The task force will use information from the analyses to update the SHM Worklife Toolkit. We will also provide numerous forums for dissemination of the data. In particular, we plan to showcase this data at the 2007 SHM Annual Meeting followed by journal publication and Web site posting. It is our hope that this data will provide key information on the current quality of working life of hospitalist physicians to support worklife recommendations that promote sustainable, enjoyable careers in hospital medicine.

SHM CHAPTER REPORTS

Boston Chapter

Five years old and still going strong, the Boston Chapter had an excellent turnout at its quarterly meeting in September. Kenneth LaBresh, MD, vice president of medical affairs, MassPRO (Massachusetts Healthcare Quality Improvement Organization) and clinical associate professor of medicine, Brown University, (Providence, R.I.), presented “Building Effective Systems to Improve Hospital Care.” This led to a discussion on best ways to measure and provide quality care in our hospitals.

Kathleen Finn, MD, and Joe Li, MD, invite you to the next quarterly SHM Boston Chapter Meeting on Dec. 15. Our featured speaker will be renowned healthcare consultant, Jack Silberstein, who will speak on physician as leaders. Location: TBA.

For prospective hospitalists and hospitalist employers, we invite interested parties to bring curricula vitae and job descriptions for our annual job fair meeting. For our Spring 2006 meeting, Joe Miller, from the SHM home office, will present the results of the latest SHM Compensation and Productivity Survey.

Upstate New York Chapter

Michael Berlowitz, MD, provided an informative update on the treatment of congestive heart failure at the September meeting, with a special focus on issues facing hospitalists, including multidisciplinary care, discharge planning, and determining when to consult a cardiologist. Several new hospitals were represented at the meeting. And, notably, three of the five programs represented at the meeting have doubled in size in the past year. TH