New Physician Editor of The Hospitalist Offers Broad Experience and an Eye for QI
Chris Rees, the director of quality and patient safety at MUSC, says Dr. Scheurer is adept at taking issues that evolve from the hospital and collaborating on them with other university departments. She is good at putting herself in other groups’ shoes and delivering messages succinctly, he says.
“She’s definitely not seen as just one of those white coats,” Rees says.
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On top of her QI projects, Dr. Scheurer is involved as an advisor, contributor, or reviewer at 11 other publications or online venues. The Hospitalist will make it an even dozen.
“She’s just a dynamo,” Rees says. “She walks around with her MacAir book and she’s constantly writing stuff on it and sending out emails.”
Patrick Cawley, MD, MBA, MHM, the chief medical officer at MUSC who hired Dr. Scheurer when she first worked there in 2003, has seen her move from small projects to systemwide efforts.
“She did a great job and is very collaborative, very knowledgeable, [and] brings an evidence-based approach to problems,” says Dr. Cawley, a past president of SHM and recent inductee as a Master in Hospital Medicine (MHM).
She is quick to notice trends and patterns, he points out. “She’s very knowledgeable about what’s going on in the hospitalist arena,” he says, adding he anticipates she’ll be interested in “data-driven” coverage, along with QI topics.
Dr. Scheurer’s interest in disseminating information shouldn’t be a surprise—it’s a fundamental part of QI and instrumental in systemwide change. She finds it “appealing to work on a project and know that it’s going to affect the next 20,000 patients.”
“There’s no one single person that can ensure that the patient gets all of their needs met,” she says. “There has to be a system approach.”
At The Hospitalist, she will try to keep pace with all the change that hospitals are constantly trying to navigate.
“I don’t think there will ever be a deficiency of content to cover,” she says. “Something’s always brand-new.”
Tom Collins is a freelance writer in Florida.
