SHM Surveys Revisited
It’s that easy. Make sure you go online to browse the new SHM Store. If you have any questions or would like to learn more about the SHM Store, contact SHM at CustomerService@hospitalmedicine. org.
SHM, Health Groups Urge House to Boost Discretionary Funding
SHM joined more than 800 health, education, and labor organizations in writing a May 8 letter to the House leadership. Organized by the Coalition for Health Funding and the Committee on Education Funding, the letter calls on Congress to add $7 billion to the budget in discretionary funding for health, education, and labor programs. It asks lawmakers to ensure that the final allocation for the House and Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, Education Appropriations Subcommittees reflects a $7 billion increase above the President’s request for these critically important programs in FY 2007.
“While our organizations represent a wide array of domestic priorities,” the letter states, “we are united in our effort to advance the bipartisan goal of adding $7 billion in discretionary funding for health, education, labor enforcement, job training, and social services programs as the budget process moves forward. On behalf of our millions of constituents, we strongly urge you to provide at least $7 billion in additional federal support to restore funding levels to FY 2005. This is essential to sustain the well-being and prosperity of our nation.”
Agencies whose funding could be boosted by the additional spending called for in the coalition letter include the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the National Institutes of Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
For full coverage of May 2006 advocacy and policy news, visit www.hospitalmedicine.org. TH
Dr. Siegal is chair of SHM’s Public Policy Committee.
SHM: BEHIND THE SCENES
Education and Quality Initiatives: SHM’s Heart and Soul
By Geri Barnes
This month’s SHM staff article highlights the department responsible for SHM’s education and quality initiatives. While my fellow senior managers may disagree, I believe that we are the heart and soul of SHM in meeting members’ needs. So important is this organizational focus that the Education Committee, chaired by Preetha Basaviah, MD, has its own mission, which parallels and provides detail to the organizational mission of promoting excellence in the practice of hospital medicine. And the Hospital Quality and Patient Safety Committee, chaired by Mahalakshmi Halasyamani, MD, is one of the most dynamic and prolific of SHM’s committees.
We know that members join SHM for the opportunity to effect change and network with colleagues. Equally strong is the quest for educational resources that will facilitate their efforts in improving quality inpatient care. SHM’s education plan focuses and organizes our energy on developing those resources.
SHM’s resources come in many forms. The most visible is our annual meeting. By all accounts, the 2006 annual meeting was extremely successful. It was our largest meeting to date, with almost 1,200 attendees, 99% of whom were members. That number represents more than 21% of our total membership. I wonder how many other organizations can boast of such a high percentage of member attendance at their annual meeting. The attendees actively participated in the educational sessions and the Research, Innovations, and Clinical Vignettes poster session, visited the exhibits, and networked during breaks and social events. To enhance the educational experience, we created a password-protected Web site where registrants could access the handouts for sessions they planned to attend. Because of the value of these materials, we are currently determining ways to utilize the handouts to expand our educational resources.
For several years, SHM has presented the Leadership Academy and “Best Practices in Managing a Hospital Medicine Program” course. These courses are so popular that they have become a mainstay of SHM educational programs and are offered on an annual basis. In September we will present the first Level II Leadership Academy designed to build upon and expand Leadership Academy I. Additionally, “Fundamentals in Billing and Coding” a pre-course to the University of California San Francisco “Management of the Hospitalized Patient” course will be offered in October for the first time. This outgrowth of the Best Practices course was identified as a need by attendees and other members. We anticipate that we will continue to offer these important programs for many years to come.
While we reach a significant number of hospitalists and other healthcare providers through our annual meeting and other face-to-face meetings, we reach many more through other educational and quality improvement efforts. Hospitalists, in their unique role as providers responsible for the general medical care of hospitalized patients, find themselves filling roles as key players and drivers of institutional quality improvement. To aid them in this effort, we’ve developed Web-based resource rooms designed to facilitate the implementation of a quality improvement program for specific disease state/clinical condition, including antimicrobial resistance, stroke, venous thromboembolism, and heart failure. Resource rooms on glycemic control and discharge planning are currently under development.
For most resource rooms, the key is the QI Workbook, a resource built on proven principles of quality improvement, personal experiences, and evidence-based medicine. Resources in addition to the workbook include slide sets that can be used in training sessions, “Teaching Pearls,” patient education resources, and clinical tools in the form of algorithms, order sets, and discharge planning sheets. Most of the resource rooms have online CME programs and each room has a well-developed bibliography.
What will likely prove to be SHM’s most far-reaching resource is The Core Competencies in Hospital Medicine: A Framework For Curriculum Development. Published earlier this year as a supplement to the Journal of Hospital Medicine, the Core Competencies provides a structure for professional and curricular development based on a shared understanding of the essential knowledge, skills, and attitudes expected of physicians working as hospitalists. While the target audience is the directors of hospitalist programs and fellowships and residency programs (and medical school internal medicine clerkships), imagine the number of people reached when the Core Competencies touch hospitalist students across the board. Additionally, the Core Competencies are the focal point for every educational and quality improvement initiative that we undertake. This document will continue to drive the content of each annual meeting, provide direction for the organization, and help us prioritize the development of resources rooms and other educational and quality improvement resources.
SHM is lucky to have partners who understand the importance of hospitalists as key members of the multidisciplinary team and the army that will lead the charge in implementing protocols to improve patient care. From foundations and sister associations, to government and industry, we partner with organizations that appreciate the role that hospitalists play in improving the healthcare system. The partnerships have led to the development of toolkits, resource rooms, CME modules, and other important resources. New initiatives soon to be launched are mentored implementation programs and demonstration projects that will provide us with increased knowledge of how our resources are used and identify areas in which they can be improved.
What is required on a staff level to make this happen? A commitment to do whatever it takes to get the job done. Six of us are equally dedicated to leading, managing, and supporting these efforts. In addition to me, staff members Tina Budnitz, Erica Pearson, Joy Wittnebert, Lillian Higgins, and Theresa Jones chart new ground and are actively engaged in a dynamic learning process on a daily basis. But it is our members and experts that drive this process, and we are grateful for their patience and guidance.
The Education and Quality Initiatives staff members do not work in a vacuum in the national office. We have the support and brainpower of the rest of the staff, with whom we collaborate daily. Membership and marketing, information technology, and business operations staff all play a role in our success.
What makes the national office run as a well-oiled machine? Next month you’ll hear from Steve Poitras, director, Business Operations, who is instrumental in making that happen.
Barnes is director, Education & Quality Initiatives, for SHM.
