Distinguished by the high quality that has become the trademark of the Society of Hospital Medicine’s meetings, the Sixth Annual Southern Regional Meeting began with a Practice Management pre-course directed by Joseph Miller. The course served as a template of SHM’s prospective educational efforts and generated immense enthusiasm from aTendees. Addressing the spectrum of hospital practices, pioneers of the specialty including Drs. Win Whitcomb and John Nelson presented topics ranging from recruitment to retention. Roger A. Heroux, PhD and Mr. Martin B. Buser emphasized practical means by which hospitalists can demonstrate value and how best to offer “proof” of return-on-investment in hospital practices.
Gregory Pendell from Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL won the Southern Regional Abstract Competition with his clinical vignette Massive Barotrauma Following Application of Noninvasive Positive Pressure Ventilation (NPPV) in a Patient With Diffuse Interstitial Lung Disease (DLD).
For the first time the Southern Regional Meeting took place outside of Atlanta and with a new co-sponsor, Mayo Clinic. Orlando played host to the near‑record attendance conference that occurred on Walt Disney World property at the Wyndham Palace. The conference also included a new emphasis on families, offering a new spouse/family program that gave attendees and their families discounted tickets to parks and ideas for outings. The overwhelming success of the program suggested this may be a productive addition to other SHM meetings.
Day one of the main conference stressed the latest evidence in hospital medicine. The first plenary sessions focused on the most common cardiac hospital admissions: acute coronary syndromes (Dr. Keith Oken), atrial fibrillation (Dr. Joseph Blackshear), and diastolic heart failure (Dr. Eugene Page).
Given the increasing importance of the hospitalist in management of patients in the perioperative period, the conference then focused on unique aspects of pre-operative and intra-operative care. Perennial favorite Dr. Geno Merli presented data on the (lack of) evidence supporting most preoperative testing, while newcomers Drs. Neil Feinglass and Bruce Leone presented anesthesiologists’ perspectives on the impact of hospitalists on the surgical patient.
Martin Buser speaks at the Practice Management Pre-Course at the Southern Regional Meeting.
Hospitalists are increasingly on the frontlines of trying to minimize error and improve outcomes. Accordingly, early aaernoon topics looked at two issues in this regard: Heparin-Induced Thrombocytopenia (Dr. Jay Herman) and Improving Outcomes in Cardiac Arrest (Dr. Jason Persoff). Then attendees were able to choose from a spectrum of breakout sessions and workshops that ranged from the integration of nurse practitioners/PAs (Dr. Mitchell Wilson) to performing clinical research (Dr. Mike Picco). Dr. Merli held his popular discussion on anticoagulation in the perioperative period. Dr. Bruce Mitchell and Dr. Jared Morton spearheaded two sessions focusing on minorities in hospital medicine and on the unique aspects of hospitalists on physicians in training, respectively. Finally, Dr. Larry Wellikson provided practical information on how to get a job in hospital medicine as one of the closing sessions of the day.
Dr. Beril Cakir chaired the abstract competition at the end of the first day. Thirteen abstracts from over 6 institutions were presented. Dr. Greg Pendell, from Mayo Clinic Jacksonville, was awarded first place and the opportunity to present in April at the Annual Session in Chicago.
Mitchell Wilson, MD speaks at the Southern Regional Meeting.
Day two built on the theme of hospital medicine’s diversity, with topics ranged from Emerging Infectious Threats (Dr. Walter Hellinger) and the CDC’s Mandate to Reduce Antimicrobial Resistance (Dr. Dan Dressler) to Status Epilepticus (Dr. David Chabolla). Dr. Amir Jaffer spoke about the Cleveland Clinic’s successful preoperative care clinic, while Dr. Archana Roy reviewed the most infl uential research articles to impact the specialty over the past year.