As the hospital medicine specialty continues to grow, hospitalists often ask: “How can I get involved?”
Getting involved in the hospital medicine movement and contributing to SHM’s goal of helping hospitalists provide exceptional care to hospitalized patients is easy—and it can start today.
A: Awards
Nominating a colleague—or yourself—for one of SHM’s seven awards is a great way to share your successes with the rest of the specialty. It also generates national recognition for the people and practices that make hospital medicine great.
This year, SHM will be awarding seven awards:
- Excellence in Teamwork in Quality Improvement;
- Excellence in Research;
- Excellence in Hospital Medicine for Non-Physicians;
- Excellence in Teaching;
- Outstanding Service in Hospital Medicine;
- Clinical Excellence; and
- Excellence in Humanitarian Services.
Award winners will be recognized onstage at HM15 in National Harbor, Md.
For more information or to nominate yourself or someone else for an award, visit www.hospitalmedicine.org/awards. But don’t wait. The deadline for award submissions is Oct. 13.
B: Board
Are you ready to take a national leadership position within hospital medicine? SHM’s board of directors guides the specialty and helps ensure that SHM provides hospitalists with the tools and education they need to be the best caregivers possible.
Any SHM member in good standing is eligible to become a board member. Four seats are open for the three-year term starting in 2015.
Recently, the SHM Board of Directors oversaw the creation and publication of the “Key Principles and Characteristics of an Effective Hospital Medicine Group,” a formative set of principles that were published in the Journal of Hospital Medicine and now help hospital medicine groups across the country evaluate their performance.
The board will continue to take on major projects like the key characteristics; if you would like to nominate yourself or someone else, visit the “Board of Directors” section of “About SHM” on www.hospitalmedicine.org.
But don’t wait long. Nominations are due Oct. 22.
C: Committees
Committees are the engines of change for hospital medicine. They guide SHM’s policy initiatives, address pressing quality improvement issues for hospitalists, and serve as the point of engagement for many of SHM’s important audiences, including nurse practitioners, physician assistants, family medicine practitioners, and physicians in training.
With more than 20 committees ranging in topics from information technology to support for SHM’s local chapters, there is bound to be one that could benefit from your passion and expertise.
For more information, visit www.hospitalmedicine.org/committees.
Brendon Shank is SHM’s associate vice president for communications.