I joined SHM earlier this year to work with SHM’s Membership and Marketing staff. My role at SHM is to manage our growing organization’s communications. So what does that mean in real terms? Most importantly, we have been tasked with understanding what is important to our members and what value SHM membership needs to provide to you. We’re also working to build a strong foundation for the SHM brand, so keep an eye out for an updated, consistent look to our communications—both online and off.
Feedback from our members and the hospital medicine community at large is vital to us. Samuel Johnson (1709-1764), an often-quoted English writer, once said, “The next best thing to knowing something is knowing where to find it.” One common thread among those I have talked to over the past few months has been concern that although our Web site is comprehensive, finding specific information can be challenging. Quickly making the Web site user-friendly became a priority and, along with our resident Web design guru Bruce Hansen, we have created a navigation system designed to get you to our site’s most popular information in the fewest number of clicks.
Looking for a link to the Journal of Hospital Medicine pages? The Hospitalist Web site? Our new Career Center? Or our Resource Rooms? Look no further than the top of our homepage (www.hospitalmedicine.org). Our new clickable banner will get you where you need to go in no time.
In a few short clicks, you can read pages from the Journal, including expert articles by leading practitioners on current and future trends in hospital medicine. Surf over to The Hospitalist Web site for the latest issue of our monthly newsmagazine. Have a story idea or want to contact the editor? You can do it all on The Hospitalist Web site.
Find your first or next hospitalist job at our new SHM Career Center. This one-of-a-kind forum for those looking for jobs and those with positions to fill helps you to avoid the excess of other career sites by focusing on our specific industry. Our Resource Rooms provide you with access to expert advice and information on every aspect of your practice. We’ve got the tools you need, and our Resource Rooms are the toolbox.
Of course, we hope you won’t forget the rest of our Web site: Look for the latest in advocacy and policy updates, our online discussion communities, and breaking news in the field of hospital medicine.
We hope you will set aside a few minutes each month to review our revamped SHM eNewsletter. Kudos again to Bruce for its ultra-sleek, contemporary design, which both pleases the eye and improves the readability of the articles. Research has shown us that most people read our articles online, as opposed to printing them out and reading them, so look for larger fonts and a clean layout.
We’ve introduced many new columns that will become a regular part of the SHM eNewsletter, including our Career Center Job of the Month, Clinical News, Advocacy News, upcoming articles from The Hospitalist—and more. We are also proud to introduce our featured product of the month from our newly launched SHM Store. Looking for a way to show your hospitalist pride? Why not grab one of our SHM polo shirts, scrub tops, or a baseball cap? The SHM store also features educational products. Looking for an extra copy of The Core Competencies or the ““Bi-Annual Survey on the State of the Hospital Medicine Movement”? You’ll find them, along with nearly 100 other items, at the SHM Store.