Finally, Dr. Torcson hopes to shape and disseminate a national research agenda for hospitalist performance measurement and reporting. TH
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SHM Behind the Scenes
Quality is our Middle Name
By Geri Barnes
The Education and Quality Initiatives Department’s (EQID) mission is to lead and manage an integrative program that brings resources to improve patient care. With the help of many individuals and partner organizations, SHM is working toward improved care for inpatients. Let’s review our progress as we begin the second quarter of SHM’s fiscal year.
Educational Programs
Our focus over the past few months has been the development of “Hospital Medicine 2008,” which will be held April 3-5 in San Diego. Under the leadership of Sylvia McKean, MD, head of the hospitalist service at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, the Annual Meeting Committee has developed an innovative program. The session will include a new evidence-based rapid fire track and a new teaching skills pre-course for academic and clinical educators. EQID obtains CMEs, communicates with faculty, and fine-tunes logistical efforts.
Leadership Academy Level I is a mainstay of SHM’s educational efforts. EQID supports Eric Howell, MD, chair of the Leadership Committee, as it focuses on addressing attendee input and encouraging the revision of the program in a continuous quality improvement effort. Dr. Howell is director of the Collaborative Inpatient Medicine Service and director of the Zieve Medical Services for Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore.
Along with Level I, Leadership Academy Level II will be presented again this year Nov. 5-8 in San Antonio. It builds on the success of last fall’s first offering by expanding on the concepts presented in the Level I academy.
A new educational initiative, supported by Sanofi-Aventis, provides three training sessions at regional chapters or other designated meetings across the country. The meetings educate hospitalists on best practices for glycemic control, prevention of venous thromboembolism, and transitions of care. Meetings will highlight successful interventions as outlined in the respective quality improvement (QI) implementation guides and resource rooms. Meetings will aim to include 20 to 50 participants.
The last piece of the SHM Heart Failure Quality Improvement Initiative is in its final planning stages, and a third CME module for Team Communications as it relates to the heart failure patient will be developed in the coming months. This initiative is supported in part by Scios Inc. and led by Lakshmi Halasyamani, MD, associate chairperson of the Department of Internal Medicine at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor, Mich.