Another SHM Leadership Academy just ended, with introductory and advanced courses presented at the Fontainebleau resort, complete with the backdrop of Miami Beach. These four-day courses are aimed at hospitalist leaders, and have trained more than 1,200 participants to date. The faculty includes nationally recognized experts in their respective fields, as well as experienced HM leaders.
Level I courses are designed to help new leaders in HM, and focus on communication skills, hospital business drivers, leadership, strategic planning, and conflict resolution. Harjit Bhogal, MD, a hospitalist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, found the Level I course addressed many of the roles she has as a new hospitalist. “The session on strategic planning was interactive and extremely informative,” Dr. Bhogal says. She also says the academy is an ideal place for networking, as attendees have access to more than 100 practicing hospitalist leaders with whom to connect.
Level II takes concepts introduced in Level I and refines them. Communication and negotiation, “meta-leadership,” financial storytelling, and a leadership roundtable help more advanced leaders tackle more complex issues. The session on meta-leadership was “terrific,” according to hospitalist Darlene Tad-y, MD, of Johns Hopkins. “One of the best days I have spent as an adult learner,” she says. “Lenny [Marcus] was absolutely amazing; his walk-in-the-woods approach was a terrific method to discuss leadership.”
Many see hospitalists as the future leaders of the hospital and throughout healthcare. “In addition to helping train leaders for hospital medicine, we believe that SHM has the obligation to train hospitalists to be the next hospital CMOs and CEOs,” says Larry Wellikson, MD, FHM, CEO of SHM.
Apparently, 1,200 academy graduates agree with him.