Can hospitalists bridge this gap and change the world? Absolutely!
Inherent in our work is continuous improvement, not solely the improvement of our specialty, but also of the services we help co-manage, the hospital-wide committees we sit on, and the C-suite conversations we partake in. And, unlike most of healthcare, we manage to do this, not in isolation, but in multidisciplinary teams of physicians, nurses, staff, and, most importantly, patients and families.
If we unleash the potential of our specialty, the possibilities are endless. Here are some examples from our own hospitalists and society:
- Imagine the future of care with mentored implementation.
SHM’s award-winning mentored implementation model has helped transform care in more than 300 hospitals through best practices in venous thromboembolism, readmissions, and care of diabetic patients.
- Lead with the academy.
The future of healthcare will belong to clinicians who can lead teams and make the case for real change. That’s one of the reasons that SHM’s Leadership Academy has been so successful: It is creating a cadre of more than 2,000 hospitalists who are armed with the confidence and know-how to envision the hospital of the future and manage hospital-based teams toward that vision.
- Collaborate with HMX.
If you’ve ever been to SHM’s annual meeting, you know that hospitalists are a collaborative bunch. In fact, it’s that tendency toward collaboration and problem solving that has led more than 2,300 hospitalists to participate in SHM’s new online community, Hospital Medicine Exchange (www.hmxchange.org). It’s unlike any other platform for hospital-based clinicians, and the conversations on HMX are helping hospitalists everywhere benefit from the experience of colleagues nationally.
- Learn through the portal.
Hospitalists can’t shape the future of healthcare without staying up to date, but the days of getting continuing medical education (CME) credit exclusively from conferences is over. SHM is helping hospitalists with its brand new eLearning Portal (www.shmlearningportal.org), which can be accessed on PCs, tablets, or mobile devices.
Expectation High
So, be bold! The sky is the limit. Continue to learn, collaborate, and lead. Most of all, never stop believing that you can create the future you imagine. After all, it was Albert Einstein who cleverly said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
As for my daughter and I, well, I guess I’m going to start investing in really big hats.
Dr. Afsar is associate chief medical officer at UCLA Hospitals in Los Angeles. She is also assistant clinical professor and executive director of quality and safety in the Department of Medicine and Neurosurgery at UCLA Hospitals. She is an SHM board member. Contact her at [email protected].