The Society of Hospital Medicine is an organization vested in improving the quality of inpatient medicine by empowering its members with education and providing venues for professional development including networking, advocacy, and leadership advancement. Every year, SHM holds a national conference which is a focused meeting point for over 5,000 hospitalists.
SHM hosts more than 50 local chapters nationwide to increase networking, education, and collaboration within the hospital medicine community. The Wiregrass chapter of SHM is based in the southeast corner of Alabama, covering the counties of lower Alabama and the panhandle of Florida. This year we were recognized as a platinum status chapter, which is the highest status, based on our work and participation to improve the quality of inpatient medicine.
As part of winning the platinum ribbon, we were awarded three complimentary registration scholarships to the SHM Annual Conference in 2019. The chapter leadership met and selected three individuals who have been involved with the chapter actively but have never had an opportunity to experience SHM’s Annual Conference. We selected a first-year resident, Dr. Avani Parrekh; a hospital medicine nurse practitioner, Madison Rivenbark; and a fourth-year medical student who is about to start his internal medicine residency, William Bancroft.
After the meeting we interviewed them to better understand their experience. Below are their thoughts.
Avani Parekh, MD
First year, Internal Medicine Residency
Southeast Health Medical Center
Dothan, Ala.
Dr. Avani Parekh
I am so thankful for the opportunity that was given to me by the Wiregrass chapter by sponsoring my attendance at the 2019 SHM Annual Conference in Washington. This was my first SHM conference, and it was truly a rewarding experience.
I thoroughly enjoyed attending the lectures. They were very informative and engaging. Every presenter was so passionate and inspiring. Coming from an “all-female class” of PGY-1 at my program, I especially enjoyed the “Fe(male) in medicine” talk, as well as Quick Talks on women in medicine. The “Updates in Hospital Medicine” session on various topics such as heart failure, pneumonia, and sepsis was outstanding. I was excited to apply the knowledge I gained from this event into my patient care.
Overall, it was a well-organized and up-to-date event. I am looking forward to attending more SHM conferences in the future.
Madison Rivenbark, NP
Department of Hospital Medicine
Southeast Health Medical Center
Dothan, Ala.
Madison Rivenbark
I was extremely fortunate to be selected to receive a scholarship that covered the conference fee for the 2019 SHM Annual Conference. This was my first SHM conference, and it was quite the learning experience. I enjoyed each educational session that I attended. I felt like I was able to bring something home with me that I can incorporate into my practice to better care for the patients that I see each day.
As mentioned above, I learned from each session, but my personal favorite was the “Updates in Hospital Medicine” session. I was very impressed by the enthusiasm of the two speakers. The information provided was presented so that it engaged each attendee.
Not only did I learn a wealth of valuable information that will help me in my career, I gained affirmation concerning my future educational endeavors. I was inspired to pursue a higher level of learning regarding my career. I witnessed this awesome organization that is filled with encouraging and motivating people, and I realized I wanted to be more involved on a local level, and maybe one day, on a larger level. In addition, this conference inspired me to continue to be a lifetime learner and to always crave more knowledge. I am blessed to be a part of hospital medicine. I look forward to the future of this specialty.