Register Now for February’s SHM Leadership Academy

SHM Chapter reports

New Jersey

The New Jersey Chapter of SHM held a meeting in September at the Highlawn Pavilion in West Orange, N.J. A presentation titled “The Role of Hospitalists and Hypertension in the Inpatient” was given by Larry Bryd, MD. There were 23 attendees representing five hospital medicine groups in attendance. The meeting was sponsored by Ortho-Biotech. The next New Jersey Chapter meeting is scheduled for March or April 2007 and will take place in South Jersey.

Boston

The Boston chapter of SHM hosted nearly 50 attendees at its October meeting, held at Davio’s restaurant. The featured speaker was Geno Merli, MD, director of internal medicine at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. Dr. Merli spoke about “Key Issues in VTE Prevention.”

At press time the Boston chapter’s next meeting was scheduled for Dec. 7, 2006. The discussion was expected to be “An Influenza Pandemic: Is Your Hospitalist Program Ready?”

Pittsburgh

The Pittsburgh Chapter met in October and included five participants from three Pittsburgh-area hospitals. The speaker for the event was Frank Michota, MD, head, Section of Hospital Medicine, Department of General Medicine, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. His presentation, “The Basics of Hospital Throughput—A Case Study in Acute Decompensated Heart Failure,” generated an excellent discussion on hospital throughput. An election for an acting president was conducted; Michael Cratty, MD, PhD, will serve as acting president. Additional elections will be held as the chapter grows. The next meeting will be held in January.

New York City

The New York City Chapter held an event at in October at March Restaurant in Manhattan. Steven L. Cohn, MD, FACP, chief, Division of General Internal Medicine, director of medical consultation service, and clinical professor of medicine at State University of New York Downstate, gave an update on perioperative medicine. The event was well attended. The evening was sponsored by the Sanofi Aventis Group.

SHM: BEHIND THE SCENES

A Closer Look at SHM’s Mission

By Joe Miller

Earlier this year, as I entered my second year in the position of senior vice president of SHM, my boss, Larry Wellikson, MD, asked me to take the lead in organizing a Senior Staff Planning Summit. The Summit was held in late August 2006.

In preparing for the Summit, I sought a framework that would help to guide a meaningful discussion among the participants. At first I turned to the SHM Mission Statement and Goals:

SHM mission statement: SHM is dedicated to promoting the highest quality care for all hospitalized patients. SHM is committed to promoting excellence in the practice of hospital medicine through education, advocacy, and research.

SHM goals:

• To promote high-quality care for all hospitalized patients;
• To promote education and research in hospital medicine;
• To promote teamwork to achieve the best possible care for hospitalized patients;
• To advocate a career path that will attract and retain the highest quality hospitalists;
• To define the competencies, activities, and needs of the hospitalist community; and
• To support, propose, and promote changes to the healthcare system that lead to higher quality and more efficient care for all hospitalized patients.

Although these were helpful, I did not feel they gave sufficient guidance to a planning session that would focus on specific programs, operational activities, and initiatives. I decided to concentrate on the “needs” that SHM attempts to address (see “Why SHM Exists,” below) and realized that our society exists to serve two masters: hospitalists as individuals and hospitalists as a group (the hospital medicine specialty):

• Hospitalists: SHM exists to meet the needs of individuals with regard to education, facts and news, career satisfaction, networking with peers, and the provision of resources and services.
• Hospital medicine specialty: Our specialty is just 10 years old. SHM exists to help define the specialty, track its growth and development, promote our accomplishments, develop leaders, advocate for public policy, encourage research and scholarly pursuits, and encourage innovation. We also seek to represent the diversity of hospital medicine, recognizing the unique roles of both community-based and academic hospitalists.

To address these needs, SHM has a first-rate staff that delivers service, develops products and programs, and manages projects. You have met the senior members of that group in this column (Geri Barnes, director of education and Quality Initiatives; Steve Poitras, director of business operations; Scott Johnson, director of information services; and Todd Von Deak, director of membership and marketing). We also have a group of consultants who provide exceptional expertise in specialty areas: Laura Allendorf (Advocacy and Public Policy), Tina Budnitz (Quality Initiatives), Kathleen Kerr (Research), and Bob Lane (Information Systems).

There is another critical asset, however, that propels SHM forward with new ideas and hard work. We have a highly motivated group of volunteer members who work on our board of directors, committees, and task forces. The broad range of that participation is also depicted in the diagram.

This SHM team of staff and volunteers addresses the needs of both individual hospitalists and the hospital medicine specialty as a group. The broad range of products and initiatives offered by SHM are represented as the last element of the diagram.

This framework proved to be an extremely useful tool for conducting our Senior Staff Planning Summit in August. I hope it is also useful to you, our members, in understanding the work we do on your behalf. If any of you have questions, please contact me by phone: (215) 351-2465.

Miller is the senior vice president of SHM.

SHM Chapter reports

New Jersey

The New Jersey Chapter of SHM held a meeting in September at the Highlawn Pavilion in West Orange, N.J. A presentation titled “The Role of Hospitalists and Hypertension in the Inpatient” was given by Larry Bryd, MD. There were 23 attendees representing five hospital medicine groups in attendance. The meeting was sponsored by Ortho-Biotech. The next New Jersey Chapter meeting is scheduled for March or April 2007 and will take place in South Jersey.

Boston

The Boston chapter of SHM hosted nearly 50 attendees at its October meeting, held at Davio’s restaurant. The featured speaker was Geno Merli, MD, director of internal medicine at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. Dr. Merli spoke about “Key Issues in VTE Prevention.”

At press time the Boston chapter’s next meeting was scheduled for Dec. 7, 2006. The discussion was expected to be “An Influenza Pandemic: Is Your Hospitalist Program Ready?”

Pittsburgh

The Pittsburgh Chapter met in October and included five participants from three Pittsburgh-area hospitals. The speaker for the event was Frank Michota, MD, head, Section of Hospital Medicine, Department of General Medicine, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. His presentation, “The Basics of Hospital Throughput—A Case Study in Acute Decompensated Heart Failure,” generated an excellent discussion on hospital throughput. An election for an acting president was conducted; Michael Cratty, MD, PhD, will serve as acting president. Additional elections will be held as the chapter grows. The next meeting will be held in January.

New York City

The New York City Chapter held an event at in October at March Restaurant in Manhattan. Steven L. Cohn, MD, FACP, chief, Division of General Internal Medicine, director of medical consultation service, and clinical professor of medicine at State University of New York Downstate, gave an update on perioperative medicine. The event was well attended. The evening was sponsored by the Sanofi Aventis Group.

SHM: BEHIND THE SCENES

A Closer Look at SHM’s Mission

By Joe Miller

Earlier this year, as I entered my second year in the position of senior vice president of SHM, my boss, Larry Wellikson, MD, asked me to take the lead in organizing a Senior Staff Planning Summit. The Summit was held in late August 2006.

In preparing for the Summit, I sought a framework that would help to guide a meaningful discussion among the participants. At first I turned to the SHM Mission Statement and Goals:

SHM mission statement: SHM is dedicated to promoting the highest quality care for all hospitalized patients. SHM is committed to promoting excellence in the practice of hospital medicine through education, advocacy, and research.

SHM goals:

• To promote high-quality care for all hospitalized patients;
• To promote education and research in hospital medicine;
• To promote teamwork to achieve the best possible care for hospitalized patients;
• To advocate a career path that will attract and retain the highest quality hospitalists;
• To define the competencies, activities, and needs of the hospitalist community; and
• To support, propose, and promote changes to the healthcare system that lead to higher quality and more efficient care for all hospitalized patients.

Although these were helpful, I did not feel they gave sufficient guidance to a planning session that would focus on specific programs, operational activities, and initiatives. I decided to concentrate on the “needs” that SHM attempts to address (see “Why SHM Exists,” below) and realized that our society exists to serve two masters: hospitalists as individuals and hospitalists as a group (the hospital medicine specialty):

• Hospitalists: SHM exists to meet the needs of individuals with regard to education, facts and news, career satisfaction, networking with peers, and the provision of resources and services.
• Hospital medicine specialty: Our specialty is just 10 years old. SHM exists to help define the specialty, track its growth and development, promote our accomplishments, develop leaders, advocate for public policy, encourage research and scholarly pursuits, and encourage innovation. We also seek to represent the diversity of hospital medicine, recognizing the unique roles of both community-based and academic hospitalists.

To address these needs, SHM has a first-rate staff that delivers service, develops products and programs, and manages projects. You have met the senior members of that group in this column (Geri Barnes, director of education and Quality Initiatives; Steve Poitras, director of business operations; Scott Johnson, director of information services; and Todd Von Deak, director of membership and marketing). We also have a group of consultants who provide exceptional expertise in specialty areas: Laura Allendorf (Advocacy and Public Policy), Tina Budnitz (Quality Initiatives), Kathleen Kerr (Research), and Bob Lane (Information Systems).

There is another critical asset, however, that propels SHM forward with new ideas and hard work. We have a highly motivated group of volunteer members who work on our board of directors, committees, and task forces. The broad range of that participation is also depicted in the diagram.

This SHM team of staff and volunteers addresses the needs of both individual hospitalists and the hospital medicine specialty as a group. The broad range of products and initiatives offered by SHM are represented as the last element of the diagram.

This framework proved to be an extremely useful tool for conducting our Senior Staff Planning Summit in August. I hope it is also useful to you, our members, in understanding the work we do on your behalf. If any of you have questions, please contact me by phone: (215) 351-2465.

Miller is the senior vice president of SHM.

SHM Chapter reports

New Jersey

The New Jersey Chapter of SHM held a meeting in September at the Highlawn Pavilion in West Orange, N.J. A presentation titled “The Role of Hospitalists and Hypertension in the Inpatient” was given by Larry Bryd, MD. There were 23 attendees representing five hospital medicine groups in attendance. The meeting was sponsored by Ortho-Biotech. The next New Jersey Chapter meeting is scheduled for March or April 2007 and will take place in South Jersey.

Boston

The Boston chapter of SHM hosted nearly 50 attendees at its October meeting, held at Davio’s restaurant. The featured speaker was Geno Merli, MD, director of internal medicine at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. Dr. Merli spoke about “Key Issues in VTE Prevention.”

At press time the Boston chapter’s next meeting was scheduled for Dec. 7, 2006. The discussion was expected to be “An Influenza Pandemic: Is Your Hospitalist Program Ready?”

Pittsburgh

The Pittsburgh Chapter met in October and included five participants from three Pittsburgh-area hospitals. The speaker for the event was Frank Michota, MD, head, Section of Hospital Medicine, Department of General Medicine, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. His presentation, “The Basics of Hospital Throughput—A Case Study in Acute Decompensated Heart Failure,” generated an excellent discussion on hospital throughput. An election for an acting president was conducted; Michael Cratty, MD, PhD, will serve as acting president. Additional elections will be held as the chapter grows. The next meeting will be held in January.

New York City

The New York City Chapter held an event at in October at March Restaurant in Manhattan. Steven L. Cohn, MD, FACP, chief, Division of General Internal Medicine, director of medical consultation service, and clinical professor of medicine at State University of New York Downstate, gave an update on perioperative medicine. The event was well attended. The evening was sponsored by the Sanofi Aventis Group.

SHM: BEHIND THE SCENES

A Closer Look at SHM’s Mission

By Joe Miller

Earlier this year, as I entered my second year in the position of senior vice president of SHM, my boss, Larry Wellikson, MD, asked me to take the lead in organizing a Senior Staff Planning Summit. The Summit was held in late August 2006.

In preparing for the Summit, I sought a framework that would help to guide a meaningful discussion among the participants. At first I turned to the SHM Mission Statement and Goals:

SHM mission statement: SHM is dedicated to promoting the highest quality care for all hospitalized patients. SHM is committed to promoting excellence in the practice of hospital medicine through education, advocacy, and research.

SHM goals:

• To promote high-quality care for all hospitalized patients;
• To promote education and research in hospital medicine;
• To promote teamwork to achieve the best possible care for hospitalized patients;
• To advocate a career path that will attract and retain the highest quality hospitalists;
• To define the competencies, activities, and needs of the hospitalist community; and
• To support, propose, and promote changes to the healthcare system that lead to higher quality and more efficient care for all hospitalized patients.

Although these were helpful, I did not feel they gave sufficient guidance to a planning session that would focus on specific programs, operational activities, and initiatives. I decided to concentrate on the “needs” that SHM attempts to address (see “Why SHM Exists,” below) and realized that our society exists to serve two masters: hospitalists as individuals and hospitalists as a group (the hospital medicine specialty):

• Hospitalists: SHM exists to meet the needs of individuals with regard to education, facts and news, career satisfaction, networking with peers, and the provision of resources and services.
• Hospital medicine specialty: Our specialty is just 10 years old. SHM exists to help define the specialty, track its growth and development, promote our accomplishments, develop leaders, advocate for public policy, encourage research and scholarly pursuits, and encourage innovation. We also seek to represent the diversity of hospital medicine, recognizing the unique roles of both community-based and academic hospitalists.

To address these needs, SHM has a first-rate staff that delivers service, develops products and programs, and manages projects. You have met the senior members of that group in this column (Geri Barnes, director of education and Quality Initiatives; Steve Poitras, director of business operations; Scott Johnson, director of information services; and Todd Von Deak, director of membership and marketing). We also have a group of consultants who provide exceptional expertise in specialty areas: Laura Allendorf (Advocacy and Public Policy), Tina Budnitz (Quality Initiatives), Kathleen Kerr (Research), and Bob Lane (Information Systems).

There is another critical asset, however, that propels SHM forward with new ideas and hard work. We have a highly motivated group of volunteer members who work on our board of directors, committees, and task forces. The broad range of that participation is also depicted in the diagram.

This SHM team of staff and volunteers addresses the needs of both individual hospitalists and the hospital medicine specialty as a group. The broad range of products and initiatives offered by SHM are represented as the last element of the diagram.

This framework proved to be an extremely useful tool for conducting our Senior Staff Planning Summit in August. I hope it is also useful to you, our members, in understanding the work we do on your behalf. If any of you have questions, please contact me by phone: (215) 351-2465.

Miller is the senior vice president of SHM.