Jack Percelay writes…

September, kids are off to school, football resumes, and new grads start hospitalist careers.   Part of the orientation we provide new hires should be anticipation and emotional preparation for any hazing rituals they might face from patients, hospitalist and other physician colleagues, and, perhaps most challenging of all, nurses. (more…)

“There’s a new sheriff in town. “

That’s what my former Chairman told me as he suggested I “update” my CV last fall.  Within two weeks, he announced his resignation and, shortly after, I was informed that there would be a “new direction” in the department of medicine. Five clinical chairs in the college had “stepped down” in the months prior, and this was another notch on the new sheriff’s belt.  Up until then, we had been in denial that “our beloved chairman” would be in the cross hairs.

The new Dean of the college was shaking things up (more…)

Jack Percelay writes….

No, I haven’t been in a coma unaware of what is probably the most significant change for hospitalists for the decade, it’s just that I’m (more…)

Troy Ahlstrom writes…

The Society will host its annual conference, Hospital Medicine 2010, from April 8-11, 2010 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Washington, D.C.  This will be the best attended SHM event in history.  Little wonder, given the rapid pace of change that hospitals and Hospitalists face as well as the uncertainties existent in our national healthcare delivery framework.

The annual conference is an event well worth your time.  Our hospitalist group’s attendance last year impacted nearly every aspect of our program for the coming year.  We saw seven members attend the meeting with three of them inducted (more…)

Mike Radzienda writes…

Over the past ten years, hospitals have been bombarded with external regulatory mandates aimed at improving quality of care.  Amidst these challenges, payer mixes have dwindled and operating margins have narrowed.  This has left hospitals few resources for implementing thoughtful and robust quality improvement infrastructures.  As a result, hospital COOs struggle to develop meaningful partnerships with physicians who can effectively advance the local QI agenda.

Due to a dearth of availability and leadership in the traditional physician staff model, hospital administrators have taken on this QI agenda. This tactic has failed (more…)

Troy Ahlstrom writes…

The SHM Productivity Survey Closes in a Mere Month.

The MGMA-SHM Hospitalist Productivity and Compensation Survey is ongoing NOW, and data submission closes March 12th.  As you know, SHM has provided the most comprehensive data set and incisive analysis regarding Hospitalist practice for 10 years now.  We are not the only source of such information, but we have provided the most detailed, comprehensive analysis of Hospitalist practice in the past.

This year, in 2010, with all of the tumult and unrest over budgets, the economy, and healthcare reform, we will all need (more…)

Mike Radzienda writes…

Hospitalists’ certitude number one-hundred-one: “It is never a good thing to be speaking with the chairman of Emergency Medicine at 1:00 AM on a Monday.”

And there I was trying to explain why the admitting medical officer hadn’t returned a page to the emergency department (ED) for thirty minutes; and why, when he did, he seemed “so overwhelmed.”

This was not flu pandemic season; it was just one of those busy “full moon” nights. Our hospitalists (more…)

Troy Ahlstrom writes…

Assume one will question leadership’s motivation.  State your good intentions clearly and avoid allowing others to infer ill will.

Last month, we ruminated on the foundation of credible leadership, integrity.  This month, we survey how we get from that foundation to actually carrying out a program as an organization.  The all important intermediary step is demonstration of intent.  Our intentions or motives comprise the inseparable link between who we are and what we must accomplish as leaders of an organization. (more…)

Rob Chang writes…

Most of my colleagues on this leadership blog have been involved with leadership on the national level, whether via the Society of Hospital Medicine or through leadership of a multi-state hospitalist organization.  I have not.  I am a local hospitalist leader in an academic center, dealing with the daily mundane tasks of our group’s administration (I do make schedules with my secretary), the future concerns and opportunities for our group (what’s the next big thing we are facing), and contributing to our group’s identity as an academic success (publishing on the things that we do every day as hospitalists). (more…)

John Nelson writes…

It is easy for a hospitalist group leader to focus principally on creating and fine tuning the work schedule, refereeing discussions and disputes with other specialties, and sitting in on many hospital committees.  Yet is important to recognize that these activities aren’t enough to ensure the practice will continue to thrive.  They are important activities to maintain the practice and prevent problems, but they don’t do much to prepare the practice for future challenges.  (I’ve discussed elsewhere that I think it is strange that making and managing the schedule is seen by many hospitalist group leaders as their most important job. While they are responsible for ensuring the group has an appropriate schedule, in many practices I think they should hand off the leg work of creating the schedule to others.) (more…)