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SHM SPARK Helps Bridge Gap for Hospitalist MOC Exam Prep
SHM SPARK delivers 175 vignette-style, multiple-choice questions that bridge the primary knowledge gaps found within existing MOC exam-preparation products. It offers up to 10.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits of CME. Content areas covered include:
- Palliative care, ethics, and decision making
- Patient safety
- Perioperative care and consultative co-management
- Quality, cost, and clinical reasoning
The Hospitalist recently spoke with three SHM SPARK users about its impact on their exam-preparation efforts: Louis O’Boyle, DO, SFHM, CLHM, medical director of Advanced Inpatient Medicine, a hospitalist management company in Lakeville, Pa.; Timothy Crone, MD, SFHM, medical director of Enterprise Intelligence and Analytics and former vice-chairman of the Department of Hospital Medicine at Cleveland Clinic; and Aroop Pal, MD, FHM, hospitalist, associate professor, and program director of transitions of care services at University of Kansas Medical Center.
Question: Why did you choose to purchase SHM SPARK?
Dr. O’Boyle: I was expecting the FPHM exam to be more challenging than the traditional exam, so I wanted to get as much help as possible, particularly in those areas that are less utilized in day-to-day hospitalist practice. This exam covered the 40% or so that is not covered in a typical review course.
Dr. Crone: I was selected to receive SHM SPARK as a test user, but had I not been, I probably would have purchased it as there was not another single tool that addressed the content gap preparing for the exam that SHM SPARK did. On HMX and in conversations with other hospitalists, I was aware of “collections” of tools, like books and websites, that people had put together to review information not covered in MKSAP or other standard test-prep materials. SHM SPARK brought that content together in a single space, which allowed me to take a systematic approach to reviewing the content areas covered as opposed to a potentially incomplete, piecemeal approach.
Dr. Pal: There are no board review products focused on the 40% of the FPHM exam not based on traditional clinical knowledge. Thus, it made sense to give SHM SPARK a try, especially since it was affordable for members.
Q: During your preparation, what was the most useful aspect of SHM SPARK?
Dr. Crone: I find that working through computer-based questions similar in format to the actual exam is most helpful to me. Both in terms of knowledge acquisition and comfort level with the exam itself, the “context-dependent learning” aspect is important for me. SHM SPARK allowed me to work through its content areas in that way and also helped me identify and correct gaps in my knowledge as opposed to guessing what was important and searching for source material on my own.
Dr. Pal: SHM SPARK helped frame how quality and patient safety questions would or could be posed on the FPHM exam. This made it helpful to determine what content is fair game for the exam and the key competencies ABIM was focusing on—especially since traditional board review materials do not cover as much quality-specific content.
Dr. O’Boyle: The most useful aspects were the topics that are not encountered specifically in everyday practice, such as the sections on quality, cost, and clinical reasoning, as well as patient safety.
Q: After taking the exam, in retrospect, how effective was SHM SPARK in preparing you?
Dr. Pal: SHM SPARK was valuable to me and worth the time and effort. The board exam itself is a little bit of a blur; if nothing else, it helped me identify areas that I needed more information on and reinforced some knowledge I had prior to taking the exam.
Dr. O’Boyle: The SHM SPARK review absolutely helped me perform well on the sections that were covered. I think it is almost essential to prepare for the Focused Practice in Hospital Medicine exam.
Dr. Crone: I passed, so I’d label that effective! In some cases, using SHM SPARK, I scored 90% or better on a first pass on questions with no review; that has not been my experience with MKSAP or Med Study questions. The only recommendation I would have is to make some of the questions a bit more rigorous. However, SHM SPARK clearly met a need nothing else did.
Q: If you were to tell a fellow hospitalist one thing about SHM SPARK, what would it be?
Dr. O’Boyle: I encourage everyone to purchase it. It is an excellent resource guide. The way the exam is currently designed, you may need the additional 40% of exam content covered by SHM SPARK in order to pass. By that, I mean that some of the medical questions were so complicated and cumbersome that they were at the specialist level and not at all representative of what a typical hospitalist routinely encounters, in my opinion. Therefore, knowing this portion of the exam content through SHM SPARK made up for the questions that I felt should not have been fair game. I, for one, would likely not have passed without SHM SPARK.
Dr. Crone: It’s worth the time, effort, and cost. Although much or most of the exam content was couched in a clinical scenario, substantive content existed on the MOC exam around these subject areas. To not use some form of structured approach to covering this material would have been a mistake.
Dr. Pal: SHM SPARK is extremely valuable if you plan to take the FPHM exam as it highlights many areas not covered by any other review material. It offers great CME, too! TH
Brett Radler is SHM’s communications specialist.
More Info
For more information about how SHM SPARK can help you master your preparation for the FPHM MOC exam this fall, visit www.hospitalmedicine.org/SPARK.
SHM SPARK delivers 175 vignette-style, multiple-choice questions that bridge the primary knowledge gaps found within existing MOC exam-preparation products. It offers up to 10.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits of CME. Content areas covered include:
- Palliative care, ethics, and decision making
- Patient safety
- Perioperative care and consultative co-management
- Quality, cost, and clinical reasoning
The Hospitalist recently spoke with three SHM SPARK users about its impact on their exam-preparation efforts: Louis O’Boyle, DO, SFHM, CLHM, medical director of Advanced Inpatient Medicine, a hospitalist management company in Lakeville, Pa.; Timothy Crone, MD, SFHM, medical director of Enterprise Intelligence and Analytics and former vice-chairman of the Department of Hospital Medicine at Cleveland Clinic; and Aroop Pal, MD, FHM, hospitalist, associate professor, and program director of transitions of care services at University of Kansas Medical Center.
Question: Why did you choose to purchase SHM SPARK?
Dr. O’Boyle: I was expecting the FPHM exam to be more challenging than the traditional exam, so I wanted to get as much help as possible, particularly in those areas that are less utilized in day-to-day hospitalist practice. This exam covered the 40% or so that is not covered in a typical review course.
Dr. Crone: I was selected to receive SHM SPARK as a test user, but had I not been, I probably would have purchased it as there was not another single tool that addressed the content gap preparing for the exam that SHM SPARK did. On HMX and in conversations with other hospitalists, I was aware of “collections” of tools, like books and websites, that people had put together to review information not covered in MKSAP or other standard test-prep materials. SHM SPARK brought that content together in a single space, which allowed me to take a systematic approach to reviewing the content areas covered as opposed to a potentially incomplete, piecemeal approach.
Dr. Pal: There are no board review products focused on the 40% of the FPHM exam not based on traditional clinical knowledge. Thus, it made sense to give SHM SPARK a try, especially since it was affordable for members.
Q: During your preparation, what was the most useful aspect of SHM SPARK?
Dr. Crone: I find that working through computer-based questions similar in format to the actual exam is most helpful to me. Both in terms of knowledge acquisition and comfort level with the exam itself, the “context-dependent learning” aspect is important for me. SHM SPARK allowed me to work through its content areas in that way and also helped me identify and correct gaps in my knowledge as opposed to guessing what was important and searching for source material on my own.
Dr. Pal: SHM SPARK helped frame how quality and patient safety questions would or could be posed on the FPHM exam. This made it helpful to determine what content is fair game for the exam and the key competencies ABIM was focusing on—especially since traditional board review materials do not cover as much quality-specific content.
Dr. O’Boyle: The most useful aspects were the topics that are not encountered specifically in everyday practice, such as the sections on quality, cost, and clinical reasoning, as well as patient safety.
Q: After taking the exam, in retrospect, how effective was SHM SPARK in preparing you?
Dr. Pal: SHM SPARK was valuable to me and worth the time and effort. The board exam itself is a little bit of a blur; if nothing else, it helped me identify areas that I needed more information on and reinforced some knowledge I had prior to taking the exam.
Dr. O’Boyle: The SHM SPARK review absolutely helped me perform well on the sections that were covered. I think it is almost essential to prepare for the Focused Practice in Hospital Medicine exam.
Dr. Crone: I passed, so I’d label that effective! In some cases, using SHM SPARK, I scored 90% or better on a first pass on questions with no review; that has not been my experience with MKSAP or Med Study questions. The only recommendation I would have is to make some of the questions a bit more rigorous. However, SHM SPARK clearly met a need nothing else did.
Q: If you were to tell a fellow hospitalist one thing about SHM SPARK, what would it be?
Dr. O’Boyle: I encourage everyone to purchase it. It is an excellent resource guide. The way the exam is currently designed, you may need the additional 40% of exam content covered by SHM SPARK in order to pass. By that, I mean that some of the medical questions were so complicated and cumbersome that they were at the specialist level and not at all representative of what a typical hospitalist routinely encounters, in my opinion. Therefore, knowing this portion of the exam content through SHM SPARK made up for the questions that I felt should not have been fair game. I, for one, would likely not have passed without SHM SPARK.
Dr. Crone: It’s worth the time, effort, and cost. Although much or most of the exam content was couched in a clinical scenario, substantive content existed on the MOC exam around these subject areas. To not use some form of structured approach to covering this material would have been a mistake.
Dr. Pal: SHM SPARK is extremely valuable if you plan to take the FPHM exam as it highlights many areas not covered by any other review material. It offers great CME, too! TH
Brett Radler is SHM’s communications specialist.
More Info
For more information about how SHM SPARK can help you master your preparation for the FPHM MOC exam this fall, visit www.hospitalmedicine.org/SPARK.
SHM SPARK delivers 175 vignette-style, multiple-choice questions that bridge the primary knowledge gaps found within existing MOC exam-preparation products. It offers up to 10.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits of CME. Content areas covered include:
- Palliative care, ethics, and decision making
- Patient safety
- Perioperative care and consultative co-management
- Quality, cost, and clinical reasoning
The Hospitalist recently spoke with three SHM SPARK users about its impact on their exam-preparation efforts: Louis O’Boyle, DO, SFHM, CLHM, medical director of Advanced Inpatient Medicine, a hospitalist management company in Lakeville, Pa.; Timothy Crone, MD, SFHM, medical director of Enterprise Intelligence and Analytics and former vice-chairman of the Department of Hospital Medicine at Cleveland Clinic; and Aroop Pal, MD, FHM, hospitalist, associate professor, and program director of transitions of care services at University of Kansas Medical Center.
Question: Why did you choose to purchase SHM SPARK?
Dr. O’Boyle: I was expecting the FPHM exam to be more challenging than the traditional exam, so I wanted to get as much help as possible, particularly in those areas that are less utilized in day-to-day hospitalist practice. This exam covered the 40% or so that is not covered in a typical review course.
Dr. Crone: I was selected to receive SHM SPARK as a test user, but had I not been, I probably would have purchased it as there was not another single tool that addressed the content gap preparing for the exam that SHM SPARK did. On HMX and in conversations with other hospitalists, I was aware of “collections” of tools, like books and websites, that people had put together to review information not covered in MKSAP or other standard test-prep materials. SHM SPARK brought that content together in a single space, which allowed me to take a systematic approach to reviewing the content areas covered as opposed to a potentially incomplete, piecemeal approach.
Dr. Pal: There are no board review products focused on the 40% of the FPHM exam not based on traditional clinical knowledge. Thus, it made sense to give SHM SPARK a try, especially since it was affordable for members.
Q: During your preparation, what was the most useful aspect of SHM SPARK?
Dr. Crone: I find that working through computer-based questions similar in format to the actual exam is most helpful to me. Both in terms of knowledge acquisition and comfort level with the exam itself, the “context-dependent learning” aspect is important for me. SHM SPARK allowed me to work through its content areas in that way and also helped me identify and correct gaps in my knowledge as opposed to guessing what was important and searching for source material on my own.
Dr. Pal: SHM SPARK helped frame how quality and patient safety questions would or could be posed on the FPHM exam. This made it helpful to determine what content is fair game for the exam and the key competencies ABIM was focusing on—especially since traditional board review materials do not cover as much quality-specific content.
Dr. O’Boyle: The most useful aspects were the topics that are not encountered specifically in everyday practice, such as the sections on quality, cost, and clinical reasoning, as well as patient safety.
Q: After taking the exam, in retrospect, how effective was SHM SPARK in preparing you?
Dr. Pal: SHM SPARK was valuable to me and worth the time and effort. The board exam itself is a little bit of a blur; if nothing else, it helped me identify areas that I needed more information on and reinforced some knowledge I had prior to taking the exam.
Dr. O’Boyle: The SHM SPARK review absolutely helped me perform well on the sections that were covered. I think it is almost essential to prepare for the Focused Practice in Hospital Medicine exam.
Dr. Crone: I passed, so I’d label that effective! In some cases, using SHM SPARK, I scored 90% or better on a first pass on questions with no review; that has not been my experience with MKSAP or Med Study questions. The only recommendation I would have is to make some of the questions a bit more rigorous. However, SHM SPARK clearly met a need nothing else did.
Q: If you were to tell a fellow hospitalist one thing about SHM SPARK, what would it be?
Dr. O’Boyle: I encourage everyone to purchase it. It is an excellent resource guide. The way the exam is currently designed, you may need the additional 40% of exam content covered by SHM SPARK in order to pass. By that, I mean that some of the medical questions were so complicated and cumbersome that they were at the specialist level and not at all representative of what a typical hospitalist routinely encounters, in my opinion. Therefore, knowing this portion of the exam content through SHM SPARK made up for the questions that I felt should not have been fair game. I, for one, would likely not have passed without SHM SPARK.
Dr. Crone: It’s worth the time, effort, and cost. Although much or most of the exam content was couched in a clinical scenario, substantive content existed on the MOC exam around these subject areas. To not use some form of structured approach to covering this material would have been a mistake.
Dr. Pal: SHM SPARK is extremely valuable if you plan to take the FPHM exam as it highlights many areas not covered by any other review material. It offers great CME, too! TH
Brett Radler is SHM’s communications specialist.
More Info
For more information about how SHM SPARK can help you master your preparation for the FPHM MOC exam this fall, visit www.hospitalmedicine.org/SPARK.
Measure Hospitalist Engagement with SHM’s Engagement Benchmarking Service
One of the most important questions for leaders of hospital medicine groups is, “How can I measure the level of engagement of my hospitalists?” Measuring hospitalist engagement can be difficult, and many leaders are not satisfied with the tools they currently have at their disposal.
SHM is here to help. SHM developed an Engagement Benchmarking Service to evaluate relationships with leaders, care quality, autonomy, effective motivation, burnout risk, and more. You can see your standardized score in the various domains and where it falls within the national benchmark. This helps you know what is working well and identifies the areas for improvement in your hospital medicine group.
More than 80% of respondents from 2015 indicated that they will utilize the service again and plan to recommend it to a colleague. Help ensure hospitalists are engaged in your HM group by registering now for the next cohort at www.hospitalmedicine.org/pmad3.
One of the most important questions for leaders of hospital medicine groups is, “How can I measure the level of engagement of my hospitalists?” Measuring hospitalist engagement can be difficult, and many leaders are not satisfied with the tools they currently have at their disposal.
SHM is here to help. SHM developed an Engagement Benchmarking Service to evaluate relationships with leaders, care quality, autonomy, effective motivation, burnout risk, and more. You can see your standardized score in the various domains and where it falls within the national benchmark. This helps you know what is working well and identifies the areas for improvement in your hospital medicine group.
More than 80% of respondents from 2015 indicated that they will utilize the service again and plan to recommend it to a colleague. Help ensure hospitalists are engaged in your HM group by registering now for the next cohort at www.hospitalmedicine.org/pmad3.
One of the most important questions for leaders of hospital medicine groups is, “How can I measure the level of engagement of my hospitalists?” Measuring hospitalist engagement can be difficult, and many leaders are not satisfied with the tools they currently have at their disposal.
SHM is here to help. SHM developed an Engagement Benchmarking Service to evaluate relationships with leaders, care quality, autonomy, effective motivation, burnout risk, and more. You can see your standardized score in the various domains and where it falls within the national benchmark. This helps you know what is working well and identifies the areas for improvement in your hospital medicine group.
More than 80% of respondents from 2015 indicated that they will utilize the service again and plan to recommend it to a colleague. Help ensure hospitalists are engaged in your HM group by registering now for the next cohort at www.hospitalmedicine.org/pmad3.
Improve Quality, Patient Safety with SHM’s Online Toolkits and Implementation Guides
SHM’s implementation toolkits provide hospitalists with the resources they need to lead quality improvement projects on a variety of clinical topics, including a new toolkit on venous thromboembolism (VTE) released in May. The new toolkit features a literature review, an implementation guide, and additional reference materials, such as discharge instructions and checklists. Be on the lookout for information about an upcoming webinar series on the treatment of patients with VTE with free CME.
Don’t miss other online toolkits and implementation guides from SHM, covering:
- COPD
- Acute coronary syndrome
- Pain management
- Glycemic control
Check out all available toolkits at www.hospitalmedicine.org/qi.
Brett Radler is SHM’s communications coordinator.
SHM’s implementation toolkits provide hospitalists with the resources they need to lead quality improvement projects on a variety of clinical topics, including a new toolkit on venous thromboembolism (VTE) released in May. The new toolkit features a literature review, an implementation guide, and additional reference materials, such as discharge instructions and checklists. Be on the lookout for information about an upcoming webinar series on the treatment of patients with VTE with free CME.
Don’t miss other online toolkits and implementation guides from SHM, covering:
- COPD
- Acute coronary syndrome
- Pain management
- Glycemic control
Check out all available toolkits at www.hospitalmedicine.org/qi.
Brett Radler is SHM’s communications coordinator.
SHM’s implementation toolkits provide hospitalists with the resources they need to lead quality improvement projects on a variety of clinical topics, including a new toolkit on venous thromboembolism (VTE) released in May. The new toolkit features a literature review, an implementation guide, and additional reference materials, such as discharge instructions and checklists. Be on the lookout for information about an upcoming webinar series on the treatment of patients with VTE with free CME.
Don’t miss other online toolkits and implementation guides from SHM, covering:
- COPD
- Acute coronary syndrome
- Pain management
- Glycemic control
Check out all available toolkits at www.hospitalmedicine.org/qi.
Brett Radler is SHM’s communications coordinator.
Join SHM, JHM on Twitter for #JHMChat on Monday, July 11
During the chat, we invite you to join the conversation with Robert Mahoney, MD, associate professor of medicine at the Washington University School of Medicine, and Vinny Arora, MD, #JHMChat moderator and JHM deputy editor, to discuss the recent JHM publication “As-Needed Intravenous Antihypertensive Therapy and Blood Pressure Control.”
Participating in a #JHMChat allows you to have a dialogue with experts in the field conducting research with implications for your daily practice, network with fellow hospital medicine professionals, and lend your expertise to help others improve patient care. As you get ready for the chat, follow us and our Twitter partners:
- @JHospMedicine (Journal of Hospital Medicine)
- @SHMLive (Society of Hospital Medicine)
- @mahoneyr (Dr. Mahoney)
- @FutureDocs (Dr. Arora)
- @CostsofCare and @ABIMFoundation (#JHMChat partners)
On chat day, don’t forget to include #JHMChat in each of your tweets related to the chat to make sure all participants see them and are able to respond. To learn more, read the featured paper, and check out transcripts from our first three chats, visit www.hospitalmedicine.org/jhmchat.
See you on Twitter!
Brett Radler is SHM’s communications coordinator.
During the chat, we invite you to join the conversation with Robert Mahoney, MD, associate professor of medicine at the Washington University School of Medicine, and Vinny Arora, MD, #JHMChat moderator and JHM deputy editor, to discuss the recent JHM publication “As-Needed Intravenous Antihypertensive Therapy and Blood Pressure Control.”
Participating in a #JHMChat allows you to have a dialogue with experts in the field conducting research with implications for your daily practice, network with fellow hospital medicine professionals, and lend your expertise to help others improve patient care. As you get ready for the chat, follow us and our Twitter partners:
- @JHospMedicine (Journal of Hospital Medicine)
- @SHMLive (Society of Hospital Medicine)
- @mahoneyr (Dr. Mahoney)
- @FutureDocs (Dr. Arora)
- @CostsofCare and @ABIMFoundation (#JHMChat partners)
On chat day, don’t forget to include #JHMChat in each of your tweets related to the chat to make sure all participants see them and are able to respond. To learn more, read the featured paper, and check out transcripts from our first three chats, visit www.hospitalmedicine.org/jhmchat.
See you on Twitter!
Brett Radler is SHM’s communications coordinator.
During the chat, we invite you to join the conversation with Robert Mahoney, MD, associate professor of medicine at the Washington University School of Medicine, and Vinny Arora, MD, #JHMChat moderator and JHM deputy editor, to discuss the recent JHM publication “As-Needed Intravenous Antihypertensive Therapy and Blood Pressure Control.”
Participating in a #JHMChat allows you to have a dialogue with experts in the field conducting research with implications for your daily practice, network with fellow hospital medicine professionals, and lend your expertise to help others improve patient care. As you get ready for the chat, follow us and our Twitter partners:
- @JHospMedicine (Journal of Hospital Medicine)
- @SHMLive (Society of Hospital Medicine)
- @mahoneyr (Dr. Mahoney)
- @FutureDocs (Dr. Arora)
- @CostsofCare and @ABIMFoundation (#JHMChat partners)
On chat day, don’t forget to include #JHMChat in each of your tweets related to the chat to make sure all participants see them and are able to respond. To learn more, read the featured paper, and check out transcripts from our first three chats, visit www.hospitalmedicine.org/jhmchat.
See you on Twitter!
Brett Radler is SHM’s communications coordinator.
Become an SHM Ambassador for a Chance at Free HM17 Registration
Now through December 31, all active SHM members can earn 2017–2018 dues credits and special recognition for recruiting new physician, physician assistant, nurse practitioner, pharmacist, or affiliate members. Active members will be eligible for:
- A $35 credit toward 2017–2018 dues when recruiting 1 new member
- A $50 credit toward 2017–2018 dues when recruiting 2–4 new members
- A $75 credit toward 2017–2018 dues when recruiting 5–9 new members
- A $125 credit toward 2017–2018 dues when recruiting 10+ new members
For each member recruited, referrers will receive one entry into a grand-prize drawing to receive complimentary registration to HM17 in Las Vegas. To be counted as a referral, the new member must:
- Be a brand-new member to SHM. (Past members whose membership has lapsed do not qualify.)
- Register as a physician, physician assistant, nurse practitioner, pharmacist, or affiliate member.
- Include an active member’s name in the “referred by” field on a printed application or the online join form.
- Join before December 31, 2016.
Note: SHM members are not eligible for dues credits through the Membership Ambassador Program for member referrals attributed to free memberships received as a result of HM17 registrations.
Now through December 31, all active SHM members can earn 2017–2018 dues credits and special recognition for recruiting new physician, physician assistant, nurse practitioner, pharmacist, or affiliate members. Active members will be eligible for:
- A $35 credit toward 2017–2018 dues when recruiting 1 new member
- A $50 credit toward 2017–2018 dues when recruiting 2–4 new members
- A $75 credit toward 2017–2018 dues when recruiting 5–9 new members
- A $125 credit toward 2017–2018 dues when recruiting 10+ new members
For each member recruited, referrers will receive one entry into a grand-prize drawing to receive complimentary registration to HM17 in Las Vegas. To be counted as a referral, the new member must:
- Be a brand-new member to SHM. (Past members whose membership has lapsed do not qualify.)
- Register as a physician, physician assistant, nurse practitioner, pharmacist, or affiliate member.
- Include an active member’s name in the “referred by” field on a printed application or the online join form.
- Join before December 31, 2016.
Note: SHM members are not eligible for dues credits through the Membership Ambassador Program for member referrals attributed to free memberships received as a result of HM17 registrations.
Now through December 31, all active SHM members can earn 2017–2018 dues credits and special recognition for recruiting new physician, physician assistant, nurse practitioner, pharmacist, or affiliate members. Active members will be eligible for:
- A $35 credit toward 2017–2018 dues when recruiting 1 new member
- A $50 credit toward 2017–2018 dues when recruiting 2–4 new members
- A $75 credit toward 2017–2018 dues when recruiting 5–9 new members
- A $125 credit toward 2017–2018 dues when recruiting 10+ new members
For each member recruited, referrers will receive one entry into a grand-prize drawing to receive complimentary registration to HM17 in Las Vegas. To be counted as a referral, the new member must:
- Be a brand-new member to SHM. (Past members whose membership has lapsed do not qualify.)
- Register as a physician, physician assistant, nurse practitioner, pharmacist, or affiliate member.
- Include an active member’s name in the “referred by” field on a printed application or the online join form.
- Join before December 31, 2016.
Note: SHM members are not eligible for dues credits through the Membership Ambassador Program for member referrals attributed to free memberships received as a result of HM17 registrations.
Hospitalist Chief Finds Value in SHM’s Hospitalist Engagement Benchmarking Service
Rachel Lovins, MD, SFHM, CPE, is the chief of hospital medicine and vice chair of the Department of Medicine at Middlesex Hospital in Middletown, Conn. In 2015, she read about the Hospitalist Engagement Benchmarking Service, a new offering from SHM that assesses the engagement level of approximately 1,500 hospitalists nationwide. Soon thereafter, she enrolled her hospital medicine group.
The service provides a snapshot and benchmark comparison of physician attitudes toward a wide range of aspects, including organizational climate, care quality, effective motivation, burnout risk, and more.
Dr. Lovins recently shared her thoughts on the survey with The Hospitalist and explained how she and her team are using the results of the survey to improve the engagement of their hospitalist group. More than 80% of survey respondents indicated they will utilize the service again and plan to recommend the service to a colleague. Learn more and join the second cohort at www.hospitalmedicine.org/pmad3.
Question: How did you become aware of the Hospitalist Engagement Benchmarking Service?
Answer: Last year, I read a blog post written by practice management expert Leslie Flores, MHA, SFHM, about happiness. In the post, she shared information about the country of Bhutan and its Gross National Happiness Index. She proceeded to relate it to practice management, stressing the importance of “paying deliberate attention to hospitalist personal and professional well-being” to ensure sustainability in our field.
As she reflected on the implications of Bhutan’s happiness index and its relation to hospital medicine, she suggested having hospital medicine groups complete SHM’s Hospitalist Engagement Benchmarking Survey to know where they stood with their own happiness indices. As the chief of hospital medicine in my hospital, it truly resonated with me. (As an aside, I often joke that I do whatever Leslie says—because she is pretty much always right!)
Q: What factors inspired you to enroll your group in the service?
A: I’m a total believer in the philosophy of Leslie and her consulting partner, John Nelson, MD, MHM, that a healthy hospital medicine group needs a culture of ownership. If members don’t feel engaged, burnout and isolation are not far behind. Hospitalist work is not easy, and the hours can be long. If you don’t feel empowered, safe, and engaged, it’s going to be unhappy work and an unhappy group.
The leadership team in my program sincerely wants our members to feel satisfied professionally and personally at work. In addition to having a high-performing group, we want people to feel like they belong and that they have some control over what goes on in their daily practice.
Q: How would you describe your experience throughout the survey, including findings and follow-up?
A: I found the survey very easy. I supplied the emails of the participating hospitalists to SHM, and their team took care of the rest, including consistent follow-up. A few months after our group completed the survey, I received the results, which were extremely helpful. It was particularly interesting to see where we scored compared to other hospitalist groups.
Q: What were the main findings upon completion for your team at Middlesex Hospital? How did you implement the takeaways/changes following the service? What were/are the results?
A: I was happy to see that our group felt like they made a difference to our patients and the hospital and that the leadership provided good support. I was, however, discouraged that there were issues with perceived fairness in patient distribution and that our percentages for folks looking forward to and being excited by their jobs were somewhat low.
These two issues—and risk for burnout specifically—are part of our strategic plan moving forward. We need to find ways to make patient distribution more transparent and make people feel happier about coming to work, partially through quarterly “think tanks,” which we just started this year. Because of the results of this survey and another hospital survey, we created an anonymous internal survey to get more specific information. Through that, I was able to target some very specific issues and to reach out to members of the group to try and resolve them.
This is an ongoing process, and we have to keep working on it. It’s like a marriage; you can’t just sit back and assume a relationship will work out on its own. You have to constantly reassess your partner’s needs and be concerned about their happiness as well as your own. We certainly don’t do a perfect job meeting everyone’s needs, but we strive to do so. Having a tool that is validated and easy to use is extremely beneficial to us, and I will definitely use it again. I’d recommend it to anyone who manages a hospitalist group. TH
Brett Radler is SHM’s communications coordinator.
Rachel Lovins, MD, SFHM, CPE, is the chief of hospital medicine and vice chair of the Department of Medicine at Middlesex Hospital in Middletown, Conn. In 2015, she read about the Hospitalist Engagement Benchmarking Service, a new offering from SHM that assesses the engagement level of approximately 1,500 hospitalists nationwide. Soon thereafter, she enrolled her hospital medicine group.
The service provides a snapshot and benchmark comparison of physician attitudes toward a wide range of aspects, including organizational climate, care quality, effective motivation, burnout risk, and more.
Dr. Lovins recently shared her thoughts on the survey with The Hospitalist and explained how she and her team are using the results of the survey to improve the engagement of their hospitalist group. More than 80% of survey respondents indicated they will utilize the service again and plan to recommend the service to a colleague. Learn more and join the second cohort at www.hospitalmedicine.org/pmad3.
Question: How did you become aware of the Hospitalist Engagement Benchmarking Service?
Answer: Last year, I read a blog post written by practice management expert Leslie Flores, MHA, SFHM, about happiness. In the post, she shared information about the country of Bhutan and its Gross National Happiness Index. She proceeded to relate it to practice management, stressing the importance of “paying deliberate attention to hospitalist personal and professional well-being” to ensure sustainability in our field.
As she reflected on the implications of Bhutan’s happiness index and its relation to hospital medicine, she suggested having hospital medicine groups complete SHM’s Hospitalist Engagement Benchmarking Survey to know where they stood with their own happiness indices. As the chief of hospital medicine in my hospital, it truly resonated with me. (As an aside, I often joke that I do whatever Leslie says—because she is pretty much always right!)
Q: What factors inspired you to enroll your group in the service?
A: I’m a total believer in the philosophy of Leslie and her consulting partner, John Nelson, MD, MHM, that a healthy hospital medicine group needs a culture of ownership. If members don’t feel engaged, burnout and isolation are not far behind. Hospitalist work is not easy, and the hours can be long. If you don’t feel empowered, safe, and engaged, it’s going to be unhappy work and an unhappy group.
The leadership team in my program sincerely wants our members to feel satisfied professionally and personally at work. In addition to having a high-performing group, we want people to feel like they belong and that they have some control over what goes on in their daily practice.
Q: How would you describe your experience throughout the survey, including findings and follow-up?
A: I found the survey very easy. I supplied the emails of the participating hospitalists to SHM, and their team took care of the rest, including consistent follow-up. A few months after our group completed the survey, I received the results, which were extremely helpful. It was particularly interesting to see where we scored compared to other hospitalist groups.
Q: What were the main findings upon completion for your team at Middlesex Hospital? How did you implement the takeaways/changes following the service? What were/are the results?
A: I was happy to see that our group felt like they made a difference to our patients and the hospital and that the leadership provided good support. I was, however, discouraged that there were issues with perceived fairness in patient distribution and that our percentages for folks looking forward to and being excited by their jobs were somewhat low.
These two issues—and risk for burnout specifically—are part of our strategic plan moving forward. We need to find ways to make patient distribution more transparent and make people feel happier about coming to work, partially through quarterly “think tanks,” which we just started this year. Because of the results of this survey and another hospital survey, we created an anonymous internal survey to get more specific information. Through that, I was able to target some very specific issues and to reach out to members of the group to try and resolve them.
This is an ongoing process, and we have to keep working on it. It’s like a marriage; you can’t just sit back and assume a relationship will work out on its own. You have to constantly reassess your partner’s needs and be concerned about their happiness as well as your own. We certainly don’t do a perfect job meeting everyone’s needs, but we strive to do so. Having a tool that is validated and easy to use is extremely beneficial to us, and I will definitely use it again. I’d recommend it to anyone who manages a hospitalist group. TH
Brett Radler is SHM’s communications coordinator.
Rachel Lovins, MD, SFHM, CPE, is the chief of hospital medicine and vice chair of the Department of Medicine at Middlesex Hospital in Middletown, Conn. In 2015, she read about the Hospitalist Engagement Benchmarking Service, a new offering from SHM that assesses the engagement level of approximately 1,500 hospitalists nationwide. Soon thereafter, she enrolled her hospital medicine group.
The service provides a snapshot and benchmark comparison of physician attitudes toward a wide range of aspects, including organizational climate, care quality, effective motivation, burnout risk, and more.
Dr. Lovins recently shared her thoughts on the survey with The Hospitalist and explained how she and her team are using the results of the survey to improve the engagement of their hospitalist group. More than 80% of survey respondents indicated they will utilize the service again and plan to recommend the service to a colleague. Learn more and join the second cohort at www.hospitalmedicine.org/pmad3.
Question: How did you become aware of the Hospitalist Engagement Benchmarking Service?
Answer: Last year, I read a blog post written by practice management expert Leslie Flores, MHA, SFHM, about happiness. In the post, she shared information about the country of Bhutan and its Gross National Happiness Index. She proceeded to relate it to practice management, stressing the importance of “paying deliberate attention to hospitalist personal and professional well-being” to ensure sustainability in our field.
As she reflected on the implications of Bhutan’s happiness index and its relation to hospital medicine, she suggested having hospital medicine groups complete SHM’s Hospitalist Engagement Benchmarking Survey to know where they stood with their own happiness indices. As the chief of hospital medicine in my hospital, it truly resonated with me. (As an aside, I often joke that I do whatever Leslie says—because she is pretty much always right!)
Q: What factors inspired you to enroll your group in the service?
A: I’m a total believer in the philosophy of Leslie and her consulting partner, John Nelson, MD, MHM, that a healthy hospital medicine group needs a culture of ownership. If members don’t feel engaged, burnout and isolation are not far behind. Hospitalist work is not easy, and the hours can be long. If you don’t feel empowered, safe, and engaged, it’s going to be unhappy work and an unhappy group.
The leadership team in my program sincerely wants our members to feel satisfied professionally and personally at work. In addition to having a high-performing group, we want people to feel like they belong and that they have some control over what goes on in their daily practice.
Q: How would you describe your experience throughout the survey, including findings and follow-up?
A: I found the survey very easy. I supplied the emails of the participating hospitalists to SHM, and their team took care of the rest, including consistent follow-up. A few months after our group completed the survey, I received the results, which were extremely helpful. It was particularly interesting to see where we scored compared to other hospitalist groups.
Q: What were the main findings upon completion for your team at Middlesex Hospital? How did you implement the takeaways/changes following the service? What were/are the results?
A: I was happy to see that our group felt like they made a difference to our patients and the hospital and that the leadership provided good support. I was, however, discouraged that there were issues with perceived fairness in patient distribution and that our percentages for folks looking forward to and being excited by their jobs were somewhat low.
These two issues—and risk for burnout specifically—are part of our strategic plan moving forward. We need to find ways to make patient distribution more transparent and make people feel happier about coming to work, partially through quarterly “think tanks,” which we just started this year. Because of the results of this survey and another hospital survey, we created an anonymous internal survey to get more specific information. Through that, I was able to target some very specific issues and to reach out to members of the group to try and resolve them.
This is an ongoing process, and we have to keep working on it. It’s like a marriage; you can’t just sit back and assume a relationship will work out on its own. You have to constantly reassess your partner’s needs and be concerned about their happiness as well as your own. We certainly don’t do a perfect job meeting everyone’s needs, but we strive to do so. Having a tool that is validated and easy to use is extremely beneficial to us, and I will definitely use it again. I’d recommend it to anyone who manages a hospitalist group. TH
Brett Radler is SHM’s communications coordinator.
Register for Hospital Medicine 2017
- Reenergize and focus your practice with the latest research, best practices, and newest innovations in the field that can immediately be applied to improving patient care.
- Learn from the “best of the best,” including nationally renowned leaders in the field of hospital medicine.
- Connect and collaborate with a vibrant community of hospital medicine professionals.
It’s not too early to register! Sign up now and save at www.hospitalmedicine2017.org.
- Reenergize and focus your practice with the latest research, best practices, and newest innovations in the field that can immediately be applied to improving patient care.
- Learn from the “best of the best,” including nationally renowned leaders in the field of hospital medicine.
- Connect and collaborate with a vibrant community of hospital medicine professionals.
It’s not too early to register! Sign up now and save at www.hospitalmedicine2017.org.
- Reenergize and focus your practice with the latest research, best practices, and newest innovations in the field that can immediately be applied to improving patient care.
- Learn from the “best of the best,” including nationally renowned leaders in the field of hospital medicine.
- Connect and collaborate with a vibrant community of hospital medicine professionals.
It’s not too early to register! Sign up now and save at www.hospitalmedicine2017.org.
Help Bolster Your Skills at Leadership Academy 2016
A successful hospitalist program requires strong leadership from the unit to the C-suite. SHM’s Leadership Academy (www.shmleadershipacademy.org) prepares clinical and academic leaders with vital skills traditionally not taught in medical school or typical residency programs. This year’s meeting will be held from October 24 to 27 at Disney’s BoardWalk Inn in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Courses offered include:
- Leadership Foundations: Evaluate your personal leadership strengths and weaknesses, understand key hospital drivers, and more.
- Advanced Leadership: Influential Management: Learn the skills needed to drive culture change through specific leadership behaviors and actions as well as financial storytelling.
(Prerequisite: Leadership Foundations or an advanced management degree upon course director approval.)
- Advanced Leadership: Mastering Teamwork: Learn to critically assess program growth opportunities, lead and motivate teams, and design effective communication strategies. (Prerequisite: Leadership Foundations or an advanced management degree upon course director approval.)
A successful hospitalist program requires strong leadership from the unit to the C-suite. SHM’s Leadership Academy (www.shmleadershipacademy.org) prepares clinical and academic leaders with vital skills traditionally not taught in medical school or typical residency programs. This year’s meeting will be held from October 24 to 27 at Disney’s BoardWalk Inn in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Courses offered include:
- Leadership Foundations: Evaluate your personal leadership strengths and weaknesses, understand key hospital drivers, and more.
- Advanced Leadership: Influential Management: Learn the skills needed to drive culture change through specific leadership behaviors and actions as well as financial storytelling.
(Prerequisite: Leadership Foundations or an advanced management degree upon course director approval.)
- Advanced Leadership: Mastering Teamwork: Learn to critically assess program growth opportunities, lead and motivate teams, and design effective communication strategies. (Prerequisite: Leadership Foundations or an advanced management degree upon course director approval.)
A successful hospitalist program requires strong leadership from the unit to the C-suite. SHM’s Leadership Academy (www.shmleadershipacademy.org) prepares clinical and academic leaders with vital skills traditionally not taught in medical school or typical residency programs. This year’s meeting will be held from October 24 to 27 at Disney’s BoardWalk Inn in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Courses offered include:
- Leadership Foundations: Evaluate your personal leadership strengths and weaknesses, understand key hospital drivers, and more.
- Advanced Leadership: Influential Management: Learn the skills needed to drive culture change through specific leadership behaviors and actions as well as financial storytelling.
(Prerequisite: Leadership Foundations or an advanced management degree upon course director approval.)
- Advanced Leadership: Mastering Teamwork: Learn to critically assess program growth opportunities, lead and motivate teams, and design effective communication strategies. (Prerequisite: Leadership Foundations or an advanced management degree upon course director approval.)
Register for Pediatric Hospital Medicine 2016
PHM16 will provide in-depth review and challenge participants in various areas, including clinical practice, medical education, quality improvement, and professional development. Time will also be dedicated to networking and meeting with leaders in the field.
Register, book your hotel, and see the full course schedule at www.phmmeeting.org.
Brett Radler is SHM’s communications coordinator.
PHM16 will provide in-depth review and challenge participants in various areas, including clinical practice, medical education, quality improvement, and professional development. Time will also be dedicated to networking and meeting with leaders in the field.
Register, book your hotel, and see the full course schedule at www.phmmeeting.org.
Brett Radler is SHM’s communications coordinator.
PHM16 will provide in-depth review and challenge participants in various areas, including clinical practice, medical education, quality improvement, and professional development. Time will also be dedicated to networking and meeting with leaders in the field.
Register, book your hotel, and see the full course schedule at www.phmmeeting.org.
Brett Radler is SHM’s communications coordinator.
Keys to Success on the Focused Practice in Hospital Medicine Exam
- Enroll in the Focused Practice in Hospital Medicine MOC program by August 1 at www.abim.org.
- Schedule a seat for the exam before August 15 at www.abim.org.
- Order SHM SPARK, the missing piece of the MOC exam-prep puzzle.
SHM recently developed the only MOC exam-preparation tool by hospitalists for hospitalists, SHM SPARK. It complements tools already on the market and will help hospitalists succeed on the upcoming exam. SHM SPARK delivers 175 vignette-style multiple-choice questions that bridge the primary knowledge gaps found within existing MOC exam-preparation products and provides in-depth review on:
- Palliative care, ethics, and decision making
- Patient safety
- Perioperative care and consultative co-management
- Quality, cost, and clinical reasoning
SHM SPARK offers detailed learning objectives and discussion points and allows users to define individual areas of strengths and weaknesses. Users can claim 58 ABIM MOC Medical Knowledge points upon completion of all four modules with a minimum passing score of 80%. After successful completion of all four modules, participants may claim up to 10.5 AMA PRA Category 1 credits.
- Enroll in the Focused Practice in Hospital Medicine MOC program by August 1 at www.abim.org.
- Schedule a seat for the exam before August 15 at www.abim.org.
- Order SHM SPARK, the missing piece of the MOC exam-prep puzzle.
SHM recently developed the only MOC exam-preparation tool by hospitalists for hospitalists, SHM SPARK. It complements tools already on the market and will help hospitalists succeed on the upcoming exam. SHM SPARK delivers 175 vignette-style multiple-choice questions that bridge the primary knowledge gaps found within existing MOC exam-preparation products and provides in-depth review on:
- Palliative care, ethics, and decision making
- Patient safety
- Perioperative care and consultative co-management
- Quality, cost, and clinical reasoning
SHM SPARK offers detailed learning objectives and discussion points and allows users to define individual areas of strengths and weaknesses. Users can claim 58 ABIM MOC Medical Knowledge points upon completion of all four modules with a minimum passing score of 80%. After successful completion of all four modules, participants may claim up to 10.5 AMA PRA Category 1 credits.
- Enroll in the Focused Practice in Hospital Medicine MOC program by August 1 at www.abim.org.
- Schedule a seat for the exam before August 15 at www.abim.org.
- Order SHM SPARK, the missing piece of the MOC exam-prep puzzle.
SHM recently developed the only MOC exam-preparation tool by hospitalists for hospitalists, SHM SPARK. It complements tools already on the market and will help hospitalists succeed on the upcoming exam. SHM SPARK delivers 175 vignette-style multiple-choice questions that bridge the primary knowledge gaps found within existing MOC exam-preparation products and provides in-depth review on:
- Palliative care, ethics, and decision making
- Patient safety
- Perioperative care and consultative co-management
- Quality, cost, and clinical reasoning
SHM SPARK offers detailed learning objectives and discussion points and allows users to define individual areas of strengths and weaknesses. Users can claim 58 ABIM MOC Medical Knowledge points upon completion of all four modules with a minimum passing score of 80%. After successful completion of all four modules, participants may claim up to 10.5 AMA PRA Category 1 credits.