Focus Sessions

Training Physicians of the Future: Integrating Quality and Patient Safety into Our Educational Curriculum

Speakers

Donald M. Berwick, M.D., M.P.P., President and CEO, Institute for Healthcare Improvement
David Mayer, M.D., Associate Dean for Curriculum and Co-Executive Director, University of Illinois-Chicago
Prathibha Varkey, M.D., M.P.H., M.H.P.E., Associate Chair, Mayo Clinic

Presenters

Jonathan A. Finkelstein, M.D., M.P.H., Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School and Senior Academic Advisor, Institute for Healthcare Improvement
David E. Longnecker, M.D., Director of Health Care Affairs, AAMC

Moderator

Joanne Conroy, M.D., Chief Academic Officer, AAMC

When it comes to improving quality and patient safety, academic medicine can choose to make a difference, said Donald Berwick, M.D. "We need physicians who are leaders of change."

Berwick was followed by David Mayer, M.D., who discussed the Institute for Patient Safety Excellence at the University of Illinois-Chicago and its seven-year effort to integrate quality and patient safety into the undergraduate medical education curriculum. Prathibha Varkey, M.D., who talked about challenges at the graduate level, such as finding the time to incorporate patient safety into resident training, said "there's no one-size-fits-all in GME."

Capping the session were two presentations on resources, the first by Jonathan A. Finkelstein, M.D., who outlined the numerous online learning opportunities available through the Institute for Healthcare Improvement Open School for health professions.

David E. Longnecker, M.D., discussed several AAMC quality improvement efforts, including the association's Organizational Performance and Improvement quality initiative to link clinical and educational excellence, as well as the association's growing portfolio of information and tools.

Presentations

• The UIC Educational and Ethical Mission to Increase Open and Honest Communication, Reduce Medical Errors and Improve Patient Care Outcomes (PDF)
• Institute for Healthcare Improvement Open School (PDF)
• AAMC Quality Resources (PDF)

Resources

• Integrating Quality Web site
• Institute for Healthcare Improvement Open School Web site

Educating Physicians: A Call for Reform from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

Speakers

Molly Cooke, M.D., Professor, UCSF, and the Carnegie Foundation
David M. Irby, Ph.D., Th.M., Professor, UCSF, and the Carnegie Foundation
Bridget O'Brien, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, UCSF, and the Carnegie Foundation

Moderator

John Prescott, M.D.

William Howard Taft was president, and the Model-T was all the rage. The year was 1910, and Abraham Flexner, under the auspices of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, published his groundbreaking report that revolutionized medical education.

With the centennial of that event approaching, the authors of a new report commissioned by the Carnegie Foundation and slated for publication in May 2010 call for actions that will once again transform medical education. In this thought-provoking presentation, authors Molly Cooke, M.D., David M. Irby, Ph.D., Th.M, and Bridget O'Brien, Ph.D. shared the highlights of their five-year study and the four themes that resulted from it. They offer an inspiring case for a fundamentally new vision of undergraduate and graduate medical education and a new set of policies for achieving excellence.

Educating Physicians: A Call for Reform from The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (PDF)

Creating Organizational Diversity and Inclusive Environments

Speakers:

• Theodore Curry, Ph.D., associate provost and associate vice president for academic human resources, Michigan State University
• Raymond Arroyo, chief diversity office, Aetna
• David Sklar, M.D., associate dean for graduate medical education, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center
• A. Lorris Betz, M.D., Ph.D., executive dean, University of Utah School of Medicine

Moderator

Cynthia E. Boyd, M.D., M.B.A.

This focus session explored how academic medical centers (AMCs) can overcome challenges to creating diverse and inclusive work environments. Theodore Curry, Ph.D., associate provost and associate vice president for academic human resources at Michigan State University (MSU), opened the session by discussing MSU's policies for recruiting and retaining faculty from diverse backgrounds.

Raymond Arroyo—chief diversity officer at the health insurer Aetna, which was recently named one of the Top 50 Companies for Diversity by DiversityInc—gave an overview of Aetna's diversity policies.

"We try to build diversity into our business strategy," Arroyo said. "It embraces all aspects of diversity, not race, gender, or sexual orientation, but all of those things and more."

David Sklar, M.D., and A. Lorris Betz, M.D., Ph.D., responded by discussing how diversity policies could be applied to AMCs.

Sklar proposed that AMCs use a public health model that incorporates three factors—individual, agent, and environmental—to increase diversity. According to Sklar, individual factors should address issues of attracting "interested, prepared" people who want to pursue careers in academic medicine. However, agents, or department chairs, often are not focused on recruiting diverse candidates, Sklar said, adding that more work is needed to help department chairs become effective at increasing diversity recruitment and retention.

Finally, environmental factors affecting diversity policies include organizational goals and alignment, Sklar said. According to Sklar, leadership at AMCs need to value diversity and commit to changing the organization's culture, eventually leading to better recruitment and retention of minority candidates.

Betz echoed Sklar's comments, agreeing that leadership needs to be committed to diversity to bring about cultural change. In addition, AMCs should have programs that support institutions' diversity missions, such as mentorship programs for minority faculty, and policies that are supportive of diversity, such as parental leave and flexible tenure programs.

"This is not rocket science, but it is very, very hard and is not made easier by the fact that most institutions are committed to diversity and are competing with each other," Betz said.

Creating Organizational Diversity and Inclusive Environments (PDF)

Leadership and Talent Management: A Roundtable Discussion

Panelists

Lois Nora, M.D., J.D., M.B.A.
Ronald Swinfard, M.D.
Peter Buckley, M.D.

Facilitator

William T. Mallon Ed.D.

In a session designed to engage discussion with the audience, three panelists shared their approaches in an area all admitted academic medical centers could improve: recruiting and retaining staff at all levels, especially those in leadership roles. 

Academic medicine is both helped and hindered in leadership recruitment by it being a relatively small community, according to panelist Lois Nora, M.D., J.D., M.B.A. She noted that these institutions are less likely to look hard at non-traditional candidates. There was also consensus on the panel that academic medicine does not pay enough attention to internal development.

"We need to start years before it's needed developing talent," said Ronald Swinfard, M.D.

Panelists also discussed the relatively long process.

"We don't have streamlined ways to do searches," said Peter Buckley, M.D. As a result, qualified, attractive candidates might move on before any given search is completed.

Among the recommendations the panelists offered were focusing more efforts on internal succession planning; identifying and developing internal candidates early in the process; considering non-traditional candidates; involving more people within the organization in the search and development process; looking seriously at individuals you trust to fill interim positions; and thinking hard about the "fit" of any given candidate in your community, which may include providing assistance to spouses.

[Top]

Contact Us    © 1995-2010 AAMC    Terms and Conditions    Privacy Statement    Supported Browsers