The Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) is a medical society comprised of hospitalists that exists to promote exceptional care for hospitalized patients.
SHM’s Key Principles and Characteristics of an Effective Hospital Medicine Group is the definitive assessment guide for establishing, structuring and maintaining high-performing hospital medicine groups.
SHM’s panel of leaders and experts in hospital medicine created Key Principles and Characteristics of an Effective Hospital Medicine Group to help hospital medicine group (HMG) leaders:
Hospital Medicine Groups (HMGs) come in many different sizes, structures and employment models all while working in distinct hospital environments and patient populations. Beneath these differences, however, there are some universal characteristics of effective hospital medicine practices. With 47 individual characteristics organized into 10 key principles, this framework serves as a roadmap for new, experienced, and future hospital medicine groups to benchmark themselves, target areas for improvement, and implement practice changes.
Hospitalists are central to coordinating team-based patient centered care for hospitalized patients. HMGs play a critical role in ensuring their hospitalists are equipped to provide the best patient care possible. The Key Principles and Characteristics helps groups self-assess and develop strategies for improvement. It gives leaders from the largest to the smallest practices the rationale, requirements, and suggested approaches to define their problems, develop feasible solutions, and take their HMG to the next level.
Self-evaluation and continuous improvement efforts are challenging. Here is a way groups can use the Key Principles and Characteristics of an Effective Hospital Medicine Group framework to do it.
Assemble a task force to conduct a self-assessment and develop self-improvement plans. The task force can include hospital executives, HMG leaders, and clinical leaders to promote dialogue between key leadership and build unity within your HMG. Clearly lay out missional goals and set a schedule for evaluation.
Take the Gap Assessment Tool to determine the key areas of your practice to improve. Have each task force member take, save, and print their results. Compare results and identify top principles that are high scoring as well as principles that are an agreed improvement area across all stakeholders.
Create an implementation plan to make the necessary changes within your HMG. Determine which “Suggested Approaches” from Key Principles are viable solutions for each of your HMG’s areas of improvement. Develop a detailed implementation plan that includes a list of required resources (financial, time, personnel, etc.) and establishes a timeline and a review period to test the impact of the intervention.
SHM’s Key Principles and Characteristics of an Effective Hospital Medicine Group: A definitive assessment guide for establishing, structuring and maintaining high-performing hospital medicine groups.
Gap Assessment Tool: An assessment tool that will help group leaders uncover areas of perceived strength and weakness.
Comparison Tool for Administrators: This tool crosswalks the Key Principles and Characteristics of an Effective Hospital Medicine Group with SHM’s Core Competencies of Hospital Medicine Practice Administrators to help administrators identify critical characteristics they can impact directly in their groups.
These resources are only available to active SHM members. Join SHM today to gain exclusive access to this and other invaluable hospital medicine resources!