Ladies and gentlemen of the Medical Staff, you may now re-set your spam filters. By the time you read this, the chief and vice chief elections will be over and you can relax your guard against the deluge of campaign e-mails from candidates and their supporters.

But seriously, folks, now that the election campaigns and the long debate about governance structures are over, it’s time to get down to business. I want to sincerely thank my Medical Staff colleagues for giving their vote of confidence to a vision of our Medical Staff organization as an independent voice of the bedside clinician here at Stanford.

This newly defined position of Chief of Staff represents an opportunity for the Medical Staff to both guide and contribute to the ongoing efforts to improve our medical center. In fact, I would gently remind my fellow Medical Staff members that our new governance structure provides not just the opportunity but also the obligation for clinicians to contribute to the well-being of the institution. Along those lines, I will be looking not only to other medical center leaders but also the Medical Staff in general for support, advice, suggestions, and perhaps most critically, participation.

I’d also like to assure everybody that I have every intention of serving equally the entire Medical Staff, regardless of practice mode or specialty, and that I have the utmost respect and concern for the primary academic mission of this medical center as well as its additional role as a community hospital. I would hope that anything we can accomplish via our Medical Staff organization to continue to improve our clinical performance would benefit both missions equally, and I very much look forward to collaborating with my academic friends and colleagues in these efforts.

I have long emphasized the importance of an independent Medical Staff voice in our governance structure, but it bears re-emphasis at this juncture that this has always been seen as complementary and in no way adversarial to the other pillars of medical center governance, including the Hospital and School of Medicine administrations as well as the SHC Board of Directors. I have no doubt that greater Medical Staff engagement, and the opportunity for improved insight into the Medical Staff’s perspective, will be warmly welcomed by all.

As I write this, we don’t know whether the Vice Chief will be Dr. Rose Vasquez or Dr. Geoff Rubin, but knowing them both, I am quite confident that either will provide excellent leadership and be an outstanding partner in representing our Medical Staff over the next couple years. I’m also looking forward with great pleasure to working very closely with our new vice president for medical affairs, Dr. Kevin Tabb, as well as the senior associate dean for clinical affairs, Dr. Norm Rizk.

We are at an important juncture in the history of Stanford University Medical Center (I know, I know, when are we not?). We face great challenges and opportunities: continuing and expanding our recent improvements in clinical service and quality, balancing the resource demands of our extensive building projects against the constant need for increased clinical operational resources, and most immediately, the implementation of our new medical information system, CIS-Epic. All of these goals must be accomplished without compromising, but rather with the aim of enhancing our academic mission of innovation in patient care, education and research.

Only by working closely and collaboratively — School of Medicine, Hospital, and Medical Staff — can we succeed and excel in our many shared goals. I have no doubt that we are up to the challenge, but it will take continued hard work and commitment from all of us. I certainly will do my utmost to contribute as best I can, and once again, I welcome the support and advice of any of my Medical Staff friends and colleagues as we move forward together. Call or write anytime with comments, suggestions, or criticisms: BBohman@stanfordmed.org; pager10166; office (650) 725-3038.

PS: CIS-EPIC

How are we going to survive the CIS-Epic go-live on April 25? As I have emphasized previously, a lot of very intelligent and hard-working people have invested a tremendous amount of time and effort in preparing for this implementation. But it is inevitable that an effort of this size and complexity will trigger some turbulence in our clinical lives. I am certain we will be confronted by issues large and small which either couldn’t be anticipated or couldn’t be rectified prior to go-live. But please be aware that this isn’t due to a lack of care or effort on the part of those who have been working so diligently to make this work.

I would appeal to all Medical Staff members to be as patient as possible and to persevere and be flexible in the face of the challenges we know are coming. We can choose to carp and complain or we can keep our hands on the wheel and help guide the institution forward. Remember, the decision to adopt CIS-Epic was made long ago; it’s worse than futile to question it at this stage of the process. We are now institutionally committed to making the new electronic health record work, and it is reassuring that to date there has never been a failed Epic installation. In fact, most of our colleagues at sister institutions are happy with the new system, at least by the end of the inevitable learning curve.

Whatever you do, please don’t punish the messengers; i.e., the trainers, SuperUsers, nurses, and others who are only trying to help. If you do experience an urgent need to relay any incendiary thoughts about the system or the process, it would perhaps be better if you contact me rather than whoever happens to be closest to you at the moment. You’ll get a sympathetic ear and I’ll do whatever I can to help.