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Semiannual medical staff meeting

At the semiannual medical staff meeting July 9 in Fairchild Auditorium, medical staff members heard about several developments at Stanford Hospital & Clinics from chief of staff Larry Shuer, chief executive officer Martha Marsh and chief operating officer Mike Peterson.

Among the subjects discussed were the hospital's financial status (the hospital is operating at a profit and this is expected to continue through fiscal year 2004); the hiring of additional nurses to comply with the state's new nurse-staffing ratio requirements; the anticipated opening of the clinical cancer center in spring 2004; the recent issuance of $250 million in bonds to finance capital improvements, information technology upgrades and other operational needs; the effort to promote "continual readiness" for surveys by accrediting agencies such as JCAHO; and the fully accredited status of all of the hospital's residency programs.

Also at the meeting, guest speaker Carol Glaser - a physician and veterinarian who is an acting chief in the Division of Communicable Disease Control at the state health department - gave a presentation about the origins of West Nile virus, its recently accelerated spread across the United States and the steps physicians should take if they suspect a patient may have contracted the virus.