Changes in the works
We will soon have an elected chief of staff who will be responsible for enforcing the bylaws as well as coordinating the monthly medical executive board meetings and the semiannual meetings of the Medical Staff. The elected COS will also be responsible for populating the various Medical Staff committees that perform many essential functions, such as peer review, medical information systems, physician well being, pharmacy and therapeutics, credentials and ethics. [See: Timetable for key elements of the transition.]
It has been an honor and a privilege to serve as Chief of Staff for the past 11-plus years. Eugene Bauer, M.D. and Peter Van Etten initially appointed me to this position in 1996; that was two deans and three CEO’s of the hospital ago. The time was also pre-merger with UCSF and only two years after the formation of Stanford Health Services, which merged the hospital and clinics into a single entity now called Stanford Hospital and Clinics. Over these years, I have enjoyed working with many of you. I sincerely wish to thank all of you who have helped me perform the functions of Chief of Staff for more than a decade and look forward to continue working with my fellow physician colleagues.
I hope that I have represented the interests of the medical staff as a whole in a fair and just manner respective of practice affiliation or medical specialty. I sincerely and consistently tried to maintain standards of fairness but offer apologies to anyone who may feel otherwise.
In the coming months you will be electing a chief of staff and chief of staff-elect. These will be very critical roles to fill. The chief of staff will be in office for two years and the chief of staff-elect will serve an active two-year apprenticeship before assuming the top job two years later. I encourage each and every one of you to look carefully at candidates and then vote. It is very important that we have a high voter turnout. In the past, our elections have a record of only producing a turnout of 10 percent or so. We hope that e-voting and the high stakes that start with this election will encourage more Medical Staff members to make their voices heard. With the new paradigm I believe the new COS must have the support of the majority of the Medical Staff to be credible.
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At this time I also wish to recognize the retirement of Sandi Edgar as director of Medical Staff Services for both SHC and Packard hospitals. [See related article]. Sandi has been with Stanford Hospital and Clinics for 20 years, and in her current role has set the bar quite high for quality of service in those capacities. Sandi worked closely with physician leaders and administration during the merger and de-merger. She has now been through quite a number of successful Joint Commission surveys. Sandi really cleaned up our credentialing process and records and has guided us through many successful audits by various health care organizations that periodically review our files. Sandi also has been instrumental in helping our Committee on Well Being of Physician and Residents in Training become a role model for many hospitals across the state and the nation.
Jan. 9, 2008 marked Sandi’s last Medical Board Meeting at Stanford. We will certainly miss her skill, charm and humor as we embark on this path with many changes ahead. We wish Sandi all the best and hope that she has a long and healthy next phase of her life!
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Of course, another big change ahead is the conversion to the Epic Electronic Health Record. Feb. 29, the go-live date, is looming. It is essential that all medical staff members complete their training [see related material] prior to that date. It is clear that no one will be able to care for patients unless they know how to navigate through the new EHR. If you have not registered for training you will not be able to schedule patients for surgical procedures for periods after March 1. If you have not completed training by that date, you will not be able to admit or perform procedures on patients at SHC.
I am sure that the transformation will be an interesting process. I suspect that it will be much like Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’s stages of death and dying (denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance). Some of you are still in the stage of denial about the change or your need to take Epic training. Eventually we will get to the acceptance stage, and if our experience mirrors other institutions, we will wonder how we ever were able to get by without such a system.
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So please remember to vote in the upcoming Medical Staff Elections, help me thank Sandi Edgar for her years of service, and please complete your Epic Training.
And by the way have a very Happy, Healthy New Year!
