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Doctor's day is just around the corner, so it's time to get creative!

Medical Staff Leader Connection, March 3, 2009

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Budgets are tight, but that doesn’t mean your Doctor’s Day celebration should be limited to key chains and monogrammed totes. Arkansas Children’s Hospital has some great ideas for theme parties that will keep your doctors gossiping for weeks.

Arkansas Children’s Hospital throws a Doctor’s Day celebration every year, each one drawing on a different theme. Recent themes include the Olympics, the 1950s, the old West, M*A*S*H, and baseball.

During the week on which Doctor’s Day falls, the hospital launches a contest that coincides with that year’s theme.  Although some contest categories vary, the hospital always awards a “Doctor of the Year” and “Rookie of the Year.” When the hospital chose the baseball theme, the doctor of the year received the “Babe Ruth Award” and the rookie of the year won the “Jackie Robinson Award.”
 
Everyone who works at the hospital can vote, and the results are shared at a medical staff meeting held two weeks later. But, this is far from any other medical staff meeting. For the baseball-themed celebration, the hospital converted the meeting space into a mini stadium, complete with a scoreboard, life-size posters of ball players, hall of fame, souvenir shop, press box, and dugouts. For a personal touch, the hospital superimposed medical staff members’ faces onto a mural of a crowd and on the faces of the players in the dugouts. Two medical staff coordinators offered attendees peanuts, popcorn, and Cracker Jacks.

The M*A*S*H-themed celebration included stretchers that the hospital borrowed from the Arkansas National Guard, a Styrofoam Army tank (yes, you really can rent them), and grape Nehi served at a mock Rosie’s Bar.

During these celebrations, the hospital welcomes physicians to showcase their talents. For the baseball-inspired celebration, two physicians performed Abbott and Costello’s “Who’s on First?” routine, and a physician sang “The National Anthem.” At the M*A*S*H-themed event, five physicians competed in a Klinger look-alike contest

“This is a lot of work, but everyone really enjoys it,” says Becky Foor, RN, CPMSM, manager, Medical Staff Services at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. She adds that this year’s theme is “superheroes.” Let’s hope it doesn’t involve a dress-alike contest.

Liz Jones
Associate Editor

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