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Ask the expert: How often should we hold team meetings for our surgical hospitalist program?

Hospitalist Leadership Connection, September 14, 2010

Few things improve care and decrease errors more than good communication. Plans for surgical drains, anticipated culture results, length of antibiotic administration, and discharge planning information must be reviewed daily for each patient. The nurse practitioner or physician assistant on service prevents overlooking this important information. As part of a daily review, highlight plans of all patients, particularly those that hospitalists and other specialties share.

There is also value in routine (e.g., weekly) meetings of the management team to review operational issues, including financial statements, case flow, and recruitment issues, as well as to prepare for monthly meetings that include the entire practice.

Full-team meetings should be held monthly and usually should include administration (e.g., administrator, administrative assistant, billers, and coders), physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. The heart of these meetings is to review quality data, including morbidity and mortality rates.

Monthly meetings between hospital administration and the medical director of the surgical hospitalist program focus on the surgical hospitalists’ integration in the hospital environment, interpersonal challenges, and evaluations of formal surveys of nurses, ED physicians, OR personnel, medical hospitalists, and other specialists. This meeting is also an opportunity to review the program’s financial performance and progress toward addressing hospital goals and incentives.

In addition to holding weekly and monthly meetings, there is value in holding monthly or quarterly meetings between all surgical and medical hospitalists to review cases of mutual interest, improve communication, and formalize mechanisms for sharing responsibilities.

The above excerpt is adapted from The Surgical Hospitalist Program Management Guide: Tools and Strategies for Executives and Physicians, by John Nelson, MD, FACP; John Maa, MD, FACS; and foreword by Robert M. Wachter, MD, published by HCPro, Inc. Download a free sample chapter online at www.HCMarketplace.com.

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