IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF PATIENT CARE THROUGH A SHM CHAPTER LEVEL PHYSICIAN AND NURSE PRACTITIONER/PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT (NP/PA) FACULTY EXCHANGE PROGRAM

Background: Clinician well-being is the pre-requisite to the triple aim of improving the health of populations, enhancing the patient experience, and reducing the cost of care. Engagement in local SHM chapter activities promotes the efficiency of practice, a culture of wellness, and personal resilience. Each hospital medicine group (HMG) faces similar challenges but approaches to solving them vary. Professional challenges can affect the well being of the individual clinicians. Having interinstitutional exchange programs provides a platform to exchange ideas and establish mentors.

Purpose: The authors created and organized a physician and NP/PA Faculty Exchange Program between New Mexico (NM) and Wiregrass SHM chapters to promote cross-institutional collaboration, increase engagement, and improve the quality of care.

Description: SHM’s NM chapter is based in Albuquerque NM, a city in the desert of the Southwest US with an ethnically diverse population of 545,000, The chapter leadership works at the University of New Mexico Hospital (UNMH), with 553 beds. UNMH has a well established internal medicine residency program, an academic hospitalist program, and an NP/PA fellowship program embedded the hospital medicine department. The HMG at UNM has 26 physicians and 9 NP/PA’s.SHM’s Wiregrass chapter is located in Dothan, AL, a town of 80,000 population next to the Gulf of Mexico. Chapter leadership works at Southeast Health (SEH). SEH is a tertiary care facility with 420 beds, an affiliated medical school, an internal medicine residency program. The HMG at SEH has 28 physicians and 5 NP/PA’s.During the exchange program planning, the visiting faculty itinerary was tailored to a well-planned agenda. These are two similarly sized hospital medicine programs, practicing in different geographical locations and serving different populations. The focus of the exchange program was to share ideas, innovation and learn the approaches to unique challenges at each institution. Out of this also came collaboration and mentoring opportunities. During each site visit, a SHM board member was present to provide insight and feedback.Two faculty members from Southeast Health (SEH), which included a physician and an NP, who visited the University of New Mexico (UNM) for one week. The faculty participated as observers rounding with the teams and meeting the UNM HMG leadership. The focus of the discussions included faculty education, quality improvement curriculum and addressing practice challenges. SEH faculty also presented a QI project from their institution and established collaborative relationships. SEH faculty also had the opportunity to participate in the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.During the second part of the exchange three faculty members, including one physician and two NPs, from UNM visited SEH for one week. During the visit, they observed NP/PA hospitalist team models, discussed innovations, established mentor relationships with leadership, and discussed the QI projects at SEH. Additionally, they participated in women in medicine events by providing talks on communication and interdepartmental relationships. The visiting faculty participated as judges for the poster competition. They also had an opportunity to explore the rural landscape and visit the beach.

Conclusions: The physician and NP/PA Faculty Exchange was an essential and meaningful innovation that resulted in increased SHM member engagement, cross-institutional collaboration, networking & mentorship.