From the Chair

Jefferson and Change-Redux “Laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind…” – Thomas Jefferson, July 12, 1810 Our American health care system is under pressure to change from many directions: the government, the media, the economists, and others. In a recent Surgical Grand Rounds, I discussed my Baker’s Dozen list of key topics: (1) health care spending is flattening out, (2) physicians and hospitals will be paid less for what they do, (3) payers are getting aggressive on cost and quality, (4) hospitals are targets for cost cuts, (5) cost reduction will entail standardization and elimination of variations, (6) waste control will be crucial, (7) current payment systems are mal-aligned with quality, health and wellness improvement, (8) Accountable Care Organizations exist, (9) the 5-50 rule reigns (the sickest 5% of the population consume 50% of the resources), (10) hospital systems will necessarily morph to Total Care systems, (11) physician elements are under transition, (12) physician integration (and leadership) will be crucial, (13) aspirational items for hospital corporate leaders have evolved. We have much to do. The mantras will no longer be – “business as usual” or “increase volume to cover expenses”. The focus needs to be on individual health, wellness and population health… We’re working toward a new paradigm – “Livewell Jefferson” – a cooperative venture of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Thomas Jefferson University, Jefferson Medical College, the Jefferson Women’s Board, Jefferson Health System and our communities: eliminate unhealthy cafeteria and vending choices, expand our non-smoking perimeter, increase wellness services, institute a maximum 30-minute meeting rule and mandate daily 30-minute on-the-job treadmill walking, freshen our stairways and label them “vertical exercise corridors”, track BMI quarterly, and work with the city to design and maintain safe, measured walking routes around our campus. We have much to do to effect change! To view Dr. Yeo’s recent mini-Grand Rounds lecture on this topic visit: www.jefferson.edu/surgerylecture

From the Chair: Overview

Honor Roll! Congratulations to the faculty, staff, residents and fellows here at Jefferson. We have achieved a distinction obtained by less than 0.5% of all American hospitals – this July we were notified that we have joined the U.S.News & World Report Best Hospitals Honor Roll. This represents a major accomplishment, led and enabled by Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals President David McQuaid, FACHE, and Jefferson Medical College Dean Mark Tykocinski, MD, and brought to reality by the many Jeffersonians who contribute to patient care at Jefferson. This is a big deal. Enjoy it! We in the Department of Surgery touch many of the 12 specialty areas ranked as the nation’s best such as Orthopedics (#7), Pulmonology (#14), Cancer (#17), Diabetes and Endocrinology (#18), Gastroenterology (#21), Gynecology (#28), and Neurology/ Neurosurgery (#32). Our Acute Care Surgery Division cares for surgical patients in all these specialty areas, and our thoracic and transplant surgeons, general surgeons, colorectal surgeons, and minimally-invasive surgeons serve patients with cancer, chest diseases and alimentary tract diseases. So, although “Surgery” per se has never been a specific and defined component for the 24 years of rankings, we should all be proud of this recognition. The Jefferson medical community will persist in our efforts to achieve superior patient care, focused innovative research and exceptional educational opportunities for our student and resident learners. The Honor Roll. This is a big deal! Now, the bar is set high – and we must redouble our attention to quality initiatives, patient safety, compassionate care at the highest level, and innovation in the clinics and the labs. We want to become a fixture of the Honor Roll

A word from the Chair

No abstract available

A word from the Chair

No abstract available

Life After Being a Pathology Department Chair II: Lessons Learned.

The 2016 Association of Pathology Chairs annual meeting featured a discussion group of Association of Pathology Chairs senior fellows (former chairs of academic departments of pathology who have remained active in Association of Pathology Chairs) that focused on how they decided to transition from the chair, how they prepared for such transition, and what they did after the transition. At the 2017 annual meeting, the senior fellows (encompassing 481 years of chair service) discussed lessons they learned from service as chair. These lessons included preparation for the chairship, what they would have done differently as chair, critical factors for success as chair, factors associated with failures, stress reduction techniques for themselves and for their faculty and staff, mechanisms for dealing with and avoiding problems, and the satisfaction they derived from their service as chair. It is reasonable to assume that these lessons may be representative of those learned by chairs of other specialties as well as by higher-level academic administrators such as deans, vice presidents, and chief executive officers. Although the environment for serving as a department chair has been changing dramatically, many of the lessons learned by former chairs are still valuable for current chairs of any length of tenure

From the Chair

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/120408/1/Norton_NewHeights.pd