New tracks bring focus to HM18 program

The theme for HM18 could well be “in with the new, and in with the new.”

Conference planners have managed to pack HM18 with five new tracks: Great Debate, Nurse Practitioner/Physician Assistant (NP/PA), Palliative Care, Seasoning Your Career, and a new Career Development workshop track. And they did this while eliminating only one track that was on the schedule last year – Technology – and without adding any extra days to the meeting.

The trick was including more half-day tracks. With more tracks in smaller time chunks, the schedule provides more flexibility, and attendees have more choices to find what they’re looking for, said Kathleen Finn, MD, MPhil, SFHM, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, Boston, and the HM18 course director.

“We decided, since there were a bunch of themes that we really wanted to cover, we would do half-day tracks. The shorter tracks also are a way to gauge interest in a topic without making a big commitment to it,” Dr. Finn said. “The grouping of topics in smaller tracks in the Day-at-a-Glance helps people easily see a collection of lectures or a theme they might want to attend.”

While choosing themes for the conference, the planners were trying to stay true to their own theme: timeliness.

Assistant course director Dustin Smith, MD, SFHM, an associate professor of medicine at Emory University, Atlanta, said much of the information for this year’s conference came from the 2017 annual meeting, including attendance at sessions, speaker reviews, and session ratings.

“It’s building on momentum from the previous meeting,” he said. “Sometimes we choose things to offer that we know are going to go well, and sometimes we choose things that we hope go well, and all of a sudden we see [that they] go very, very well.” For instance, he said, the topic of sepsis was so popular last year that it has its own pre-course this year.

 

The data on which the HM18 program is built don’t stop there. The 23 members of the planning committee all bring their own thoughts and experiences, as well as input from colleagues at their own centers. Then there are the submissions for workshop topics: Any SHM member can submit an idea, and those ideas help organizers see patterns of interest that can affect the planning of the rest of the sessions.

Here are more details on the new tracks:
 

Great Debate

The annual meeting has traditionally had a “Great Debate” on perioperative medicine, but the format – with carefully chosen speakers who are dynamic and entertaining – will be used to cover pulmonary medicine and infectious diseases this year as well.

“It’s a hugely successful talk,” Dr. Finn said. “We can tell by our numbers that lots of people go, and it’s always funny, and it’s a very clever way of discussing the latest literature – by having two very dynamic speakers present a case and then debate the two options of the case and then use the literature to support the answer.”

 

NP/PA

This track includes topics that are chosen by the committee for advanced practice professionals.

“There are many hospitalist programs that include NP/PAs, and everybody is struggling with how best to incorporate NPs and PAs into the group practice and have everybody work at the top of their license and work well together,” Dr. Finn said.

“The idea, too, is to be very inclusive of all providers and offering a track that focuses on NP/PAs but also includes physicians, physician leaders, and physician administrators,” Dr. Smith said. “It’s not designed for one type of practicing professional; it should be a good educational track for all.”
 

Palliative Care

This was a topic that had been sprinkled throughout programs in previous years, but Dr. Finn and Dr. Smith said it was considered too important not to have its own track this year.

“I think hospitalists often are the doctors caring for patients at the end of their lives since many Americans die in the hospital,” Dr. Finn said. “As a result, this is a skill set that as hospitalists we need to be very good at.”

 

Seasoning Your Career

This is a track geared toward one of this year’s themes: With “hospital medicine” now a concept that’s more than 2 decades old, how do hospitalists keep up the momentum in their careers, how do they take stock, how do they make the important decisions they face as they move ahead in their jobs?

“Hospital medicine is now more than 20 years old – many hospitalists are now mid-career,” Dr. Finn said. “This track can help people reflect on and rethink their career. Do you want to expand what you’re doing? Do you want to change it? How do you make this a lifelong career?”
 

Career Development

There have always been workshops with a career-development focus, but this year, six of them were chosen to be placed under the heading of an official “Career Development” workshop track.

“Are there other skills you want to take on for the second half of your career?” Dr. Finn said. “Do you want to take on leadership? Do you want to learn how to better give your peers feedback? Do you want to promote women in your group? Do you want to prevent burnout or use emotional intelligence to improve your career?”

 

Aside from the new tracks, the course directors also drew attention to other new elements of the HM18 program.

For instance, there are new topics in the Rapid Fire sessions. In the “Managing the Patient on Your Service: Appendicitis, Bowel, and Biliary Obstruction” session, a general surgeon will talk about how to manage these surgical issues when the patient is on a medical service. In “Interventional Radiology: What Every Hospitalist Needs to Know,” an interventional radiologist will discuss when hospitalists may want to call in an interventional radiologist or refer to a hospital that has an interventional radiologist. And “Vulnerable Populations and Hospitalists” will focus on social determinants of health.

As for catchy Disney-influenced titles, such as “The Mad Hatter: Updates in Delirium” and “Waiting in Line for ‘It’s a Small World’ and Other Things We Do for No Reason,” part of the credit can go to Dr. Finn’s niece. She said she “hired” her to come up with a list of Disney, Pixar, and Harry Potter movies and catchphrases. Then the committee worked them into the session titles.

“One of the hopes for me at this meeting is that people bring their inner child and explore new ideas, new topics, and new career possibilities,” Dr. Finn said.

The theme for HM18 could well be “in with the new, and in with the new.”

Conference planners have managed to pack HM18 with five new tracks: Great Debate, Nurse Practitioner/Physician Assistant (NP/PA), Palliative Care, Seasoning Your Career, and a new Career Development workshop track. And they did this while eliminating only one track that was on the schedule last year – Technology – and without adding any extra days to the meeting.

The trick was including more half-day tracks. With more tracks in smaller time chunks, the schedule provides more flexibility, and attendees have more choices to find what they’re looking for, said Kathleen Finn, MD, MPhil, SFHM, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, Boston, and the HM18 course director.

“We decided, since there were a bunch of themes that we really wanted to cover, we would do half-day tracks. The shorter tracks also are a way to gauge interest in a topic without making a big commitment to it,” Dr. Finn said. “The grouping of topics in smaller tracks in the Day-at-a-Glance helps people easily see a collection of lectures or a theme they might want to attend.”

While choosing themes for the conference, the planners were trying to stay true to their own theme: timeliness.

Assistant course director Dustin Smith, MD, SFHM, an associate professor of medicine at Emory University, Atlanta, said much of the information for this year’s conference came from the 2017 annual meeting, including attendance at sessions, speaker reviews, and session ratings.

“It’s building on momentum from the previous meeting,” he said. “Sometimes we choose things to offer that we know are going to go well, and sometimes we choose things that we hope go well, and all of a sudden we see [that they] go very, very well.” For instance, he said, the topic of sepsis was so popular last year that it has its own pre-course this year.

 

The data on which the HM18 program is built don’t stop there. The 23 members of the planning committee all bring their own thoughts and experiences, as well as input from colleagues at their own centers. Then there are the submissions for workshop topics: Any SHM member can submit an idea, and those ideas help organizers see patterns of interest that can affect the planning of the rest of the sessions.

Here are more details on the new tracks:
 

Great Debate

The annual meeting has traditionally had a “Great Debate” on perioperative medicine, but the format – with carefully chosen speakers who are dynamic and entertaining – will be used to cover pulmonary medicine and infectious diseases this year as well.

“It’s a hugely successful talk,” Dr. Finn said. “We can tell by our numbers that lots of people go, and it’s always funny, and it’s a very clever way of discussing the latest literature – by having two very dynamic speakers present a case and then debate the two options of the case and then use the literature to support the answer.”

 

NP/PA

This track includes topics that are chosen by the committee for advanced practice professionals.

“There are many hospitalist programs that include NP/PAs, and everybody is struggling with how best to incorporate NPs and PAs into the group practice and have everybody work at the top of their license and work well together,” Dr. Finn said.

“The idea, too, is to be very inclusive of all providers and offering a track that focuses on NP/PAs but also includes physicians, physician leaders, and physician administrators,” Dr. Smith said. “It’s not designed for one type of practicing professional; it should be a good educational track for all.”
 

Palliative Care

This was a topic that had been sprinkled throughout programs in previous years, but Dr. Finn and Dr. Smith said it was considered too important not to have its own track this year.

“I think hospitalists often are the doctors caring for patients at the end of their lives since many Americans die in the hospital,” Dr. Finn said. “As a result, this is a skill set that as hospitalists we need to be very good at.”

 

Seasoning Your Career

This is a track geared toward one of this year’s themes: With “hospital medicine” now a concept that’s more than 2 decades old, how do hospitalists keep up the momentum in their careers, how do they take stock, how do they make the important decisions they face as they move ahead in their jobs?

“Hospital medicine is now more than 20 years old – many hospitalists are now mid-career,” Dr. Finn said. “This track can help people reflect on and rethink their career. Do you want to expand what you’re doing? Do you want to change it? How do you make this a lifelong career?”
 

Career Development

There have always been workshops with a career-development focus, but this year, six of them were chosen to be placed under the heading of an official “Career Development” workshop track.

“Are there other skills you want to take on for the second half of your career?” Dr. Finn said. “Do you want to take on leadership? Do you want to learn how to better give your peers feedback? Do you want to promote women in your group? Do you want to prevent burnout or use emotional intelligence to improve your career?”

 

Aside from the new tracks, the course directors also drew attention to other new elements of the HM18 program.

For instance, there are new topics in the Rapid Fire sessions. In the “Managing the Patient on Your Service: Appendicitis, Bowel, and Biliary Obstruction” session, a general surgeon will talk about how to manage these surgical issues when the patient is on a medical service. In “Interventional Radiology: What Every Hospitalist Needs to Know,” an interventional radiologist will discuss when hospitalists may want to call in an interventional radiologist or refer to a hospital that has an interventional radiologist. And “Vulnerable Populations and Hospitalists” will focus on social determinants of health.

As for catchy Disney-influenced titles, such as “The Mad Hatter: Updates in Delirium” and “Waiting in Line for ‘It’s a Small World’ and Other Things We Do for No Reason,” part of the credit can go to Dr. Finn’s niece. She said she “hired” her to come up with a list of Disney, Pixar, and Harry Potter movies and catchphrases. Then the committee worked them into the session titles.

“One of the hopes for me at this meeting is that people bring their inner child and explore new ideas, new topics, and new career possibilities,” Dr. Finn said.

The theme for HM18 could well be “in with the new, and in with the new.”

Conference planners have managed to pack HM18 with five new tracks: Great Debate, Nurse Practitioner/Physician Assistant (NP/PA), Palliative Care, Seasoning Your Career, and a new Career Development workshop track. And they did this while eliminating only one track that was on the schedule last year – Technology – and without adding any extra days to the meeting.

The trick was including more half-day tracks. With more tracks in smaller time chunks, the schedule provides more flexibility, and attendees have more choices to find what they’re looking for, said Kathleen Finn, MD, MPhil, SFHM, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, Boston, and the HM18 course director.

“We decided, since there were a bunch of themes that we really wanted to cover, we would do half-day tracks. The shorter tracks also are a way to gauge interest in a topic without making a big commitment to it,” Dr. Finn said. “The grouping of topics in smaller tracks in the Day-at-a-Glance helps people easily see a collection of lectures or a theme they might want to attend.”

While choosing themes for the conference, the planners were trying to stay true to their own theme: timeliness.

Assistant course director Dustin Smith, MD, SFHM, an associate professor of medicine at Emory University, Atlanta, said much of the information for this year’s conference came from the 2017 annual meeting, including attendance at sessions, speaker reviews, and session ratings.

“It’s building on momentum from the previous meeting,” he said. “Sometimes we choose things to offer that we know are going to go well, and sometimes we choose things that we hope go well, and all of a sudden we see [that they] go very, very well.” For instance, he said, the topic of sepsis was so popular last year that it has its own pre-course this year.

 

The data on which the HM18 program is built don’t stop there. The 23 members of the planning committee all bring their own thoughts and experiences, as well as input from colleagues at their own centers. Then there are the submissions for workshop topics: Any SHM member can submit an idea, and those ideas help organizers see patterns of interest that can affect the planning of the rest of the sessions.

Here are more details on the new tracks:
 

Great Debate

The annual meeting has traditionally had a “Great Debate” on perioperative medicine, but the format – with carefully chosen speakers who are dynamic and entertaining – will be used to cover pulmonary medicine and infectious diseases this year as well.

“It’s a hugely successful talk,” Dr. Finn said. “We can tell by our numbers that lots of people go, and it’s always funny, and it’s a very clever way of discussing the latest literature – by having two very dynamic speakers present a case and then debate the two options of the case and then use the literature to support the answer.”

 

NP/PA

This track includes topics that are chosen by the committee for advanced practice professionals.

“There are many hospitalist programs that include NP/PAs, and everybody is struggling with how best to incorporate NPs and PAs into the group practice and have everybody work at the top of their license and work well together,” Dr. Finn said.

“The idea, too, is to be very inclusive of all providers and offering a track that focuses on NP/PAs but also includes physicians, physician leaders, and physician administrators,” Dr. Smith said. “It’s not designed for one type of practicing professional; it should be a good educational track for all.”
 

Palliative Care

This was a topic that had been sprinkled throughout programs in previous years, but Dr. Finn and Dr. Smith said it was considered too important not to have its own track this year.

“I think hospitalists often are the doctors caring for patients at the end of their lives since many Americans die in the hospital,” Dr. Finn said. “As a result, this is a skill set that as hospitalists we need to be very good at.”

 

Seasoning Your Career

This is a track geared toward one of this year’s themes: With “hospital medicine” now a concept that’s more than 2 decades old, how do hospitalists keep up the momentum in their careers, how do they take stock, how do they make the important decisions they face as they move ahead in their jobs?

“Hospital medicine is now more than 20 years old – many hospitalists are now mid-career,” Dr. Finn said. “This track can help people reflect on and rethink their career. Do you want to expand what you’re doing? Do you want to change it? How do you make this a lifelong career?”
 

Career Development

There have always been workshops with a career-development focus, but this year, six of them were chosen to be placed under the heading of an official “Career Development” workshop track.

“Are there other skills you want to take on for the second half of your career?” Dr. Finn said. “Do you want to take on leadership? Do you want to learn how to better give your peers feedback? Do you want to promote women in your group? Do you want to prevent burnout or use emotional intelligence to improve your career?”

 

Aside from the new tracks, the course directors also drew attention to other new elements of the HM18 program.

For instance, there are new topics in the Rapid Fire sessions. In the “Managing the Patient on Your Service: Appendicitis, Bowel, and Biliary Obstruction” session, a general surgeon will talk about how to manage these surgical issues when the patient is on a medical service. In “Interventional Radiology: What Every Hospitalist Needs to Know,” an interventional radiologist will discuss when hospitalists may want to call in an interventional radiologist or refer to a hospital that has an interventional radiologist. And “Vulnerable Populations and Hospitalists” will focus on social determinants of health.

As for catchy Disney-influenced titles, such as “The Mad Hatter: Updates in Delirium” and “Waiting in Line for ‘It’s a Small World’ and Other Things We Do for No Reason,” part of the credit can go to Dr. Finn’s niece. She said she “hired” her to come up with a list of Disney, Pixar, and Harry Potter movies and catchphrases. Then the committee worked them into the session titles.

“One of the hopes for me at this meeting is that people bring their inner child and explore new ideas, new topics, and new career possibilities,” Dr. Finn said.