Tag: Academic Medical Centers

Mr. Ness, Everyone Knows Where The Booze Is

Paul Levy

Posted 11/13/11 on Not Running a Hospital

A quality-driven physician colleague writes with frustration about two problems in his academic medical center.  I often hear similar comments from nurses and doctors, and so I present the examples for your consideration.

This hospital has a poor record with regard to hand hygiene (in the 30% range), and my colleague suggested at an infection control meeting suggested that the rates be publicly posted in the hospital to provide an impetus for improvement.  “I suggested that instead of being embarrassed, maybe we should OWN the data.” This, of course, is a standard and accepted approach in quality improvement.  S/he was told that the “the lawyers will not let us do this.”  S/he wonders, “Who, exactly, is our primary concern?”

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Reflections on Narcissus and AMCs

Paul Levy

First posted 9/27/11 on Not Running a Hospital

Narcissus was so entranced by a reflection of his own image that he was paralyzed into inaction by looking at it, leading to an unfortunate end.  There is a lesson here for the country’s academic medical centers (AMCs).  These “crown jewels of American medicine” are lobbying to be exempt from certain federal budget cuts.  As noted in a paid op-ed page advertisement in the New York Times,* they cite their special status as “urban medical centers treat[ing] patient populations with high rates of chronic disease, coexisting conditions, and more advanced stages of illness.”  They note that “physicians and scientists at teaching institutions are the foundation of biomedical research and innovation in medicine [where] they invent and improve surgical devices and . . . inform drug discovery and development.”  Finally, they remind us of their essential role in training the next generation of physicians.

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