Unit Medical Directors —Liaisons Between Physicians and Nurses

Dr. McFadden A variety of health care professionals contribute to caring for patients on hospital units. “Maintaining communication and optimizing processes among these multidisciplinary team members is critical to providing the best care possible,” said Vanessa McFadden, MD, PhD, a unit-based, hospital-medicine, medical director in the department of pediatrics at Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, a free-standing children’s hospital with about 300 beds. To achieve optimum care, some medical centers have hospitalists or other physicians serve in what’s called a “unit medical director” position. Dr. McGillen “These individuals help set high-value, patient-centered-care goals with nursing leadership, and then act as liaisons and peer mentors to their provider colleagues to realize these goals,” said Brian McGillen, MD, a hospitalist and associate professor of medicine in the division of hospital medicine at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pa., an academic facility with 485 beds. “These physicians complete the provider-nurse leadership dyad—a hallmark of accountable care units in hospitals—and are responsible for driving organizational value at the nursing unit level.” Dr. Held Responsibilities for practitioners in this role include strategic planning with nursing leadership, coaching, understanding concepts of quality/process improvement, utilization management, and clinical documentation. “Having an understanding o...
Source: The Hospitalist - Category: Hospital Management Authors: Tags: Career Leadership Practice Management Source Type: research