SHM's Key Principles and Characteristics of an Effective Hospital Medicine Group is the definitive assessment guide for establishing, structuring and maintaining high-performing hospital medicine groups.
SHM’s panel of leaders and experts in hospital medicine created Key Principles and Characteristics of an Effective Hospital Medicine Group to help hospital medicine group (HMG) leaders:
- Be aspirational by raising the bar for their HMGs
- Have an established framework by which groups can conduct self-assessments and become learning organizations with continuous quality improvement
- Promote dialogue between hospital executives and HMG leaders around advancing the practice of hospital medicine
Hospital Medicine Groups (HMGs) come in many different sizes, structures and employment models all while working in distinct hospital environments and patient populations. Beneath these differences, however, there are some universal characteristics of effective hospital medicine practices. With 47 individual characteristics organized into 10 key principles, this framework serves as a roadmap for new, experienced, and future hospital medicine groups to benchmark themselves, target areas for improvement, and implement practice changes.
Hospitalists are central to coordinating team-based patient centered care for hospitalized patients. HMGs play a critical role in ensuring their hospitalists are equipped to provide the best patient care possible. The Key Principles and Characteristics helps groups self-assess and develop strategies for improvement. It gives leaders from the largest to the smallest practices the rationale, requirements, and suggested approaches to define their problems, develop feasible solutions, and take their HMG to the next level.