If you are a medical staff leader, you may think that following up with others after an MEC meeting is not your job. You may not write follow-up letters (you might sign them, but not write them!) and it is undoubtedly not your responsibility to write the minutes, etc. However, as a medical staff leader, you will want to know and participate in effective and clear communication to various constituencies about the important outcomes of an MEC meeting.

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has recently settled with Dennis Burke, MD, an orthopedic surgeon who was fired in 2015 for allegedly violating patient confidentiality. Burke shared information with the Boston Globe Spotlight team that shed light on the hospital’s practice of scheduling overlapping surgeries, raising concerns about the safety of this practice. However, he claimed that he was dismissed for voicing these concerns and contends that he did not violate patient safety in sharing information with the Spotlight team.

See how your peers at Indiana University Health Bloomington Hospital celebrated MSP Awareness Week!

Over time, it has become common for many medical staff governance decisions  to set precedents for the future. Although not required by any regulatory, licensing, or accreditation body, these decisions have become de facto truths for many medical staffs around the country. For this reason, medical staff leaders often do not recognize that choices exist.

Over the past seven years, there have been several nationwide efforts to address physician burnout, which has been linked to physician involvement in patient safety incidents, unprofessionalism, and lower patient satisfaction. The efforts to curb physician burnout have included AMA conferences and initiatives to create online resources. The coauthors of the recent research, which was published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, say improvement in physician burnout and work-life integration is promising, but more progress is needed.