Celebrate National Medical Staff Services Awareness Week!
To celebrate National Medical Staff Services Awareness Week, we asked medical staff leaders to share their thoughts on the MSPs that they work with daily.
Stewart Hamilton, MD, CMO of Yuma Regional Medical Center in Yuma, AZ says, “They are some of the most dedicated and hardworking medical professionals that I have ever known. They are the unsung and unrecognized heroes in healthcare and, in particular, patient safety.”
Hamilton described a video that the patient safety department at YRMC is putting together in which employees hold up cards with three words that describe their contribution to patient safety. He offers these three-word combos:
- Medical staff professionals
- Answer all questions
- No stone unturned
“Their work is sometimes portrayed as nitpicking and overly detailed–usually by the questionable practitioner–yet the medical staff professionals are the first (and often the best) safety net of any hospital or group and indirectly of the patients and families we all serve,” says Hamilton.
Benjamin Call, MD, a cardiologist at Pocatello Cardiology Associates and past medical staff president at Portneuf Regional Medical Center in Pocatello, ID, speaks to MSPs’ innate ability to form relationships that are both professional and friendly. “A lot of physicians see the MSP as the one person in the hospital who understands them and who they can really talk to. Because MSPs build relationships of trust, they are uniquely qualified to give their physicians encouragement and assistance. We love our MSPs!”
In recognition of National Medical Staff Services Awareness Week, the National Association Medical Staff Services has created a video that explains what MSPs do and why their role is critical to patient safety to share with medical staff leaders and human resources departments. To view the video, click here.
To share your thoughts on the role MSPs have played at your facility, e-mail me at ejones@hcpro.com or use the comment box below to comment on this post.
About the Author: Elizabeth (Liz) Jones is an associate editor at HCPro. She writes and contributes to several monthly newsletters including Medical Staff Briefing, Hospitalist Leadership Advisor, and Credentialing and Peer Review Legal Insider. Liz graduated from Salem (MA) State College in 2003 with a B.A. in professional writing. Before joining HCPro, Liz wrote for a national monthly business publication where she gained experience in executive-level business and healthcare issues.