An open letter to the medical staff
Dear Colleagues,
On January 1, I will be formally stepping down as your president and handing the reins to Christine White, MD, MS. The past two years have absolutely flown by, and it seems like only yesterday when I chaired my first Medical Executive Committee (MEC) meeting. We have accomplished a lot during this time, and I know that Dr. White will continue to move our medical staff forward to even greater heights. I wanted to take this opportunity to reflect upon the last two years and share with you a few highlights of what we have accomplished together.
My predecessor, Dr. Tom Dewitt, recognized that our medical staff needed a Finance sub-committee to help manage our budget. The original Finance sub-committee of the MEC had met only a few times before I became president, so one of my first jobs was to develop a formal set of bylaws for it, which was subsequently approved by the MEC. According to these new bylaws, the Finance sub-committee is chaired by the president-elect and develops the annual budget, which is then approved by the MEC. We also recognized that the MEC is frequently asked to approve funding requests for a variety of activities throughout the year. With this in mind, the sub-committee is allowed to spend up to $5,000 without MEC approval.
The medical staff remains financially strong, and as a result, we have been able to invest in a number of initiatives and projects, including the Urban Health Project and Med Mentors (two medical-student-run programs at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine), Doctor’s Day, the medical staff history projects (video interviews of some of our local living legends), and most recently, medical staff leadership training through the Greeley Institute.
The MEC is always looking for ways to improve communication with the rest of the medical staff. This past January, I delivered the first of what I hope will be an annual tradition – the State of the Medical Staff address. The address last year was very well attended, and I was happy that we were able to broadcast and record it so that those members of our medical staff who were unable to attend could also watch.
Another one of my goals was to take every opportunity to recognize all of the wonderful accomplishments of our medical staff. As one example, we provided breakfast to all of the members of our medical staff on Doctor’s Day, a tradition which we certainly plan to continue.
We recently distributed the results of our bi-annual medical staff engagement survey. For the first time ever, we included several items on the Maslach Burnout Inventory. We are in the process of putting together small focus groups to further identify some of the key drivers of provider burnout here at Cincinnati Children’s. The medical staff is working closely with the Office of Academic and Faculty Affairs, as well as the Cincinnati Health Collaborative and Cincinnati Academy of Medicine to begin to address this growing problem.
It’s been a wonderful two years! I look forward to my continued role as your Chief of Staff on the MEC. I am confident that under Dr. White’s leadership, our medical staff will continue to prosper in the coming years. I want to thank you for allowing me to serve as your president – it has been an honor and a privilege.
Sincerely,
Derek
Derek Wheeler, MD
Outgoing president, Medical Staff
