From SHM

Get…and stay…connected in the new year

SIGs and Chapters

Looking to connect with even more colleagues in the new year? One way to get the most out of your SHM membership is to get involved. You can join a SIG—special interest group—or get engaged with your local chapter.

SIGs are designed to create communities of hospitalists around topics of interest, practice areas, and/or care models. Joining one of SHM’s 27 special interest groups allows you to collaborate, share experiences with your peers, and have meaningful discussions that can directly impact your practice. As an SHM member, you can belong to as many SIGs as you want, and if there’s not a SIG on a particular topic you’re interested in, you can apply to start one.

Chapters serve as your local SHM home to network with your peers, establish new relationships within the community, receive education, and grow in your profession as a hospitalist. As soon as you join SHM, you’re automatically added to your local chapter, where you have the opportunity to attend chapter activities and participate at the local leadership level to influence and execute chapter goals and initiatives. More than 80% of SHM’s total membership is represented by one of 68 U.S. chapters. If there’s not a chapter in your area, you can apply to start one.

While the COVID pandemic has impacted the frequency of SIG and chapter meetings, the resiliency, passion, and dedication of volunteer leaders have been undeniable as they have continued to lend the time and energy they do have to support these communities.

In upcoming issues of The Hospitalist, we look forward to spotlighting these communities and their ongoing efforts to promote exceptional patient care and advance the field of hospital medicine.

Special interest groups

To join a SIG, visit the SHM store on the website at hospitalmedicine.org/store and add the SIGs you’re interested in to your cart. When you check out, you’ll be added as a member.

Current SIG communities:

  • Care for Vulnerable Populations—Share challenges and solutions related to improving the quality of hospital care for vulnerable and underserved patient populations.
  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion—Partner with fellow hospitalists who are passionate about promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion within the field of hospital medicine. Working together we will improve other aspects of practice, including patient care, education, research, quality improvement, and professional development.
  • Ethics—Serves as a resource for discussion, coaching, and mentorship on common and challenging ethical concerns that hospitalists face. This SIG also supports SHM members in collaborating on ethics scholarship, quality improvement projects, and presentations that address ethics in clinical care, education, and policy.
  • Family Medicine—Network, learn, discuss training, share best practices and challenges, and discuss trends related to hospitalists trained in family medicine.
  • Global Hospital Medicine—Engage in conversations, networking, expertise, and resource sharing on the topics of global health and human rights work among hospitalists. This space is also a place for those practicing hospital medicine outside of North America to share issues and ideas. This SIG aims to build long-term collaborations in the US and abroad.
  • Healthcare Information Technology—Share resources and ideas concerning all aspects of healthcare information technology related to patient care.
  • Hospital Medicine Administrators—Voice your ideas and learn from the unique perspectives of key management and operational leaders in hospital medicine.
  • Hospital Medicine Disaster Preparedness and Management—Connect with members looking to build a coalition of individuals to help address the role and challenges of hospital medicine in disaster preparedness and management at both a local and national level.
  • Hospital Medicine Fellowships—This centralized community serves to connect members both interested and/or involved in a mosaic of fellowships across hospital medicine. The aim is to create a networking collaborative that socializes current curricular requirements and opportunities, provides resources for individuals or hospitals looking to start a fellowship or fellowship program, serves as a sounding board for ideas, and socializes the need for fellowship programs.
  • Humanities in Medicine—A collaborative space to practice close reading of literature, art, and film as they relate to our work in hospital medicine. This space will aim to encourage reflective practice and writing, cultivate empathy, and build a community of wellness and resilience.
  • Interdisciplinary Rounding—Network with hospitalists who share an interest in the initiation and maintenance of interdisciplinary rounding (IR) while gaining expertise through structured discussions around implementation strategies, sustainability efforts, and evaluation methods of IR.
  • Med-Peds—Explore the role of Med-Peds physicians in hospital medicine.
  • Multi-site HMG Leaders—Network with physicians and administrative leaders responsible for managing multiple hospitalist practice sites within the same health system.
  • Night Medicine—Join a network of night medicine care practitioners to share experiences and address obstacles unique to working overnight, including but not limited to best practices, teaching, career development, and wellness.
  • NP/PA—Share collaborative opportunities, best practices, resources, and education to support the professional growth of NPs and PAs.
  • Palliative Care—Network with hospitalists providing palliative care to share experiences, challenges, and training opportunities.
  • Patient Experience—Join a group of hospitalists focused on co-designing patient-centered culture resources. Improve and demonstrate patient-centered service behaviors and communication skills. Develop implement and assess the success of strategies to improve the patient experience and care.
  • Pediatrics—The pediatric hospitalist’s home for networking and collaboration.
  • Perioperative/Co-Management—Network with colleagues, discuss controversial or difficult patient management issues, receive literature and guideline updates, and share best practices for perioperative medicine curriculum, preop clinics, and co-management.
  • Physician Advisors—Network, discuss challenges, and learn about workflow systems with members who serve as Physician Advisors within their institutions.
  • Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS)—Collaborate with other hospitalists who are learning, practicing, or teaching point of care ultrasound.
  • Quality Improvement—Share resources and collaborate with others focused on quality improvement and patient safety programs.
  • Residents and Medical Students—Engage with future hospital medicine pioneers, learn from peers, and access unique mentorship opportunities with hospital medicine thought leaders.
  • Rural Hospital Medicine—Network with colleagues to find solutions to challenges in unique practice environments in underserved locations.
  • Substance Use Disorders—This group aims to both increase awareness about and improve the quality of care provided to hospitalized patients with substance use disorders.
  • VA Hospitalists—Connect with VA hospitalists to collaborate on opportunities and best practices, while supporting fellow clinicians’ professional growth.
  • Value-Based Care—This community provides a venue to explore and collaborate around concepts unique to value-based care and how it improves outcomes, patient satisfaction, and clinician satisfaction. 

Chapters

SHM has more than 60 national and six international chapters. The U.S. chapters are grouped in 12 geographic districts, each represented by a district chair who reports chapter business to the SHM Board of Directors.

You’re assigned to a chapter based on your location and can easily find chapters by zip code on the SHM website at hospitalmedicine.org/chapters.

To learn about upcoming chapter activities and opportunities to get involved or network with other members online, visit the chapter’s community on SHM’s online discussion forum, HMX. You can find the community on your HMX Dashboard or under the Chapters tab in the HMX navigation at hospitalmedicine.org/hmx.

Chapters are tasked with setting annual goals and organizing activities that enhance overall membership satisfaction and grow membership. They are recognized for their outstanding work to carry out the SHM mission locally through the annual Chapter Excellence Awards Program.

The award program is comprised of exemplary and status awards, which you can learn more about on the chapter page of SHM’s website listed above.

Make 2022 the year you get involved … if you haven’t already. You can learn more about SIGs and chapters on the SHM website.
Not a member of SHM? Join today at hospitalmedicine.org/join. 

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