Silverman Institute Poster Session

After grand rounds, the next item of business for the Silverman Institute symposium was a poster session displaying areas of quality and safety and general process improvement, and enhancement in the patient care environment. The short video below offers some of the posters and their presenters. It gives you a sense of the variety of issues facing an academic medical center, some seemingly simple, some complex.

But here's the thing that puts this in context. When I returned back from my visit to the poster session, the following email awaited me from Susan Megerman, Continuing Medical Education Course Administrator and Program Coordinator, Community Cancer Services:

Dear Paul,

The past several days have been one of ups and downs, but mostly ups. On Sunday, I had the privilege to say goodbye to a dear friend who was on Feldberg 7. I went as a visitor, but sat and watched the staff at work and became a fellow employee filled with the pride of being able to say I work at BIDMC.

M was fully unconscious by the time I arrived, yet every single member of the medical staff spoke to him as if he were fully awake, letting him know exactly what they would be doing: taking his blood pressure, taking blood, giving him an injection. I look back at that brief vignette of hospital care and know that this is what must be happening everywhere in the hospital and if it isn't exactly to that standard, that individuals and groups are working to make it so.

Sadly, M expired yesterday morning after a courageous battle in which his and the combined determination of the medical staff worked to keep him going for as long as possible.

Then, this morning, I'm walking through the lobby of Shapiro and I see the wonderful poster presentations for the Silverman Conference and again, I am deeply moved.

Having now worked at BIDMC for a little more than a year, I remain as grateful for being employed here as I was the first day I began and even more appreciative of the culture of the institution, its devotion to patients and employees. As I look toward my 65th birthday next week, I cannot think of a more wonderful place to complete my work career than at BIDMC.

Thank you.
Susan

All of the posters are available for viewing here.

If you can't see the video, click here.