The Society of Hospital Medicine has presented Intermountain’s hospitalists team with the 2021 Award for Excellence in Teamwork for their coordinated response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The recognition is part of the society’s annual Awards of Excellence program, honoring hospitalists who exemplify hospital medicine best practices including clinical leadership, teaching, teamwork, research, and humanitarian services.
The award commends Intermountain’s hospitalists team for their integrated approach to the pandemic. By keeping the patient at the center, the team formed tight partnerships with other operating lanes and infectious disease/infection control leaders to develop goals and implement COVID-19 treatment workflows across the enterprise.
The innovative leadership and reporting structure of the Medical/Surgical operating lane allowed for flexible adaptation to the rapidly changing landscape of the COVID-19 pandemic. This structure helped create an environment that supports consistent, high-level care experiences for our patients.
“The lessons of teamwork and the ability to pivot and be agile are things we learned during the COVID-19 pandemic that will endure and help us address future challenges,” says Linda Venner, MD, senior medical director, Medical/Surgical Operations. “Together, we can do anything.”
Intermountain utilized this new framework to ensure crisis-ready operations by defining best practices through real-time literature review and teaming with ED, ICU, and nursing to create COVID-19 workflows, order sets, and dashboards. Capacity issues were addressed through daily huddles to facilitate load-leveling between hospitals, use of telehealth for early discharge, and remote patient monitoring and admission to “Intermountain at Home,” preserving the ability to deliver critical surgical services.