Our Clinical Partners

Last week, the Institute celebrated our partnerships with preceptors from two of our major "partners within Partners." These events, held at Spaulding Boston, Spaulding Cambridge, Spaulding's Shaunnesy-Kaplan, and at Mass General were attended by over 100 preceptors, administrators and guests. The events represented a deliberate gesture by the Institute to express our thanks to those friends and colleagues who do so much for us.

Over the past year, in partnership with our Clinical Affairs Coordinating Committee, I have had the remarkable opportunity to consider the impact of our clinical partners. Ours is a unique situation, as we are housed within a major health system. Almost all of our students will spend a significant portion of their clinical education with PHS programs. How fortunate they are to learn from these remarkable clinicians, many who are alumni of the Institute. How fortunate we are to have these dedicated, loyal, and trusted friends to add value to the educational enterprise. For the 300 plus students a week who "partner within Partners" we can never be grateful enough.

I mention this because I hope that you will all do the following: (1) say thank you every chance you get to our preceptors and their administrators in MI, Nursing, PT, and CSD; (2) remind students to say thanks, send a thank you note to a valued preceptor, and to be as responsive and focused as they can in their clinical activities; (4) spend time in your program/ faculty meetings to learn about the clinical enterprise for your program; problem solve where necessary; and identify "clinical heroes and heroines" in your discipline (and then find ways to honor them.

First Post on This Blog

Greetings and First Blog:

Welcome to my new blog. I want to use this to keep friends, colleagues, and students up to date on academic life at the Institute. Occasionally (hopefully about one time per week), I plan to use this blog for posting some thoughts, announcements, reflections, and new ideas. I will be anxious to hear what you think. My hope is that occasionally, this blog will stimulate some useful conversation among the academic community.

Yesterday, June 25, was a special day for me. Along with some other faculty members and Dean Clabo, I was lucky enough to attend the 20th Anniversary Celebration of the Chelsea High School Student Health Center. This event, attended by a number of local political dignitaries, Dr. Peter Slavin (MGH President), and other leaders from the community and the MGH honored one of our current faculty members, Gail Gall, MSN (SON) for her leadership in establishing the Center in Chelsea and serving as its first Nurse Practitioner. Being there reminded me of the good work that our faculty do and the remarkable contribution that we make in the community. It was wonderful to hear of the accomplishments of Gail in moving the clinic to its current level of service (over 1400 student visits per year). Every day,faculty members like Gail are providing service somewhere. Thanks to Gail and to our whole faculty for all that you do every day to improve health and quality of life for others.

Earlier last week, actually Monday thru Thursday, I had the opportunity to participate in a series of events designed to celebrate the contribution of our clinical partners at the MGH and the Spaulding Network. We held events at three Spaulding locations and a large reception at the Mass General. So many of our preceptors came to these events. We provided new Institute Preceptor pins and a variety of other gifts for our guests. Our preceptors, provide thousands of hours of service for our students every week. There are days where we actually have over 500 students in a practicum experience somewhere! It was fantastic to have the chance to take a moment to say thank you to our generous colleagues. My hope is that everyone at the Institute takes this opportunity whenever they can. Their contribution to the quality of our educational programs is incomprehensible, unique, and distinguishes us from our peers. This will be the first of many events and other activities designed to recognize the service of our preceptors. Special thanks to faculty members and administrators who attended. Also, many, many thanks to our Clinical Coordinators Commitee members and to the Office of Institutional Advancement, especially Jean Marie Bonofilio and Susan Reynolds, who devoted countless hours to making these events so successful.