MASTER
CLINICIANS, THEN AND NOW A new honor recognizes a select group whose clinical abilities are matched by their compassion and interpersonal skills. By John Shea Last year, all three of the University of Pennsylvania Health System’s hospitals were recognized by U.S. News & World Report as among the top 10 hospitals in Pennsylvania. To achieve that kind of recognition, it follows that Penn Medicine has plenty of highly skilled clinicians. A new program, supported by a major gift from Independence Blue Cross and institutional funding, explicitly seeks to foster clinical excellence – and to acknowledge those who stand out even among their fellows. Earlier this year, the inaugural class of the Academy of Master Clinicians, drawn from throughout Penn’s Health System, was officially honored at a banquet. The 22 new members come from the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Pennsylvania Hospital, the Abramson Cancer Center, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia VA Medical Center, and Penn Medicine Radnor. Each receives a one-time financial award of $10,000. As members, each makes a commitment to serve as “ambassadors for Penn Medicine” and to help “improve the culture of clinical excellence in general and to promote the ideal patient experience in particular.”
What are the characteristics of a Master Clinician? According to the selection/executive committee of the new program, they are: superior depth of knowledge in a field and a willingness to pursue new knowledge; excellent judgment, integrity, and exemplary interpersonal and communication skills; and compassion and empathy for patients. In addition, they must be team players, willing to help others toward the same high standards. The clinicians who selected the inaugural class and make up the original members of the Academy have themselves been honored in the past for clinical excellence. Several are recipients of one of the
Perelman School of Medicine’s Awards of Excellence – especially the I. S. Ravdin Master Clinician Award, which is presented to a single person each year. The award was created in 1998, named in honor of the former surgeon-in-chief at HUP who later became the John Rhea Barton Professor of Surgery. Although he could be a demanding leader, Ravdin, M.D. 1918, was also known for his warm bedside manner with patients. Jonathan E. Rhoads, M.D., G.M.E. ’40, succeeded Ravdin as chair of the Department of Surgery. In his later years, Rhoads, himself a legendary figure in the annals of the University of Pennsylvania, published a piece modestly called “My Teacher and Chief: I. S. Ravdin.” In the essay, he recalled some episodes that stood out in his memory. In one case, Rhoads had performed surgery on a patient who had suffered a fracture of the tibia. With a
Members of the inaugural class of the Academy of Master Clinicians are joined by founding members, Dean J. Larry Jameson, and CEO Ralph Muller.
2014/SPRING ■ 29