SHS/ASQ 2010 Conference – Student Attendee Impression

By Sarah Manning, University of Nebraska

As a first time SHS/ASQ Conference attendee, I was extremely impressed with the quality of the educational sessions, the value of the keynote speakers, and the engaging discussions with other health system improvement professionals.  I left with valuable information from the different session tracks.  In particular, Matt Morrissette's session, “Kaizen Unleashed!” had some good examples and case studies that I think I will be able to readily apply in my future professional work. The presentation gave me some great insights on how to approach improvement work in general.

Friday’s keynote speaker, Michael C. Riordan, President and Chief Executive Officer Greenville Hospital System University Medical Center, provided a great presentation on the possibilities of industrial and system engineers and how a background in engineering has helped him to systematically improve the management and quality systems in a large complex healthcare organization.

Saturday’s keynote speaker, Dr. Barry Silbaugh, Chief Executive Officer of The American College of Physician Executives, was a dynamic speaker and provided great insight on a clinician’s view of hospital organization and clinical quality improvement.  He also gave some important tips on how improvement professionals can engage physicians.

Most importantly, I believe the networking opportunities provided by the conference were most valuable.  As a student there can be limited opportunities to meet with industry professionals.  It was excited to hear about the work being done by Premier, StatCom, Novaces, Bryan LGH and others through one-on-one discussions.  I look forward to seeing how SHS and ASQ grow the network and collaboration efforts between these societies as well as take a bigger role in healthcare improvement.