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© 2014 American Society for Healthcare Risk Management of the American Hospital Association

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) • DOI: 10.1002/jhrm.21143

AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR HEALTHCARE RISK MANAGEMENT • VOLUME 34, NUMBER 1 1

Jacque L. Mitchell , RN , CPHRM FASHRM , ARM

Spreading the word about the unique and valuable role of healthcare risk managers

Here I am three-quarters through my year as president of ASHRM and I am still pinching myself that I am where I am! How has your year been? It has been a tough year for everyone in healthcare. With the Affordable Care Act demands on healthcare and the public, concerns about funding, quality initiatives, and overall potential loss of revenue, it’s a wonder we are still in healthcare. But would you be doing anything different? I don’t think so. I love that I can help make a difference by assisting staff with a difficult patient or situation or help a patient with a care concern that they are totally frustrated with or explain to a fellow risk manager what I would do in the situation they are dealing with. Although we feel like we are being pulled into new healthcare territories for our insight and recommendations, it is an indication of the value we bring to our organizations. We will get through this and there will be more challenges, but as risk management professionals, we can help solve problems and create value in the upcoming changes in healthcare.

As you may know, we are asking members to send us a short video (can be less than a minute) about “why you do what you do.” Our theme, “Sharing in the Caring Through Enterprise Risk Management,” will carry through to our annual conference in October in Anaheim, California. Ellen Venditti (your next president) and I were commissioned to do our videos in early February. Check them out on the ASHRM Web site! We did them in “one take,” so we have lots of excuses for why they weren’t perfect and we had some laughs while we were doing them. But in the end, we both realized what wonderful opportunities we had in the profes- sion we had chosen. So tell ASHRM about why you care about what you do every day!

Speaking about what you have been doing. Did you do anything for Healthcare Risk Management Week in June? I, too, like you, had limited funds to celebrate the week. Like a good risk manager, I had to get creative. I did order the ASHRM posters for my fellow risk managers. I also recruited one of my local defense firms to join me and a fellow staff member to set up a table in the hallway near the cafeteria from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. for the week where we would get the most foot traffic. We made a couple of large posters printed by our Facilities Department that read: “Meet the Risk Management Staff and Defense Attorneys! Ask Us Questions About Patient Safety and Risk Management.” Everyone who asked a question (staff, physicians, residents, patients, and visitors) was entered into a daily drawing for a prize. It turned out to be a great week, and we had lots of interesting ques- tions/suggestions from patients, families, and staff about safety. We even suggested that a few family members and patients apply to become members of our Patient and Family Council. Since then, phone calls to our office have increased, which I think is a wonderful measure of the staff asking for advice and notifying us about situations that they are dealing with. We

President’s Message

JOURNAL OF HEALTHCARE RISK MANAGEMENT • VOLUME 34, NUMBER 1 DOI: 10.1002/jhr m2

like to tell them, “We are here for you, so you can take care of the patient and we will take care of the situation.” We’ve also seen an increase in families contacting us for assistance.

In conclusion, I hope you are sending us your videos about “Sharing in the Caring Through Enterprise Risk Management,” finalizing plans for ASHRM’s Annual Conference, and spreading the word about the unique resources that risk management professionals have to offer.

Please find me at the conference, along with the ASHRM board members and staff, and say hello. We want to hear your stories. And as Andy Oppenberg (our past president) would say, “Bring your ears—Mickey Mouse ears, that is!”

See you in Anaheim!

2014 ASHRM President