The Importance of Being Proactive: Week of February 3, 2022

 

Dear Students, Faculty, Residents, Staff, Alumni, Board Members and Friends,

Good morning on a brisk Friday from our Elkins Park campus where all of our students, faculty and staff have been busy with classes, labs and clinics. Special thanks to our volunteer Board of Trustee members for their insights and participation at our Board meeting earlier this week. We deeply value their expertise and guidance. In addition, here are some other items of interest:

NEW SAFE ZONE LOGO: We are excited to introduce our new LGBTQ+ Safe Zone logo (see attached). Salus employees who complete one of the upcoming, two-hour "Safe Zone" trainings may wish to display the emblem in their office space to signify completion. Trainings are available virtually Feb. 24 and April 18. Registration information will be emailed in the coming weeks.

PA AND OT PANEL DISCUSSION: The Physician Assistant (PA) Studies program faculty, along with PA and Occupational Therapy (OT) students, will present a panel discussion titled "Learning the Challenges of Healthcare Access through a Medical Service Lens: Salus PA & OT Student Experiences in Guatemala,” at noon today, Feb. 3, in Room S-300. Go to cerbgistration@salus.edu to register.

COMMUNICATION TIPS: Please join CPPD's doctoral student trainees Andrew Jaskot and Janeyshka Ortiz-Flores for a communication “tips and tricks” tabling event from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9, outside the café. Students are encouraged to stop by to chat with the counselors, receive more information about communication styles in relationships, grab some treats, and receive more information about the 

CPPD. BLACK HISTORY MONTH: Wednesday marked the beginning of Black History Month commemorating and celebrating the history, accomplishments, leadership, and lives of Black Americans. Dr. Mosley-Williams sent out this week a powerful reflection that I encourage you all to read.

FINAL THOUGHTS: This week a friend reminded me of a quote attributed to President John F. Kennedy: “The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.”

Good leaders, and those of us in healthcare, always need to be proactive. The way we do this at Salus is through scenario planning, a modeling exercise that systematically explores alternative futures in healthcare and higher education, in order to formulate strategies to address potential developments.

For example, while we could never have predicted a global pandemic, our scenario planning enabled us to respond effectively. One of our scenarios identified the need to expand hybrid education. As part of our strategic plan, we invested heavily in the necessary infrastructure to facilitate this. This investment allowed us to pivot to on-line teaching and learning over the course of a weekend when the pandemic hit.

As we emerged from the pandemic, we embarked on another round of scenario planning. While this evolution validated many of the findings from our last round, it also pointed to the importance of developing sustainable partnerships and affiliations with other institutions. Given the current landscape in higher education, we are proactively nurturing collaborative relationships with many schools, and in particular our consortium partners, to develop well-defined pathways from community colleges to our programs.

As healthcare providers, we develop differential diagnosis lists to provide the best possible care for patients as conditions and symptoms evolve. This is a form of scenario planning – exploring a range of potential treatment courses so that we are better prepared for the unexpected. As students, you also need to be thinking proactively about managing your time to effectively study for national board exams. When I was a student, we “budgeted” several hours a week just to stay on top of things – something I highly recommend. 

As we get ready for the weekend, please think about the importance of being proactive in all that you do. By planning ahead, you’ll be able to prioritize what’s important to you personally and professionally, because you will spend less time reacting.

Have a great weekend – Stay warm as it’s supposed to be extremely cold. Be safe, remain COVID vigilant, continue to watch out for one another and remain SALUS STRONG!

- Mike