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 philanthropic gift and institutional funding, explicitly seeks to foster clinical excellence –- and to acknowledge those who stand out even among their fellows. Earlier this month, 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 HUP, Penn Presbyterian, Pennsylvania Hospital, the Abramson Cancer Center, Children’s Hospital, the Veterans Administration, 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 characterizes a Master Clinician? Superior depth of knowledge in a field and a willingness to pursue new knowledge; excellent judgment, integrity, and exemplary interpersonal and communication skills; compassion and empathy for patients. In addition, they must 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 –- in this case, the I. S. Ravdin Master Clinician Award, presented to one 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, he was also known for his warm bedside manner with patients.
Jonathan Rhoads succeeded Ravdin as chair of the Department of Surgery. Rhoads, himself a legendary figure in the annals of Penn Medicine, 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 cast on, the patient was sitting in the ward when Ravdin came by during rounds. Despite what Rhoads believed was a successful procedure, the man was not eating and not thriving.
Ravdin asked the patient what his occupation was. The man answered that he was a carpenter but added that he was worried he would never be able to work again. At once, Rav, as Rhoads called him, assured him that he’d be able to return to work -– because Ravdin needed a porch built on his summer house at the Jersey shore and wanted the man to build it.
As Rhoads put it: “The whole attitude of the patient changed: he began to take an interest in life and ate heartily. The fracture healed, and he built the porch. It was typical of Rav’s humanity and insight that he inquired into the patient’s mind, grasped the fact that the depression was due to the patient’s impression that he was helpless. It was characteristic of Rav to do something positive about it immediately.”
Rhoads’s anecdote illustrates the importance of humanity and insight -– essential qualities for a great clinician. Over the years, similar traits have been noted in the descriptions of those who have received the I. S. Ravdin Master Clinician Award. For example:
* “A real doctor’s doctor,” continually sought after by physicians at HUP and elsewhere for his radiological expertise and highly valued medical opinions.
* He epitomizes the ideal clinician. “He has a broad base of knowledge and a wide range of experience which he shares with everyone who has the fortune of being in his presence. . . .”
* He demonstrates “the three A’s of a master clinician: availability, affability, and ability.”
* He is beloved as a teacher by the trainees and students at Penn. “He is the epitome of the sensitive, concerned, and highly knowledgeable physician that any of us would want to care for one of our family members.”
A more recent clinician widely admired by both his patients and his colleagues is John Glick, MD, an acknowledged leader in the areas of breast cancer, Hodgkin’s disease, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. After 21 years as director of the Abramson Cancer Center, he continues as president of the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute, as a vice president of UPHS, and as associate dean for resource development at the medical school. His newest role is as chair of the Selection/Executive Committee of the Academy of Master Clinicians. More than 25 years ago, in Penn Medicine magazine, one of his colleagues had this to say about Glick: “He always gives every one of his patients his essence. He really sets a standard on how one should best take care of a patient both physically and psychologically.” Glick, too, is a winner of the I. S. Ravdin Master Clinician Award. According to one of the supporting letters, “he defines the very nature of a master clinician.”
It is no surprise, then, that Glick is one of major forces behind the creation of the Academy, ably helped by Victoria Mulhern, director of Faculty Affairs and Professional Development. With Glick, the other founding members of the Academy of Master Clinicians, and the new class, the tradition of clinical excellence lives on at Penn Medicine. As Glick has stated: “What we do for our patients is of critical importance to our missions of research, clinical care, and education.”