Legacy of Excellence Digital Flipbook

Chapter 3: 2007 – 2011

Research education and training and basic/translational annual meeting programming were the top priority of the RAB as well as building and enhancing a research infrastructure that would support multiple strategic priorities across the organization. To do so, the Academy collaborated with the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI) on their NIDCD grant for Creating Healthcare Excellence through Education and Research (CHEER). CHEER connected large academic institutions to local community practices to effectively respond to the education disparities associated with multi-center research. The project integrated the existing CHEER otology focused network and the AAO-HNSF’s Building Evidence for Successful Treatments in Otolaryngology (BEST ENT) network, which had grown to hundreds of members who were focusing on the entire research continuum. Projects included a revamp of the Clinical Scholars program, a coordinators’ training conference, and an otology data collection project. “We are well posed to create a research infrastructure that supports the rising need for data registries, implementation of our evidence-based guidelines, performance measure development and deployment, as well as the traditional need for multi-site studies to contribute to evidence base. These initiatives are all part of a larger movement to unite the components of healthcare and use each part to its greatest advantage,” shared Dr. Nielsen in the 2009 Annual Report. Advisory Council on Quality (ACQ) In March 2011, the Advisory Council on Quality (ACQ) was formed to provide expert advice to the Research and Quality Coordinator, the AAO-HNS Coordinator, and the AAO-HNS BOD on the Academy’s quality agenda, and to adopt special initiatives or projects as needed. The Board was made up of Academy member subject matter experts as well as a national health plan medical director and a health system executive. The ACQ addressed the creation and alignment of strategic priorities for quality, patient safety, and lifelong learning initiatives. The first project addressed by ACQ was a data registry project. 2009: The Foundation Coordinators for education, research, international, scientific program, instruction course program, internet and information technology, and the Otolaryngology— Head and Neck Surgery editor in chief met together as the Science and Educational Committee.

2009: The AAO-HNS launched the online version of the Bulletin .

Research and Quality Integrated in Education

In 2007, the AAO-HNSF optimized the Research Forum and Scientific Programs Annual Meeting, strengthening the grants program and the infrastructure to gather and translate evidence of best practices into quality patient care. And in 2008, the Research and Quality program coordinated efforts with the Education program to create quality-related content that was eligible for CME credit, as well as collaborate with ABOto and the Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS) to coordinate quality efforts with the requirements for maintenance of certification and maintenance of licensure. In the 2010 Annual Report, Dr. Nielsen addressed the integration of research and education under the leadership of Coordinator for Education Mark K. Wax, MD, “There has been a shift in the development of material to assure that members can engage in performance improvement to demonstrate competence, not just knowledge-based CME; AcademyU’s online learning is being fine-tuned to fundamentally address ‘gaps in knowledge.’ Linked to the changes in research, the quality improvement initiative and the demand for physicians to document performance in practice will require physicians to demonstrate not just that we learned, but how we have applied what we learned, once we return to our practices.”

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