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The Leading Edge
The relentless pursuit of quality and excellence
Collectively, as a unified and diverse Academy, we must continue to engage with all stakeholders, including our specialty societies, academic and private practice otolaryngologists, the ABOto, and others, to pursue our mutual goals of continuously improving research, quality, and safety in otolaryngology education and healthcare provision in the United States and around the world.
The Academy and Foundation Boards of Directors made a commitment consistent with our mission to expand significant resources to upgrade our patient education and information programs through the creation of a dedicated website designed to help our patients access the best information possible about their medical conditions.
At The Forefront
Board of Governors: The BOG is a lifeline
Whenever we travel by airplane, the take-off safety instructions tell us to secure our own oxygen mask first, then assist the child or other person next to us. I use this analogy whenever I am talking to patients who find themselves overwhelmed in the position of chief caregiver to their loved ones. But it also applies to our profession.
Following the retirement of James F. Battey, Jr., MD, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) convened a committee to begin the official search for the next Director of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD). The NIDCD’s mission is to foster research in the areas of hearing, balance, smell, taste, voice, and speech. As a result, the next Director of the NIDCD will inevitably have an impact on the specialty.
Humanitarian service in Guayaquil
I participated in a Global Smile Foundation surgical outreach trip to Guayaquil, Ecuador, in March 2018 as a recipient of a humanitarian travel grant. Shortly after arriving in Guayaquil, I met a large group of enthusiastic and dedicated Global Smile Foundation volunteers from the United States, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, and Brazil. With a shared interest to help those in need, we quickly bonded and were eager to begin the surgical mission.
From the AAO-HNSF PSQI Committee – Wrong site surgery: A never event
A 20-year-old was found to have a profound sensorineural hearing loss in her right ear and aidable sensorineural hearing loss in her left ear on audiogram. Based on testing, she was deemed a cochlear implant candidate in the right ear and was scheduled for surgery. CT imaging showed normal temporal bones. One month later, she went to the OR for cochlear implantation.
ENT Advocacy network – Keep an ear to the ground
As an otolaryngologist-head and neck surgeon, you are fully aware of the numerous challenges faced in the day-to-day practice of medicine. Increased liability premiums, decreasing reimbursements, and burdensome regulations continue to threaten the viability of your practice and hinder your ability to provide patients with the highest quality of care.
Trauma Symposium to be held at #OTOMTG18
The AAO-HNS Trauma Committee and the Society of Military Otolaryngologists (SMO) will present a Trauma Symposium during the AAO-HNSF 2018 Annual Meeting & OTO Experience in Atlanta, Georgia. “Modern Management of H&N Trauma: Computer Aided Applications in Maxillofacial Reconstruction” will be held at 5:00 pm (ET), Saturday, October 6, with the location to be announced.
Features
The Presidential Citations are given to individuals who have had a profound influence on the AAO-HNS/F President’s life and otolaryngology. President Gavin Setzen, MD, has selected the below individuals for their outstanding contributions and dedication to the Academy and Foundation.
Welcome to Atlanta – Explore the local scene in authentic Atlanta
Atlanta isn’t just another big city—it’s an urban landscape made up of nearly 45 neighborhoods. Each locale brings a unique flavor to the community and adds personality to the city. Visitors can easily transition from one neighborhood to the next, all the while experiencing Atlanta’s culture.
Meeting the global need in otolaryngologic patient care
The AAO-HNSF 2018 Annual Meeting & OTO Experience is the launchpad to formalize the work of the Humanitarian Efforts Committee to connect donated medical supplies and instruments to medically underserved communities around the world. This initiative, working in collaboration with MedShare, Inc., encourages members to engage in this effort so that the much-needed demands of underserved communities around the world are being met.
Healthcare workers of Agape in Action treat over 1,000 people each month in this rural area of Guatemala. Of those 1,000 patients, approximately 310 have conditions like hypertension and diabetes. These problems require regular screenings, which is difficult to do in rural areas.
International Guest of Honor 2018: Portugal
Portugal is the most western country of Europe, with a particular geographical morphology, referred by our most famous modern poet, Fernando Pessoa, as a staring face looking to the West (America) and to the future: “[Europe] stares with a fatal, sphinxian gaze to the West, the future of the Past.
Research and quality: Guiding the way through the digital clinical data evolution
Augmented intelligence, artificial intelligence, digital medicine, big data, data curation—this is some of the new terminology being encountered by the AAO-HNSF Research and Quality Business Unit on a daily basis. The convergence of the Reg-entSM clinical data registry and the “digitization” of healthcare has put us on a path for which we have been preparing for a decade or more.
Activities of the OREBM Committee
The AAO-HNSF Outcomes Research and Evidence Based Medicine (OREBM) Committee continues to be productive under the leadership of chair Jennifer J. Shin, MD, SM, and chair-elect Vikas Mehta, MD, MPH. Activities in the past year include:
From the AAO-HNSF PSQI Committee: Updates from the PSQI Committee
The Patient Safety Quality Improvement (PSQI) Committee, under the leadership of Emily F. Boss, MD, MPH, and C.W. David Chang, MD, has been involved in several key AAO-HNSF initiatives, and Committee members continue to participate at high levels with these projects.
The Centralized Otolaryngology Research Efforts (CORE) grants program plays a critical role in advancing the field of otolaryngology by providing support to research projects, research training, and career development.
The multidisciplinary AAO-HNSF clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) have been endorsed by many medical and surgical societies, have received national attention in the media, and are highly rated by the National Guideline Clearinghouse.
One of the goals of AAO-HNSF is to promote quality through the development of meaningful measures that enhance the care and practice of medicine for ear, nose, throat, and related structures of the head and neck.
AAO-HNSF is at the forefront of quality measure development. In 2017, the AAO-HNSF measures staff worked with our physician volunteers to develop specialty-specific measures that covered many areas of the specialty.
Another year and another thank you to our members and their practices for their commitment to Reg-ent. Reg-ent continues to grow and now includes over 2,500 clinicians from over 460 practices representing academic medical centers, health systems, large private practices and networks, and small-to-mid-size private practices.
