LSU Department of Medicine. A department chair is usually adept at putting out one or more fires at any given time, but at times COVID-19 has seemed to be a never-ending conflagration. So many issues needed to be handled immediately. The most pressing of those was, of course, finding ways for our physicians to treat patients both with and without SARS-CoV-2 safely. We were required in short order to establish another medical team as well as another MICU team to care for the ever-increasing number of COVID-19 patients. Not only that, but we had to find physicians to staff the services. It was exceedingly gratifying to see howmany physicians volunteered to staff the extra teams; they truly epitomize the very best qualities of our profession. 2. It is essential to have a plan and be willing and able to modify it quickly and sometimes frequently. In order to fulfill both the educational and medical components of our mission, so many of our plans and customarymeans of operating have had to bemodified. We needed to come up with ways for our students and residents to continue their education and satisfy all program requirements while still maintaining the highest standards of safety. This was especially difficult with our third- and fourth-year students, who needed to be exposed to a wide variety of patients without any of them being COVID-19 patients. Our senior students had the additional complication of not being able to do any away rotations. As for our patients, we quickly developed an initial plan for diagnosing and treating COVID-19 cases, but that plan had to be changed frequently as newer diagnostic tests and treatment regimens were developed. 3. Tragedy can bring out the best in people. Knowing the professionalism that the Department of Medicine’s faculty and staff exemplifies every day, it was not surprising to me to see the plethora of ways that they showed leadership, took ownership, and went beyond their usual obligations to do the very best for their patients, trainees, and/or colleagues. I am inordinately proud of every one of them. 4. Believe in the abilities of others, and when you give them a task, endow them with responsibility, authority, and accountability—then get out of their way. As the leader of our department, I am mindful of not micromanaging others. In the case of the physicians who were tasked with the responsibility of caring for COVID-19 patients, I got out of the way and let them do their job, which they did with skill, caring, and compassion. In the case of the staff members who, due to the hiring freeze, had to assume the burden of additional job responsibilities while still functioning in their own positions, I trusted them to learn the
skills they needed and ask questions when necessary. In all cases, I tried to express my gratitude for all the extra obligations our department members were undertaking. reliable communication in the face of a disaster like COVID-19 cannot be overstated. Unlike the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, there was never a time when we were without working phones or an instance when we did not know where people were or how to locate them. On the contrary, we were able to avail ourselves not only of our phones but also of new technologies, such as Zoom, in order to communicate. Despite the problems discussed earlier that Zoom can cause, it was paramount in enabling us to continue our work with efficiency (for the most part) and safety. In addition, in many of his presentations, Dr. Anthony Fauci has emphasized the cruciality of not only communication but of factual communication during this pandemic. This was especially necessary because of the newness of the virus and the fact that we were (and still are!) constantly adding to our understanding of it and trying to combat the misunderstandings and downright falsehoods that propagate so easily via the internet and social media. Like most, if not all, of our faculty, I made sure to keep abreast of the most current knowledge about the virus via educational webinars, articles, and Zoom conferences. The Department of Medicine continued to holdmonthly meetings of either section chiefs or all faculty to disseminate pertinent departmental information, as well as weekly Medicine Grand Rounds to keep our faculty, fellows, residents, and students on top of the most updated medical knowledge. It is notable that attendance at Grand Rounds significantly increased over the past year, which is an unexpected benefit and almost certainly a result of the convenience of being able to attend from any location, rather than having to be physically present. importance of effective, 6. In any catastrophe, it is imperative to be available, accessible, accountable, and affable. The past year has presented me with innumerable problems to handle and rapid decisions to be made. I made a point of keeping our faculty informed of changes via email and during Zoom meetings. I communicated frequently with my section chiefs and other faculty and staff members and made sure that they all knew that I was available to talk with them at any time. 5. The
7. An effective leader listens. The COVID-19 crisis saddled many faculty members, residents, students, and administrative staff with large and, at times, insurmountable problems, and many of them wanted me to listen to what they had to say. They needed to 47
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