Department of Otorhinolaryngology Hosts James A. Moore Lectureship

Dr. David R. Nielsen

Before accepting the position of executive vice president and CEO of the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, Dr. David R. Nielsen worked in private practice as a physician and consultant for almost 20 years.

And in that time, he saw otolaryngology — and medicine in general — undergo a radical shift.

"I think most physicians will tell you that they are practicing medicine in a way they did not learn in medical school or their residency," Dr. Nielsen said to Weill Cornell Medical College physicians and residents at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology's 9th Annual James A. Moore Lectureship and Residents Research Competition, held in the Weill Greenberg Center on June 18.

In his lecture, entitled "Clinical Performance Measurement and Quality Improvement in Practice," Dr. Nielsen told the residents to be prepared for the professional landscape to undergo an even more thorough transformation during their careers. "In the last 200 years our responsibilities to the welfare of our patients haven't changed, and it shouldn't change," he said. "Almost everything else, however, will."

Dr. Nielsen imagines a health care system where everything happens faster, from how physicians are paid, to how their performance is reviewed, to how they will continue to learn new procedures and methodologies after their formal education has ended.

"It's not enough to go from bench to bedside," he said. "How do we use what we know about something that works in the laboratory and integrate it into entire systems and populations?"

Besides the reimbursement model for physicians, which Dr. Nielsen thinks will likely move away from the intensity-based model into something that will put a greater emphasis on the management of care, he also noted that continuing medical education soon will no longer be all about attendance. "You're going to have to show how you adapted what you learned at CME into your interventions, and if it didn't help at all, you have to know why not," he said. 

Dr. Nielsen's remarks capped off a day's worth of faculty and resident presentations; every resident presents the results from clinical or basic research performed during the past year. David Kent, the Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellow at Columbia University, made a special presentation as well.

Dr. Nielsen has served as academy and foundation executive vice president and CEO of the AAO-HNS for more than seven years. In his position, he oversees the Academy's education, research, health policy, advocacy and member service activities for its 12,000 members. Dr. Nielsen also represents the Academy at the AMA House of Delegates, the American College of Surgeons Board of Governors, and the Council of Medical Specialty Societies, among other organizations. 

Members of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology: James A. Moore Lectureship and Residents Research Competition

Members of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology during the 9th Annual James A. Moore Lectureship and Residents Research Competition, June 18.



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