Dr. Herman Spilker - Mayo Summary
November 22nd, 2012 - Last month we visited the
Mayo Clinic. This group included administrators, nurses, and three cardiologists. I was interested in understanding how the Mayo functioned, and what our relationship was going to be like.
Most of us have functioned in a high level medical institution during our training. My training is long enough ago that I have largely forgotten that experience, and those memories are diluted by inner city and va rotations. So that the Mayo was an eye opening experience, sort of like the farmer going to the city.
The Mayo Clinic is absolutely committed to a patient centered culture, and you can see the vast resources they bring to bear to make that happen.
The Mayo has built hospitals to export their cultures to Fl and Ariz. They have purchased hospitals and clinics in the upper Midwest and transformed them to brand them with the Mayo name. Now we have purchased entrance into the next tier, and you can see it on every entrance to this hospital, the
Mayo Health Care Network. It seems clear that they are forming a pyramid, and we are joining the base.
Apart from being gracious hosts, it surprised us that there were abundant opportunities to make this relationship more than just PR. Even in this very short visit which was geared toward making us understand the Mayo way of doing things, we encountered patient testing protocols and physicians eager to share them, as well as funded research opportunities that we could easily contribute to.
What they wanted us to see was a cooperative structure where doctors, nurses, and administrators combined their efforts to achieve a goal of the best possible patient experience. There are collaborative cells at every level that include doctors to help solve even the smallest problems.
So the take home message was twofold. First, to embrace an administrative culture that folded in doctors and nurses at every level, so that particularly the involvement of doctors is invited by this institution and enjoyed and embraced by this staff.
And secondly that we actively mine the practices of the Mayo to find those that are best for our patients and our community, and that we actively seek to import them, rather than expect to benefit only from passive participation.
On a more personal level it was cold in the heartland, and I did not find bratwurst...
Learn more about the NCH Healthcare System affiliation with the Mayo Clinic
Dr. Herman Spilker graduated from SMU with an electrical engineering degree in 1975, and attended medical school at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, Tx.
Dr. Spilker spent two years in surgery at the University of Miami before completing an internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Charlotte Memorial Hospital, now Carolinas Medical Center.
Dr. Spilker began his fellowship in Cardiology at Emory University, finishing in 1987.
He went directly into solo practice in Naples. After 12 years he joined the Southwest Florida Heart Group and remained until it dissolved in 2004. Dr. Spliker practiced in the Collier Heart Group until the group was acquired in the formation of the Naples Heart Institute.
Dr. Spilker is a noninvasive Cardiologist. He is engaged in the long term care of chronic cardiac conditions such as angina and heart failure. He is involved in the initial diagnosis of heart disease and hypertension. He provides risk factor adjustment for those with heart disease and for those concerned about acquiring heart disease.
Dr. Spilker has a special interest in echocardiography.