SHM Converge Scientific Abstract ePoster Gallery-Breaking With Tradition: Developing and Implementing a Holistic Review Process for Hospitalist Recruitment and Hiring

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The document describes the development and early implementation of a holistic review process for recruiting and hiring hospitalists at an academic, tertiary care urban hospital. The goal was to create a standardized, mission-aligned system that would improve fairness in applicant evaluation and increase the number of underrepresented in medicine (UIM) faculty in the division.<br /><br />The project was motivated by the importance of a diverse hospitalist workforce and evidence that diverse teams improve patient care. It also notes that traditional academic faculty demographics do not reflect the broader U.S. population. Although holistic review is recognized as a best practice for diversifying the workforce, many hospitalist groups have limited experience using it in hiring.<br /><br />The review process was built around four guiding steps: defining principles, aligning the mission statement with desired applicant qualities, standardizing procedures to improve equity, and training faculty involved in recruitment. Selection criteria expanded beyond academic achievements to include broad identities and lived experiences, professional and personal attitudes, interpersonal style, communication, and contributions to medicine. The division’s values emphasized clinical excellence, teaching and academic potential, contributions to diversity, communication, caring, and compassion.<br /><br />To support consistent evaluation, the team developed standardized interview questions and a scoring tool with both quantitative and qualitative components. Candidates were reviewed and ranked by a diverse faculty group to ensure multiple perspectives.<br /><br />Early results suggest the approach is feasible and promising. In the most recent hiring year, 20% of new academic hospitalist faculty identified as UIM, indicating early success in diversifying the workforce.

Asset Subtitle

Catherine Y. Lau

Meta Tag

Author List Catherine Y. Lau, Rosemary Yau, Sneha Daya

Category Innovations

Concept Holistic Review

Concept Hospitalist Recruitment

Concept Diversity

Concept Standardized Review Process

Concept Participant Characteristic

Distinguished Non-Finalist

Presenter Organization University of California, San Francisco

Presenting Author Catherine Y. Lau

Track Other

Keywords

holistic review

hospitalist recruitment

academic hospitalist hiring

underrepresented in medicine

diversity in faculty

standardized interview questions

mission-aligned hiring

equitable applicant evaluation

hospitalist workforce

diverse faculty selection

Holistic Review

Hospitalist Recruitment

Diversity

Standardized Review Process

Participant Characteristic