2019 Leadership Conference

On April 14-16, APP hosted our annual Leadership Conference, bringing together 150 of our emergency department (ED) and hospital medicine (HM) medical directors and some client ED nurse managers from around the country to Nashville for education, leadership development, networking, recognition and fellowship.

After our Welcome Reception on Sunday evening, we kicked off our Monday sessions with John Rutledge providing an overview of APP, how we’re different from other groups, and expectations of our medical director leaders. John then led a discussion with Key Note Speaker Bill Lee, Governor of Tennessee, who shared the importance of maintaining a strong culture in the face of growth and what to look for when selecting new leaders. Dr. Tony Briningstool then shared a talk on this year’s theme “Building a Bridge to Excellence.”
Dr. Dennis Deruelle introduced our vision for “ONEAPP,” fully integrating the ED and HM programs at hospitals where we oversee both services lines, and Dr. Joe Thomas shared an excellent presentation on ”How to Achieve Process Change.” We also held two breakout sessions on Monday, offering smaller group presentations and content tailored to our ED medical director, HM medical director and Nurse Manager audiences. Monday concluded with dinner and our Awards Reception at the Country Music Hall of Fame. Tuesday kicked off with Key Note Speaker Philip Hutcheson, Director of Athletics for Lipscomb University, who shared what it takes to achieve excellence, whether it be in sports, business, or whatever path you choose. After another small group breakout session, Dr. Brad Blaker ended Day 2 providing an informative presentation on “Implementing our Sepsis Program” and sharing the success his team has realized.

Our intent is for the leaders who were privileged to attend this meeting to share the content in more detail with their teams so we all are working together as a team on our journey to excellence.