Helpful Hints For Making Your
Medical Director of the Year Nomination Stand Up

It’s that time of year again, when AMDA asks nursing facilities and their interdisciplinary leaders to identify outstanding medical directors. The Medical Director of the Year award recognizes those individuals whose vision, passion, leadership, knowledge and commitment succeed in taking patient care to high levels of quality, excellence and innovation.

Nominations for the 2010 Medical Director of the Year will be accepted online only at www.amda.com/awards/mdoty.cfm until January 10, 2010. The selection committee then reviews the nominations that have all potentially identifying information removed and assigns 0-3 points (0=Not enough information to judge; 1=Meets minimal expectations for a medical director; 2=Exceeds minimal expectations; 3=Extraordinary) for each of the following categories: Team leadership; Clinical leadership, Education of facility staff; and Community involvement.

The nominations from the last 2 year’s finalists included the following characteristics:

• Offered multiple examples of activities that demonstrated excellence in each category(ex. 3-5 in each category, unless otherwise instructed)
• Submitted by multiple facility leaders (ex. Administrator and DON)
• Included quantifiable examples of success with measured outcomes (ex. Implemented a program that reduced falls by 18%)
• Incorporated psycho-emotional components (ex. How he/she makes staff, colleagues, and patients feel)

Before you get started, consider the following:

• Review AMDA’s Role and Responsibilities of the Medical Director at www.amda.com/about/roles.cfm and compile examples of how your medical director fulfills these.
• Note examples of how your medical director interacts with the interdisciplinary team.
• Gather examples of the everyday contributions he/she makes as well as those times they were exceptional.

And, don’t forget to let your medical director know that you nominated him/her. You’ll make their day if not their year.