Tyler Koski, MD, co-director of the Northwestern Medicine Spine Center in Chicago shares insights on spine surgeon leadership, challenges ahead and the best opportunities for growth.
Question: How has your role as a spine department leader evolved over the past two to three years? How have your responsibilities changed?
Dr. Tyler Koski: Leading a nationally ranked spine program is a constantly evolving task, especially in a rapidly growing health system in a highly competitive market. As healthcare changes across all areas, we need to continually assess and adapt to these changes to help improve quality of care and meet the expectations of our patients. One change that has become a primary focus is the weight on patient satisfaction scores to help drive our 'patient first' mission. Working towards meeting patient expectations while doing what is medically most appropriate can sometimes be a challenge, particularly in patients seeking help for chronic spinal pain. This is a focus that we didn't see a few years ago.
Q: What do you consider your No. 1 priority to ensure departmental success?
TK: My No. 1 priority is continuing to focus on quality outcomes. We are constantly evaluating our indications for surgery, our clinical outcomes and our protocols to ensure the highest quality of care we can for our patients. It has to be a constant focus to ensure we are always providing improvements year over year. If we can continue to focus on our patients and their outcomes, I believe we will continue to see success within the department.
Q: What is the biggest challenge you are facing as head of the spine program and how are you overcoming that?
TK: Our biggest challenge is always giving our physicians the attention and resources they need to be successful. There is always competition for resources in any hospital system. Much of my effort is spent advocating for our spine center physicians so they can focus on providing the best spine care possible. It is my responsibility to ensure they can focus on patient care knowing that we are supporting them fully in that effort.
Q: What are the department's goals for 2019 and what is your vision moving forward?
TK: We have ambitious goals for our spine program for 2019. Short-term, we are continuing to grow the non-surgical sector of the program and create a working environment where we can provide seamless care side by side. Our long-term goals are to continue to expand on our subspecialty programs and continue to retain and recruit world-class specialists. In our spine program we have distinct subspecialty programs in spine oncology, scoliosis and spinal deformity, as well as Chiari and cranial-vertebral junction disorders that we are continuing to build upon. We are always looking at increasing our clinical and basic science research programs as well as thinking outside the box on teaching methods to help give our residents and fellows the skills necessary to succeed in their future careers.
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For a deeper dive into the future of spine, attend the Becker's 17th Annual Future of Spine + Spine, Orthopedic & Pain Management-Driven ASC in Chicago, June 13-5, 2019. Click here to learn more and register.