Blue Jay Consulting and the Emergency Medicine Foundation announced in July that Kathy Shaw, MD, MSCE, of The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) has been named 2015 Emergency Department Director of the Year. The award recognizes and celebrates emergency physician leaders who demonstrate exemplary collaborative relationships with nursing and other departments to implement and improve operational and clinical standards based on evidence-based practice.

Dr. Shaw

Dr. Shaw started her career more than 30 years ago as a resident at CHOP and now serves as chief of the division of emergency medicine at CHOP and professor of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia. In her role at CHOP, she is a practicing physician and leader of a large group of academic faculty, and she oversees the quality of care for 90,000 children annually. She is also associate chair for quality and patient safety for the department of pediatrics, where she is responsible for improving and monitoring the quality and safety of clinical care of more than 400 physicians and in promoting their academic development.

An international leader in the field of pediatric emergency medicine and patient safety and quality, Dr. Shaw earned the award for two decades of collaborative leadership and tireless efforts to improve the care of children in one of the country’s busiest emergency departments.

Some of the initiatives she has pioneered at CHOP include the development of clinical pathways, multidisciplinary bedside rounding, safety huddles, and nurse practitioners as frontline ordering clinicians.

Dr. Shaw was an early leader in clinical pathways development, a way to keep patients safe by standardizing evidence-based care. To date, she has championed 30 clinical pathways that are accessible to all health care providers who want to follow the most updated evidence-based guidelines for the care of children.

During a recent sabbatical, Dr. Shaw earned certificates in patient safety and quality from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. She is involved nationally and internationally in educating practicing physicians and has received multiple awards recognizing her abilities as an educator and researcher.

Dr. Shaw is also a prolific writer, having published more than 100 articles, chapters, and reviews. She serves as associate editor for both the Textbook of Pediatric Emergency Medicine and Annals of Emergency Medicine and is on the editorial board for Pediatric Emergency Care.