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MUSC Excellence at the College of Medicine/UMA Dear Colleagues, I am sure you have seen the new advertisement campaign for MUSC, with the tag line—“We do this every day.” The campaign lauds the extraordinary care, as well as the more mundane or routine care that we routinely provide here through innovation and teamwork. “We Do This Every Day,” the commercial emphatically concludes. This is a powerful message for the families and community we serve, and a powerful reminder to ourselves of what we stand for and what we accomplish here, day in and day out- every single day of the year. Whether participating directly in patient care activities or promoting care indirectly through education, research or administration, we are all a critical part of the MUSC team that is committed to excellence in all we do every minute of the day. This is, of course, why MUSC Excellence matters so much to each and every one of us.   We have had some remarkable successes with MUSC Excellence so far. Our patient satisfaction scores have risen dramatically, we have enhanced critical functions and improved infrastructure within the College and beyond, and we are continuing to make great strides in leadership development because what we do is so critical to all those we serve. We are buoyed by our progress and very thankful for the hard work and dedication of the majority of MUSC students, teachers, investigators and administrators who have taken our goal to embrace excellence firmly to heart. That said, we do appear to have a small, persistent and even predictable cadre of naysayers who are neither committing to our institutional improvement efforts nor contributing ideas on how to make MUSC Excellence work better for them, and those around them. We are asking these folks to step up to the plate right now. We all know from our grade school days that if we are not part of a solution, we might well be part of a problem. Many of our colleagues here have already spent and will continue to devote tireless hours to this effort, and we need hands-on, helpful input from all since not all our goals and expectations have been met thus far.   So, if MUSC Excellence does not seem relevant to you, then please take time right now to reflect on why and share your insight proactively. Then, roll up your sleeves and pitch in meaningfully. Be a contributing fellow traveler on our excellence journey and work alongside your colleagues toward achieving our established goals and developing new aspirations. Remember Aristotle’s observation: Excellence is not an act, but a habit. As our add says, we do this every day and those we work with and serve expect “this” to be excellence. Sincerely, Jerry Reves, MD Dean, College of Medicine     Friday, Nov. 2, 2007 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.