Dear Community,
Welcome to our brand new GME website, which launched in January!
The GME Strategic Communication Workgroup, consisting of Gabrielle Pett, Joe Wilson, Natalie Brady, Hadar Duman, Liz Fawthrop and Tammy Ramirez, has worked tirelessly to build this new website for the last few months. They prioritized making it informative, functional, user-friendly and fun. Our goal is to more easily share with you GME’s resources, just-in-time information and exciting news that won’t overwhelm your email. We also heard from you that it was challenging to find information on two different sites. You can now access pertinent GME information, policies, resources, wellness resources, a comprehensive event calendar (also embedded on the MedHub home page), and these new blog posts all on one website.
We heard you!
I want to update you on our Clinical Learning Environment Review metrics. The last of our 6 Clinical Learning Environment Review (CLER) metrics communications was distributed at the beginning of the New Year. As promised, I wanted to provide information that is critical to making sweeping improvements to the learning environment for our residents and fellows. Together with Lindee Strizich, GME Director of Quality and Patient Safety, I have met with C-Suite leaders, including Paul Ramsey, CEO, UW Medicine; Tim Dellit, CMO, UW Medicine; Lisa Brandenburg, Chief Health System Officer, UW Medicine; and Cindy Sayer, Associate Administrator, UWMC. We also met with department leadership including program directors and program administrators and many residents and fellows. The GME CLER team has been adapting our focus to include teaming, a new CLER concept that reinforces inter-professional interactions that improve patient care. We are always looking for suggestions on how to make improvements in these areas.
I also want to announce our new Housestaff Quality & Safety Committee Co-Chair, Dr. Daniel Cho, a PGY-5 Plastic Surgery resident. He started in January and is committed to working with Dr. Nikita Baclig, a PGY-4 Internal Medicine chief resident to continue the great work that HQSC has been doing for 10 years. Welcome Dr. Cho!
We are committed to regularly celebrating community accomplishments and want to highlight a few this month:
- Dr. Fiona Gallahue, Program Director for the Emergency Medicine residency program, was awarded the ACGME Parker Palmer Courage to Teach Award and will receive her award at the ACGME Annual Educational Conference in San Diego, CA this week.
- Dr. Mo Hagman, Program Director for the Boise Internal Medicine program, won the 2020 Idaho-WWAMI award for excellence in mentoring, teaching, leadership and patient care.
- Dermatology resident Dr. Josiah Hanson received January’s LifeCenter’s monthly LifeSaver Award for his selfless assistance during a recent organ donation.
Congratulations to everyone! If you have accomplishments or celebrations to share, please let the GME Office know.
February is Black History Month. I saw Harriet last night. In this biopic, Cynthia Erivo, the Emmy, Grammy, and Tony-award winning actress, brings Harriet Tubman to life. Harriet Tubman was born into slavery and escaped to Philadelphia, running 100 miles for her life. Following her taste of freedom, she made 13 courageous missions to rescue approximately 70 enslaved people, using antislavery activists and “safe houses”, known collectively as the Underground Railroad. Harriet had faith which made her a fearless abolitionist and political activist.
Finally, the Gold Humanism Society has declared February 28th as “Thank-A-Resident Day!”. Our trainees work so very hard, learning to be better to care for patients. Please join me in thanking our residents and fellows every day, not just on this day.
Byron D. Joyner, MD, MPA
Vice Dean and Designated Institutional Official (DIO)
Graduate Medical Education, UW Medicine