GME News & Notes: June

Jun 24, 2022 | Announcements, Events, GME News & Notes, News

Dear GME Community,

Cindy Hamra

Cindy Hamra Assistant Dean, GME

We’re all experiencing the changes that typically come in June each year – we say good-bye and thank you to our graduating residents and fellows, and welcome the new group.  At Orientation this week, GME welcomed many of the 471 new trainees joining us this year. 

In June we also celebrate the Juneteenth holiday and Pride month – both are opportunities to celebrate the diversity in our UW Medicine and GME communities.  Other opportunities to celebrate include welcoming our new, fourth wellness counselor, Howard Schaefer.  Finally, this Huddle article highlights the great work of our Boise-based training programs in Internal Medicine, Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine.  We also enjoyed meeting many of you at our Outreach event at Harborview yesterday. 

On a more serious note, I want to highlight this Message from Dr. Thomas J. Nasca, president and CEO of the ACGME, following the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas: “This calls for a response from the medical community. We must approach violence and incivility with the same selflessness and generosity of spirit as we have for those afflicted with COVID-19. We are confronting a disease of the spirit manifested by isolation, disrespect, and hatred. This must be countered with community, courtesy, and kindness. As members of the healing community, this is a prescription we can deliver.” 

The June 2022 issue of GME News & Notes includes reminders for programs regarding changes taking effect in AY23, ACGME resources and opportunities and many celebrations and awards for members of our community.  As usual, if there’s anything you’d like to see included in next month’s News & Notes, please let me know. 

Thank you, 

Cindy  

Pride UW Medicine Logo

 

 

Policies and Processes

Program Information

  • The GMEC has approved appointment of the following new program directors; all appointments await ACGME confirmation:
    • Rebeca Alvarez, Breast/Gynecologic Pathology (Interim)
    • Manjiri Dighe, Abdominal Radiology (Interim)
    • Sarah Golub, Adolescent Medicine
    • Christina Lam, Medical Biochemical Genetics
    • Bahar Mansoori, Abdominal Radiology
    • Elina Quiroga, Vascular Surgery – Independent & Vascular Surgery – Integrated
    • David Siebert, Sports Medicine
  • The GMEC-Approved (Non-ACGME Accredited) Fellowship Programs Committee (GAF) recently approved two new non-ACGME fellowships:
    • Emergency Medicine: Advanced Emergency Medicine Ultrasonography (July 2023)
    • Laboratory Medicine and Pathology: Pathology Informatics (July 2022)
  • The Graduate Medical Education Committee (GMEC) approved revisions to several policies at the June meeting. All are posted on the Policies and Procedures page of the GME website.
    • Institutional Clinical and Educational Work Hours Policy:  Revisions include updating the policy scope to include fellows in ACGME Non-Standard Training (NST) Programs and adding a definition of NST programs; adding a policy purpose statement; adding relevant clinical and educational work hour requirements for NST programs; addressing applicability of program policies for boarding residents; and addition of considering work hour non-compliance when recommending programs for Special Reviews.
    • Telehealth Policy:  Added a purpose statement which includes expansion of policy beyond telehealth training.  Added relevant telehealth related definitions from the telehealth training for providers, updated section on supervision to include ACGME Requirements on Direct Supervision Using Telecommunication by Specialty and added new section on out-of-state licensing requirements for telehealth, which includes restriction on obtaining out-of-state licenses solely for telehealth and allowable telehealth activities for out of state activities (educational vs consultative activities).   New licensing language in policy is in-line with UW Physicians (UWP) and Children’s University Medical Group (CUMG) requirements.  VA exception for out-of-state licensure

Events of Interest

  • GME Lunch & Learns
    • April GMEPAC Process for AY24, recording available and application posted (deadline is July 25, 2022) 
    • May 19: MedHub Procedure Certification, recording and slides available
    • June – cancelled 
    • AY23 schedule posted  
  • GME Program Administrators Meeting: PA Wellness Workshop; Tuesday, August 9, 8:30-10:30am
  • Seattle Pride Parade: Sunday, June 26, 2022, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Fourth Avenue, Downtown Seattle Due to COVID-19 restrictions, this year we are limited to 200 participants, and we will fill the spots on a first-come, first-served basis. Please RSVP to let us know that you’re interested in volunteering and/or participating. All participants will receive a UW Medicine Pride t-shirt (while supplies last). 
  • The Life After Residency Seminar is on Saturday August 27th (registration will open in July).  This event is intended to educate and support graduating trainees on their transition to independent practice.  Featured speakers typically discuss topics such as writing cover letters, negotiating salary and benefits, how to read your employment contract and more.  Trainees of all levels are invited to attend. 
  • Other GME Events including AY23 can be found on our calendar.

Projects and Resources

  • UW Medicine has launched a multi-phase, multi-year renovation project to protect important clinical areas located below ground level from water intrusion at UW Medical Center – Montlake and the Health Sciences Building. For details, visit our website or read staff FAQs. 
  • Starting June 21, shuttle stops at UWMC change.  In the next few weeks, crews will install fencing screens to contain the work areas in the front entry and patios. At that time, the third floor BB entrance will be closed but the main entrance to the hospital will remain open throughout this phase of the construction.  While all shuttles to our Montlake campus will continue to operate, stop locations will change starting June 21. Please plan additional travel time. For details, read the shuttle stop change update. 
  • On May 23, Dr. Joyner emailed the GME Community with a Recruitment Season 2023 Update.  In line with the AAMC recommendation, we are requiring now that all of our programs have a virtual-only interview format for this recruitment cycle.  In-person and “blended” (virtual and in-person) interviews will not be allowed this year including for UW medical students and candidates performing sub-internships at UW.  Please see email for more details. 
  • Over the last year, the GME Office has transitioned from a live Chief Resident and Fellow seminar to a webpage chock full of resources that will guide Chief Residents and Fellows through their appointment.  Please review the resources available on our Chief Resident and Chief Fellow Resources webpage.  Our intent is to regularly update this page and fill it with not only what we think Chiefs should know, but also what they want to know, and Chief recommendations for peers as they enter their Chief year. 
  • Grant Funding is Available for Projects to Improve Patient Care Delivery: Apply Now for Up To $50K.  The UW Medicine Patients Are First Innovation Pilots recognize and empower faculty and staff to collaborate and explore solutions with grants for projects addressing patient care experience, clinical outcomes and/or delivery of care. Learn more and submit your project application by June 21.  
  • The UW Medicine Center for Scholarship in Patient Care Quality and Safety is proud to announce the (re)-launch of QI Match. QI Match is an online web platform to match collaborators to quality improvement and patient safety initiatives across UW Medicine. Projects get posted to the site and any faculty, student, staff, or trainee can notify the project lead of their interest. Projects that are posted to QI Match may be a single event (such as a patient safety root cause analysis or a QI focus group) or longer term QI projects. Get started today. 
  • Please see a recent highlight of ACGME resources and opportunities:
    • The ACGME is offering additional self-directed ACGME Equity Matters content in Learn at ACGME. The latest release includes modules about racial and ethnic experiences, as well as identities and populations. These educational resources provide diverse perspectives while raising historical and current injustices in the medical education system in an organized and intentional way. The materials are designed for organizations with leadership support, as well as resources and infrastructure commitments to equity for making meaningful change. (Note: A free account is required to access content in Learn at ACGME.) 
    • ACGME Coordinator Advisory Group Call for Nominations:  The ACGME is accepting nominations for the next cohort of the Coordinator Advisory Group, which serves as a consultative body concerning coordinator, graduate medical education, learning environment, and accreditation matters. Members will serve three-year terms, from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2026.  Additional information, including the group’s charge, information about the nomination process, the nomination form, and the disclosure form, can be found on the Coordinator Advisory Group page of the ACGME website. Completed nomination packets are due August 15, 2022. Please contact Amanda Easton by Friday, August 5, if you are a Program Director interested in nominating a Program Administrator or if you are Program Administrator interested in joining the Group and need DIO assistance with the nomination form. 
    • 2022 – 2023 ADS Annual Webcast and Q and A: The webcast on the ADS Annual Update from May 26, 2022 is now available to view in the ACGME’s online learning portal, Learn at ACGME.  The session provided an overview of the changes made to questions in the ADS Annual Update regarding Common Program Requirements and programs’ experience with the COVID-19 pandemic. Notably, a third part to the COVID-19 questionnaire with questions for program directors will not be introduced this year as originally planned.  The ACGME has created an accompanying Q and A document, available in the ADS Help Desk and Learn at ACGME. A free account is required to access Learn at ACGME. Email questions about the webcast to accreditation@acgme.org. 
    • Revised Milestones Available: Updated versions of more than 20 Milestones are now available. Programs will officially start using the new Milestones in July 2022, with the first reporting in January 2023. See the Milestones page of the ACGME website.
    • Meeting and Agenda Closing Dates Posted: Meeting dates are listed on the overview page of each specialty section on the ACGME website. While many specialties have already updated their information, updates may continue until July 1, 2022.
    • Milestones Year End Reporting: The Milestones reporting window is now open and closes Friday, June 24, 2022. Milestones assessments can be submitted via ADS.
  • Please remember to check the GME website where many current forms, policies, processes, and educational resources are posted. We also appreciate your feedback about what else we can add to make it more useful. The GME Report a Concern form is a way for community members to report concerns to the GME Office (including the opportunity to report confidentially).

People

  • Nauzley Abedini, assistant professor (Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine) is the new Assistant Program Director for Wellness in the Internal Medicine Residency Program, co-leads the Cambia Palliative Care Center of Excellence’s (CPCCE) Global and Cross Cultural Palliative Care Initiative, is a consultant to the Cambia Palliative Care Training Center, and is a member of the CPCCE’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee. She is also a co-director for the upcoming 2022 Pacific Northwest Palliative Care Conference on June 13, “Lifting Voices & Building Bridges: Working Towards an Inclusive Future for Palliative Care.” Read more about her on the Department of Medicine news site. 
  • Alwiya Ahmed, R2 (Medicine), is quoted in “Nearly half of patients at high risk for lung cancer delayed screening follow-up” in Medical Xpress. 
  • Mariam Alam and Caitlin Crimp will co-lead a project titled, “Mitigating Bias and Burnout Through Patient-Centered Narrative Medicine,” focused on developing a narrative medicine curriculum for dermatology residents, with the aim to improve residents’ understanding and connection to patients and mitigate both bias and resident burnout. Dr. Andrea Kalus, Associate Professor, and Dr. Michi Shinohara, Associate Chief for the Division of Dermatology, will both serve as faculty mentors for the project.  This project was awarded funds from the ACGME Back-to Bedside initiative.
  • Priyanka Anand and Hao Tong were winners at the Washington Chapter American College of Physicians Spring Scientific Scholarship Day. Dr. Anand won the Oral Abstract Resident Presentation: “Online Patient Portal Use Among Marginalized Groups at a Safety Net Hospital” and Dr. Tong was Top Poster Winner: “Care for Patients Receiving Comfort Measures Only: Experiences of Bedside Nurses.” 
  • Omar Bayomy, fellow (Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine) has been selected as the new Chair of Development for the University of Washington Housestaff Quality & Safety Committee (HQSC) leadership board for the 2022-23 academic year. The HQSC is a trainee-led organization chartered under UW Graduate Medical Education and the UW Patient Safety & Quality Coordinating Committee that strives to engage trainees in the quality and safety work pursued everywhere throughout UW Medicine. 
  • Omar Bayomy, fellow (Medicine), and his mentors, Kathleen Ramos, assistant professor and Christopher Goss, professor (Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine), have received funding from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation for their project: Hemoptysis and serious outcomes in cystic fibrosis. 
  • Ermias Diro, R3 (Medicine), is lead author of “Adherence to chronic hepatitis B screening guidelines for persons from intermediate to high prevalence countries” in the Journal of Community Health. DOM co-authors are Maria Corcorran, Ayushi Gupta, Kristine Lan and H. Nina Kim. This work was made possible with the support of the AID/DOM Research Collaboratory. 
  • Chronic Hepatitis (Hep) B infection disproportionately affects low- and middle-income countries such as those in South East Asia and Africa. The CDC recommends a single blood test for Hepatitis B virus for anyone born in a region with 2% or greater prevalence. This screening guideline is relevant for a large immigrant population in Seattle. Together with H. Nina Kim, Ermias Ejara, R3, performed a retrospective study of guideline adherence among adults treated within UW affiliated primary care clinics between 2016 and 2019. A study of local medical records showed low likelihood of guideline-concordant screening for Hepatitis B and high prevalence of infection among those screened. This research highlights a need for new strategies to meet this important care gap for communities like the East African community in Seattle, to which Dr. Ejara belongs. 
  • Mary Ezeanuna, fellow (Medicine), is lead author, and Namrata Singh, assistant professor (Rheumatology) is senior author of “Association of rheumatoid arthritis with mortality in chronic kidney disease: a cohort study” in Clinical Rheumatology. DOM co-authors are David Prince and Nisha Bansal. 
  • Seth Judson, R3, is lead author of “COVID-19 data reporting systems in Africa reveal insights for future pandemics” in Epidemiology & Infection. 
  • Seth Judson, R3 (Medicine), is the editor for a recently published collection of articles called Ecology and Evolution of Coronaviruses: Implications for Human Health. He is also lead author of the editorial “Ecology and Evolution of Coronaviruses: Implications for Human Health” in Frontiers in Public Health. 
  • Barbara Jung, professor and chair of Medicine, is quoted in “CRC Screening: Blood Test Accuracy Compared to Colonoscopy” in Medscape. 
  • Mike Leu is recipient of Physicians in American Medical Informatics Association’s 2022 Innovator of the Year award for creating the first electronic match for clinical informatics fellowship programs. 
  • G. Burkhard Mackensen will serve as Chair of the Department of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine, beginning June 16th.  Permanent Chair of the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine.  He has served as the department’s interim chair since November 2020. 
  • George Mo, R1 (Medicine), was selected to receive a 2022 Hematology Opportunities for the Next Generation of Research Scientists (HONORS) Award from the American Society of Hematology (ASH). This award supports medical students and residents conducting hematology-related research and provides them with the opportunity to attend annual conferences. Dr. Mo is researching cell phenotypes in CAR T cell therapy with Dr. Brian Till, associate professor. 
  • Preethy Pankaj (Neurology) participated in the recent Harborview Medical Center The Joint Commission (TJC) Review Stroke Survey.  The TJC representatives were very impressed with her work with Interpreter Services on a review of stroke symptoms.  Natalie Weathered (Neurology Program Director) and Preethy summarized her work as follows: As a resident running stroke codes Preethy realized that non-English speakers have significant delays in their acute stroke evaluations. Given that an estimated 1.9 million neurons die per minute in each minute1, each minute of delay has potential to significantly impact the outcome in those individuals. While probably all staff know that involving an interpreter causes critical delays, Preethy didn’t just accept that as the status quo. Rather, she has designed a series of interventions to help. The first, is that she coordinated with our translator services to create a phone number that we call during a stroke code that bypasses all of the initial questions regarding patient demographics. The number also connects us more rapidly with an interpreter. The next intervention is that the interpreters who participate in this program have been educated as to what a stroke is, why there is urgency in our evaluation, and what our evaluation consists of. The interpreters are also educated about the NIH stroke scale itself. In addition, Preethy is now trialing more commonly used English words in an attempt for the provider to assess dysarthria . This education will hopefully aid them in helping us in a more timely fashion because they will better understand our process and goals. The education that is given to the interpreters is accomplished through a 10 minute video that Preethy created herself.  Dr. Weathered noted “ Preethy is one of those special people who was simply meant to be a doctor. I have no doubt that she will continue to help patients from all walks of life and is going to continue to make UW proud.”  [1Saver JL. Time is Brain – Quantified. Stroke. 2006;37:263-266.]
  • Anneliese Schleyer, professor (General Internal Medicine) will take on new leadership roles as interim chief medical officer of UW Medicine and interim vice president for medical affairs University of Washington, effective July 1. As interim chief medical officer, Schleyer will oversee more than 4,500 clinicians, provide strategic guidance on the integration of clinical practice with education and research activities across all UW Medicine sites, and is responsible for physician led activities to improve the quality of care and clinical practice transformation.  Read more from The Huddle. 
  • Chenwei Wu has been awarded the 2022 Gene Peterson Award on behalf of the University of Washington Housestaff Quality and Safety Committee. The Gene Peterson award was named after Dr. Peterson, who had a great appreciation for the involvement of trainees in the fields of quality improvement and patient safety, and for the unique perspective they bring at the University of Washington. HQSC members cited Dr. Wu’s tireless commitment to fostering productive discussions regarding trainee reported PSNs at Squirrel meetings, his mentorship of numerous housestaff led quality improvement efforts, and his leadership in many QIPS educational endeavors. HQSC members additionally spoke of his ability to empower leadership and ownership amongst housestaff in their QIPS projects.  
  • Jay Yao (R4) has been selected and granted a scholarship to participate in the Orthopaedic Research Society’s Clinician Scholar Career Development Program. 
  • Congratulations to the 2022 Radiology Graduates!
  • The American Society of Hematology (ASH) Hematology-Focused Fellowship training Program (HFFTP) is an exclusive pathway that offers physicians the opportunity to pair comprehensive classical hematology training with career-enhancing education in transfusion medicine, sickle cell disease, hemostasis/thrombosis, as well as fields like medical education, systems-based hematology, outcomes research, health equity research, global health, safety/quality improvement, lifespan hematology, and more. Funded entirely by ASH, 10 new hematology-focused fellowship tracks have been created within existing hematology-oncology programs at nine rigorously selected institutions accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) across the United States. HFFTP aims to strengthen the next generation of hematologists, with the goal of producing 50 new academic hematologists by 2030.  The UW HFFTP will be led by Hematology Professors Mike Linenberger, program director, and David Garcia, associate program director.