GME News & Notes: October

Oct 17, 2022 | Announcements, Events, GME News & Notes, News

Dear GME Community,

Cindy Hamra

Cindy Hamra Associate Dean, GME

I’m excited to start this month’s News & Notes with a note of congratulations to two members of our community.  First, Dr. Richard Ellenbogen, Chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery and Neurological Surgery Residency Program Director, is a winner of the 2023 ACGME Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award.  This award goes to program directors who find innovative ways to teach residents and to provide quality health care while remaining connected to the initial impulse to care for others in this environment.   

We also celebrate Dr. Başak Çoruh, Program Director for the Pulmonary Critical Care Fellowship, for being selected as winner of the 2022 Bruce C. Gilliland Award for Excellence in Teaching of Residents and Fellows.  This award goes to a faculty member who is actively engaged in clinical and didactic training or in the implementation of a graduate medical education curriculum. The winner must have shown evidence of excellence over time and must have served for at least 3 years within the UW SOM as a teacher of residents/fellows. 

As we transition to fall, the October issue of GME News and Notes is typically full, including a reminder on how to get information about your pay or benefits, information about how to sign up for HMC’s text alert system, a reminder about Paid Personal Holiday use and lots of awards and events.   

Many thanks to those shared information; please continue to do so by sending to me at hamrac@uw.edu. 

Thank you, 

Cindy 

Policies and Processes

  • UW Medicine is requiring that all employees, except for those in non-clinical roles in the School of Medicine, receive the latest COVID booster or complete an online declination by Friday November 11, 2022. UW Medicine employees can schedule their booster through our online portal. Non-clinical employees in the School of Medicine should schedule by calling 844.520.8700. 
  • Remember that RFPU-NW trainees are entitled to one (1) paid personal holiday per calendar year. If unused in the calendar year, the personal holiday is forfeit, and it is not paid at separation. It is the employee’s responsibility to schedule the personal holiday before December 31st. If before the end of the calendar year the employee requests the use of their personal holiday in accordance with the employer’s time off or leave procedures and the employer denies the request, the employee is entitled to carry over the personal holiday to the next calendar year.  Please see complete information in Article 12 of the RFPU-NW Contract.   
  • The Policies and Procedures page on the GME website has a new look!  The page has been redesigned as a searchable table and includes policy summaries, flags for program-required policies, and the option to filter on applicable programs (ACGME, CODA, non-ACGME).  These changes were made in response to feedback we received from programs and trainees. 
  • Our Clinical Learning Environment Webpage has been transformed and will track metrics for all of our CLER domains as well now houses resources for trainees and faculty looking for resources for QI work, QI data access, and curricular resources for our training programs. 

Program Information

  • The GMEC has approved appointment of the following new program directors; all appointments await ACGME confirmation:
    • Christine Rehwald, Diagnostic Radiology
    • Amber Nolan, Neuropathology
  • The GMEC approved revisions to the following policy at the October meeting. All are posted on the Policies and Procedures page of the GME website:
    • Physician Impairment Policy (minor edits / contact information only) 
  • New Institutional Post-Recruitment Survey: The GME Office has launched a post-recruitment survey to gather feedback from interviewed applicants across departments and specialties on important factors that may have influenced their decision to rank a program at the University of Washington.  An announcement was sent to ACGME program directors and administrators on October 17 with a link to the survey.  Questions about the survey should be sent to Gabrielle Pett at nathangl@uw.edu.
  • The ACGME has a weekly e-Communication.  If you wish to receive it, email ACGMECommunications@acgme.org 

Events of Interest

  • GME Lunch & Learns 
  • Program Administrator Meeting Schedule Update:  In response to recent feedback from program administrators, the GME program administrator meetings are shifting from bi-monthly 2-hour meetings to monthly 1-hour meetings starting in November.  The updated schedule for the remainder of the current academic year is posted on the Program Administrator Meetings page on the GME website.
  • Family Planning & Fertility for Resident Physicians on October 24th from 6:00-8:00pm on Zoom. Please join us at this educational event intended for all GME trainees and their guests or partners, no matter your current or future family plans.  Regardless of your vision for your future we hope the ability to become better educated on a variety of fertility considerations, and to hear from colleagues about their own experiences will be of interest.
  • The UW Network of Underrepresented Residents and Fellows (NURF) is holding their first Diversity Lecture Series of this academic year. This year’s theme is Community Engagement and Grassroots Mobilization.  They invite you to learn from Dr. Sundar who is Kaiser Permanente Family physician, a health equity leader, and community advocate at the lecture “The Making of Healthcare for Humans” on Monday October 24th at 7pm.  Register to receive the Zoom link.
  • GME Wellness is hosting a Halloween Play Day at Kelsey Creek Farm on Sunday, October 30th.  Join us for a fun farm tour with your little ones and meet some farm animal friends. Children can pick a pumpkin to decorate. We will have games, snacks, hot fall beverages, plus “make your own treat bag” and a costume parade. We can’t wait to see all the little bats, ghosties, superheroes and more! (Don’t forget to wear your own costume too!) Learn more and register.
  • On Friday, November 4th from 12:00 – 1:00 pm, the Department of Bioethics and Humanities will be presenting a Grand Rounds webinar: “Grief on the Front Lines: A Conversation with Rachel Jones and LaTonya Trotter.”  Rachel Jones, author of Grief on the Front Lines, will address some of the most challenging aspects of healthcare and explore paths to a more supportive and sustainable working environment.  Drawing on her research and interviews, Rachel will discuss the manner in which doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers are emotionally affected by the work that they do, and ways they’ve found to cope. This conversation will be moderated by LaTonya Trotter, PhD, MA, MPH, UW Associate Professor of Bioethics and Humanities.  Register to receive the Zoom link.
  • UW Medicine has opportunities for medical and administrative volunteers at the Seattle Marathon, Thanksgiving weekend, Saturday, Nov. 26th.  The race has a brand-new course and on a new day as it starts at UW and ends inside Husky Stadium! If you are interested, please complete the 2022 Seattle Marathon Medical Team Volunteer Registration. For more information, contact Ratna Sudarijanto at rmsports@uw.edu. Residents and Fellows will need to comply with the Medical Volunteer Activities Policy (please note the 2 week advance deadline). 
  • Open Enrollment is November 1 – November 30.  Complete information about the process can be found on the ISC Open Enrollment website.
  • Other GME Events including AY23 can be found on our calendar.

Projects and Resources

  • UW Medicine Harborview Medical Center Emergency Alert Messages Subscription: In response to concerns about the recent shooting incident, HMC is reintroducing the UW Medicine STAT|INFO Advisory notification system, created to disseminate official information via text message to keep the UW Medicine workforce informed during emergencies such as an active shooter event, and situations that might disrupt normal operations.  Harborview Medical Center staff, faculty, residents, fellows, and students are encouraged to subscribe to UW Medicine STAT|INFO ADVISORY using this link to receive emergency alert messages.   This is also a good time to update or check your text and email alert enrollment status for UW Alert at uw.edu/alert (please be sure to select the appropriate campus).
  • Support Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) medical students at the UW School of Medicine.  Help Healthcare Equity develop the UWSOM BIPOC Physicians Directory and add your name to the UWSOM BIPOC Physicians Directory, a directory where BIPOC students can easily talk to residents and physicians with identities similar to their own to find advice and answers to their questions. 
  • The UW Medicine Bias Reporting Tool was launched in early 2021 to provide our community with a new way to report incidents of bias. Since then, over 600 events have been reported. The first year of experience with the tool is outlined in the First Annual Community Report.   
  • New “Academic Medicine Podcast” episode on fostering psychological safety in the clinical learning environment.  Addie McClintock and Joshua Jauregui joined hosts Toni Gallo and Research in Medical Education (RIME) Committee members Andrea Leep and Paolo Martin on the “Academic Medicine Podcast” to discuss clinical teachers’ behaviors and how they support or harm students’ sense of psychological safety in the clinical learning environment. This is the first episode in a three-part series of discussions with RIME authors about their medical education research and its implications for the field. Read more on the AM Rounds website.
  • The Huddle will be writing an article to highlight trainees and faculty who were first generation students as part of the UW’s efforts to honor the National First Generation College Celebration on November 8th.  Please let Emily Boynton know if you are interested in sharing your experience.  There will be buttons available on November 8th near the UWMC-ML Health Sciences A300 office. 
  • Names matter, and the way we treat them has impact. Research shows that our brains “light up” when we hear our name, while mispronunciation can lead to feelings of isolation and alienation. The first step in creating an inclusive workplace culture is learning your colleagues’ names. Learn more about the importance of name pronunciation, including personal stories by Geetanjali Chander, Başak Çoruh, Barbara Jung, and Genevieve Pagalilauan on the Department of Medicine news site. Resources on inclusion, including help with name pronunciations (and many other topics), are available on the DOM website, in their newly updated EDI Resources section. 
  • Trainees, questions about your paycheck? Please check the following resources: 
  • The UW Medicine Center for Scholarship in Patient Care Quality and Safety is proud to announce the (re)-launch of QI Match, an online web platform to match collaborators to quality improvement and patient safety initiatives across UW Medicine. Get started today. 
  • The GME Office is currently recruiting for two roles: 
    • GME Float Administrator – the Float Administrator provides continuity of key operations of UW ACGME residency and fellowship programs during program administrator vacancies, may assist in assessment of program operations including making recommendations for operational/quality improvements, works on special projects in the GME Office, and may also support non-ACGME fellowships. The job posting is on UW Hires (Req# 210821). 
    • GME HR Manager – this new position on the Operations & Administration team will provide HR support for trainees and programs regarding leave of absence, accommodations, etc. This position is a great opportunity to work with both the GME community and with other departments in the School of Medicine.  The posting is on UW Hires (Req. # 212471). 

People

  • Suzanne Allen (Vice Dean for Academic, Rural and Regional Affairs) is featured in AMA’s “Physician residency interview invitations: What applicants should know.”
  • To improve the understanding of underpinnings and optimal management of post-Left Ventricular Assist Devices (LVADs) right heart failure, Arjun Bahl, R3, and colleagues examined over 19,000 individuals who had LVAD placement between 2008 and 2017 from the Interagency Registry for Mechanically Assisted Circulatory Support (INTERMACS) database. Learn more on the DOM residency website.
  • Nephrology fellow Justin Bullock has managed bipolar disorder and depression in part by sharing his story and listening to others. He is a suicide survivor who’s lived life openly with bipolar disorder and depression. And he’s a gay man who wasn’t accepted by his family when he came out to them. Some of his experiences are difficult. But he also knows he’s not alone. Read more about him from UW Medicine Newsroom.
  • Department of Medicine’s faculty spotlight for Women in Medicine month features Başak Çoruh, director of the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine fellowship program. Learn more about her on the DOM news site.
  • Başak Çoruh, Amy Morris, and James Town (Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine) were recognized by the American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) as 2022 Distinguished CHEST Educators. This designation provides national-level recognition of excellence in continuing medical education through their commitment, involvement, and leadership in CHEST education programs and activities.
  • The Huddle talked to UW Medicine employees – including Daniel Cabrera (chair, GME EDI subcommittee)– who shared some of their favorite things about their cultures and why it’s important to recognize that, even among all the differences and diversity of Hispanic and Latinx people, they are stronger together and have ties that unite them. Read the full story in The Huddle.
  • Congratulations to Anna Halpern, assistant professor (Hematology) and Nicole DeCuir Shoals, fellow (Gastroenterology) who have been accepted into the QI scholars program. The program supports junior and mid-level faculty pursuing QI as a scholarly focus.
  • Bishoy Hanna, fellow, is lead author, and Nazem Akoum, professor (Cardiology) is senior author of “Demystifying electrophysiology” in Heart.
  • Congratulations to Ramesh Iyer, who assumed the role of Medical Staff President-Elect at Seattle Children’s Hospital on October 1. The medical staff leadership team represents more than 1,800 hospital-and community-based physicians at the hospital.
  • The Huddle recently featured Evelyn Qin, PM&R Chief Resident. Read the whole interview in “Get to Know: Evelyn Qin, PM&R Chief Resident.”
  • James Wykowski, inpatient chief resident, wrote “Finding Your Voice to Champion Hope in the Intensive Care Unit” in ATS Scholar.