Dear GME Community,
October GME News & Notes contains information about policy updates, including Moonlighting and Outside Work, EPIC news and reminders, new best practices and resources for programs to reduce barriers to recruitment of IMGs, new AI Guidelines for Residency and Fellowship Applications, information about Open Enrollment, and several different educational events.
In October we recognize National Disability Awareness Month and remind programs and trainees that the GME Office works with UW Disability Services Office to support disability accommodations for residents and fellows.
We also hope you’ll check out our GME Strategic Plan update.
Thanks,
Cindy
Policies and Processes
- Policy Updates and Reminders
- Eligibility, Recruitment and Selection Policy for Non-ACGME Programs: Approved by GMEC in July 2022, this policy is for non-ACGME clinical fellowships and includes a requirement for each program to have its own program-specific policy, eligibility requirements that must be included in a program policy, and requirements for ACGME non-standard training (NST) programs.
- Industry Interactions Policy: This policy was last revised by the Policy Committee and GMEC in December 2021, however minor changes were reviewed by GMEC in October including updates to several external resource URLs and the addition of another question in the FAQs.
- Moonlighting and Outside Work Policy: the GMEC approved updates to the Moonlighting and Outside Work Policy at the October meeting. Outside Work is defined as any voluntary, clinical or non-clinical work that is outside of a trainee’s regularly scheduled program duties. This includes Internal and External Moonlighting, Extra Pay for Extra Duty and Additional Non-Clinical Work. Outside work requires pre- approval by the resident’s Program Director and GME Office. Changes to the policy include reorganization for clarity and updates.
- UW Medicine Epic News and Reminders
- Epic Upgrade/2FA Changes beginning on October 20: this upgrade will include a new 2FA requirement for Epic Mobile Apps (Haiku, Canto, Rover). Providers are encouraged to setup the Authentication App before 10/20 to avoid delays accessing the mobile Apps. Details have been sent out in the Epic and UWMC Weekly newsletters. Review the Enrollment Instructions for more information.
- Dragon Medical One (DMO) Dictation: Residents and fellows are enrolled in Dragon at onboarding, but there are still a few steps that need to be completed for setup. Instructions are on the Dragon Medical One page in the UW Medicine EHR Hub and linked from the Getting Ready for UW Medicine Epic EHR page on the GME website.
- Epic Personalization (Customization): Looking to be more efficient in Epic? Complete the Epic Physician Personalization eLearning in the Learning Hub (login and search for Epic Physician Personalization) and review the Epic Customization Quick Start Guide in the UW Medicine EHR Hub which will walk you through the steps to create customized Order Sets, Preference Lists, and SmartPhrases, and directions on how to set up your Dashboard.
- Best Practices for Recruiting and Supporting International Medical Graduates: The GMEC IMG Task Force has developed best practices and resources for programs to reduce barriers to recruitment of IMGs which is now available on the Recruitment Resources page of the GME website under Application and Recruitment: UW > Recruiting and Supporting International Medical Graduates: Best Practices.
- Remember that trainees who are members of the RFPU-NW 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. Please see complete information in Article 12 of the RFPU-NW Contract.
- Recently UWMC and HMC hospital CEOs sent an email regarding new meal and rest break requirements. We have received several questions regarding whether these requirements apply to residents and fellows. These new provisions apply to hospital employees; this does not include trainees, who are School of Medicine employees. Please remember, however, that trainees must be given an opportunity to transition patient care in the instance of fatigue (per ACGME requirements), have time to attend medical appointments (per RFPU CBA), and be given time to express milk (per Washington state law).
- In alignment with UW Medicine’s approach to generative AI, we are excited to announce the release of the AI Guidelines for Residency and Fellowship Applications. These guidelines provide clear and practical advice on how to responsibly incorporate AI tools throughout the application and recruitment process, including application review and interviews. We encourage you to review the guidelines and share your thoughts via the feedback form available on the webpage.
- UW Medicine will implement universal masking in patient care areas each year during the respiratory virus season. This precautionary measure aims to minimize the risk of exposure to and transmission of respiratory viruses. For more information about the respiratory virus season and new COVID-19 vaccine, see Fall 2024: A new vaccine for COVID-19.
Program Information
- Welcome new Program Administrators:
- Stephanie Otani-Sunamoto: Glaucoma, Medical Retina and Vitreoretinal Surgery, Neuro-Ophthalmology, Pediatric Ophthalmology and Uveitis
- Jennifer Todd: Medical Physics
- The ACGME has a weekly e-Communication. If you wish to receive it, email ACGMECommunications@acgme.org.
Events of Interest
- GME Lunch & Learns
- The final session of our Cultivating Skills in Feedback and Critical Conversations Education Series will be Monday November 4th from 1:30 to 3:00pm. Please join Cindy Hamra, Associate Dean, GME, for a session on Supporting BIPOC and URiM Trainees. This session is open to all program leadership including program directors, associate program directors, program administrators, vice chairs for education, etc. For planning purposes, please RSVP by noon on Friday 11/1. We will distribute the Zoom link as we get closer to the session date. Please reach out to Amanda Easton and Jenn Johal if you have questions.
- Registration for Educator Development for GME Excellence (EDGE) series is now open at: EDGE Registration | UW Graduate Medical Education. We ask that PDs attend 3 of 4 events each year and APDs and Core Faculty attend 2 of 4 events each year
- Tuesday, October 22, 2024; 9:00 am – 10:30 am: “Entrustable Professional Activities: Dr. Brenessa Lindeman, University of Alabama-Birmingham
- Tuesday, March 25, 2025; TBD between 9:00 am and 12:00pm: “Supporting Trainee Disability Accommodations”, Hayley Fisher, UW GME
- Thursday, April 24, 2025; TBD between 1:00 pm and 4:00 pm: “How Our Program Does It” Session: Individualized Learning Plans OR Trainee Professional Development Curricula (concurrent)
- Fellows, Residents and Students – we’re thrilled to invite you to Career Pathways in Medicine: Insights from Diverse Journeys, a dynamic panel discussion featuring distinguished alumni who have carved out their own unique careers in medicine on Monday, November 18 from 6:00-7:00 PM PST on Zoom. Our panelists will share the real stories behind their career choices, from unexpected pivots to invaluable lessons learned along the way. To register, please visit: https://sites.uw.edu/uwgme/event-registration/ For questions, please contact Jenn Johal (jenjohal@uw.edu).
- The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) is a non-profit organization based in Montgomery, Alabama, dedicated to fighting for justice for the most marginalized individuals in the criminal justice system in the United States. EJI provides legal assistance to people who have been unfairly treated by the justice system, including those on death row and those facing unjust incarceration. In the Department of Medicine’s next DEI Lecture Series, “A Conversation with the Equal Justice Initiative’s Health Clinic Team,” members of the EJI’s Health Clinic Team will share their experiences, challenges, and successes in providing healthcare services to underserved communities. 16, 2pm. Please register for this event.
- Other GME Events can be found on our calendar.
Projects and Resources
Please review the GME Annual Program Timeline for important dates for the months of October and November.- Institutional Post Recruitment Survey: Programs received a summary of the Institutional Post Recruitment Survey for the 2023 and 2024 recruitment seasons on October 4. We continue to ask programs to include the survey link in post-recruitment survey communications to interviewed applicants. Please contact Gabrielle Pett with questions.
- We have recently heard from several residents and fellows raising concerns about uncertainty and possible changes to the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. The GME Financial Management & Loans includes information on Loan Deferment and Forbearance, the Public Student Loan Forgiveness Program, the GME Emergency Housestaff Loan, AAMC and AMA financial resources, and several other financial management resources.
- UW Medicine launched the Bias Reporting Tool in early 2021 to provide our community with a new way to report incidents of bias. Since then, over 1,500 incidents have been reported across UW Medicine, including in clinical areas, labs, common areas and learning spaces. The Third Annual BRT Community Report includes information regarding 460 incidents over the past year. The purpose of the report is to raise awareness, identify areas needing improvement and share our progress towards becoming a more inclusive community.
- Clinical trainees and faculty should be mindful of scam calls impersonating officers from the King County Sheriff’s Department targeting physicians. While this has unfortunately become a commonplace scam, it can be very scary and convincing. We have heard that members of our community have been targeted and are being falsely told they have a claim regarding failure to appear in court to testify regarding a patient’s health. We encourage individuals to remove their personal information from “people finders” using tools such as: https://www.truepeoplesearch.com/removal
- Before open enrollment begins, get your questions answered at these benefits fairs Oct. 21-24. The Whole U brings the annual UW Benefits Fairs to four on-site locations. The “5 Things You Can Do to Prepare for Open Enrollment” from The Huddle contains helpful tips.
- UW GME launched the new UW GME WhatsApp group exclusively for residents and fellows. Since its launch, we’ve welcomed over 300+ trainees to the community, and we have Expanded our Opportunities to include interest groups like “GME Parents” and “Musical folks”, and “Quick meals on the go”. Additionally, some other WhatsApp UW groups, such as “UW IMG Residents & Fellows” and “UW Surgery,” have linked up with the UW GME community, further enhancing connectivity and collaboration. We encourage trainees to join!
- Add a Name Pronunciation Tag to Your Badge: Medical student Sudiptho Paul started the initiative and shares his tips for pronouncing names correctly.
- Thanks to Michael Hardin in Facilities for this guide to the all gender restrooms on the Harborview campus [UW Medicine password required]
- Nominations are open for the UW School of Medicine Distinguished Alumni Awards. Nominations are due by Dec. 31, 2024, for consideration of recognition in 2025. Learn more about the awards and past recipients here, where you will also find the nomination form.
People
- Sam Arbabi, Surgical Critical Care Associate Program Director, is featured in “First Response: The medical professionals treating gunshot wounds” from Cascade PBS.
- Kelley Branch, Cardiovascular Disease Associate Program Director, is a co-author of “Do nonglycaemic effects such as weight loss account for HbA1c lowering with efpeglenatide?: Insights from the AMPLITUDE-O trial” in Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism.
- Justin Bullock, fellow, Nephrology, joined the Docs with Disabilities Initiative podcast to discuss “Suicidality in Medical Training: Understanding the Crisis and its Causes.” He and his fellowship director Cary Paine also wrote “This Armor of Mine: Perspective of a bipolar physician and his program director,” published in CHEST Advocates.
- Dan Cabrera and Radhika Narla, Internal Medicine Associate Program Directors, presented “Welcome to the Residency Leadership Team! Holistic and Structured Processes to Hire New APDs and Core Faculty Into Residency Programs” at the recent Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine (APDIM) national meeting.
- Congratulations to Yaacoub Chahine, resident, Internal Medicine who won first place for best research poster for “Atrial Fibrillation Drivers Can be Sustained by Fibrofatty Substrate Comprising Epicardial Adipose Tissue and Fibrosis” at the Washington American College of Cardiology meeting. He will receive a travel grant to attend the national American College of Cardiology meeting in the spring.
- Nora Coronado, Program Manager, Center for Workforce Inclusion and Healthcare System Equity, UW Medicine Office of Healthcare Equity, is featured in “Community, Care and Connection: Hispanic and Latinx Colleagues Share Their Heritage” from The Huddle.
- At the recent Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine (APDIM) national meeting, Kelli Corning, associate director, IM residency program, and Ken Steinberg, Medicine vice chair for education, presented “Running a Residency/GME Training Program: What Does it Take? The Yearly Cycle.”
- Haiming Kerr, acting assistant professor, Lindsey Anderson, acting assistant professor, and Jose Garcia, Geriatric Medicine Research Pathway Program Director, are co-authors of “The LEAP2 response to cancer-related anorexia-cachexia syndrome in male mice and patients” in Endocrinology.
- Melissa (Moe) Hagman, program director, Boise Internal Medicine Residency, has received mastership in the American College of Physicians (MACP). MACP is one of the most prestigious awards in the college, honoring fellows who demonstrate integrity, the utmost professional behaviors, excellence in the practice of medicine, and significant impact on the profession.
- Jonathan Harper, Endourology Program Director, is featured in “Sometimes kidney stones need a little nudge, study finds” from HealthDay and “Pushing kidney-stone fragments reduces stones’ recurrence” from UW Medicine Newsroom.
- Sophia Hayes, fellow, Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, is lead author of “A Syndemic Model: COPD, Multimorbidity, and Poverty” in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases. Department of Medicine co-author is Ananya Bhatia-Lin (R3).
- Carrie Ho, fellow, is lead author and Ajay Gopal, professor (Hematology and Oncology) is senior author of “A phase 2 study of frontline pembrolizumab in follicular lymphoma” in eJHaem.
- Congratulations to Department of Medicine Chair Barbara Jung, who has accepted the position of Associate Vice Chancellor and Dean of the School of Medicine at the University of California San Diego, effective Jan. 1, 2025.
- Natasha Kwendakwema, fellow, Gastroenterology, is lead author and Rachel Issaka, associate professor (Gastroenterology) is senior author of “Clinician perceptions on barriers and facilitators to 1-year surveillance colonoscopy completion in survivors of colorectal cancer” in Cancer Medicine.
- Yusha Katie Liu was inspired to create a new peripheral nerve injury care clinic during her plastic and reconstructive surgery residency at UW Medicine. Read about this new clinic in “New Clinic Optimizes Peripheral Nerve Injury Care” from The Huddle.
- Andrew Luks, Critical Care Medicine Program Director, is lead author of “All That Is Gold Does Not Glitter” in Circulation.
- Manoj Menon, Hematology and Oncology Program Director, is co-author of “Cancer Immunotherapy Trials Network 12: Pembrolizumab in HIV-Associated Kaposi Sarcoma” in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
- Johnnie Orozco, Hematology and Oncology Associate Program Director, and Brenda Sandmaier, professor (Hematology and Oncology) are co-authors of “Randomized Phase III SIERRA Trial of 131I-Apamistamab Before Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation Versus Conventional Care for Relapsed/Refractory AML” in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
- Claire Quinlan, resident, Internal Medicine, is lead author of “Differences in COVID-19 Outpatient Antiviral Treatment Among Adults Aged ≥65 Years by Age Group — National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network, United States, April 2022–September 2023” in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
- At the recent Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine (APDIM) national meeting, Tyler Albert, associate professor, Gabrielle Berger, clinical associate professor (General Internal Medicine) and David Rink, chief resident, presented “Maximizing Learner Autonomy in An Era of Increasing Supervision.”
- Douglas Paauw, professor (General Internal Medicine) is the editor for the September issue of Medical Clinics of North America “Newer Outpatient Therapies and Treatments.” Department of Medicine faculty and fellows who contributed articles include Alison Bays, Jeffrey Edelman, Greg Gardner, Laura Grandos, Mira John, Denise McCulloch, Kim O’Connor, Paul Pottinger, Savitha Subramanian, Nina Tan, fellow, and Jennifer Wright.
- Tracy Tylee, Endocrinology Program Director, is lead author and Radhika Narla, Internal Medicine Associate Program Director, is senior author of “Building supportive networks: Insights from a division mentorship workshop” in Medical Education.