Dear GME Community,
Several exciting celebrations in the GME community this month: Dr. Jeff Friedrich was selected by the ACGME as a Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award, Angelique Cole has joined the GME Office as our new Compliance and Accreditation Specialist and two members of our community, Drs. Joey Nelson and Victor Lopez-Carmen are featured in a UW Medicine Huddle article celebrating contributions of our staff, faculty, trainees and students from American Indian and Alaska Native communities for Native American Heritage Month.
In November News and Notes we share an updated CVC Policy, training extension form, EHR reminders and resources and several other important items.
Thanks,
Cindy
Policies and Processes
- The GMEC approved revisions to the following policy at the November meeting. All are posted on the Policies and Procedures page of the GME website.
- CVC Placement Training Policy: Applies to programs with residents/fellows who may place central lines. Requirements include completed eLearning, simulation training at WISH, inclusion of CVC placement in program supervision policies.
- Training Extension Form on the Appointments & Credentialing page has been updated to the Current Appointment Change Form. The new form will be used to request individual appointment updates for chief designation, overnight call, training extension, and training reduction.
- Meeting and away conferences that take place during VA assignments require pre-approval from the corresponding site director and designated education officer. Please submit these requests to the VA no later than 30 days before leave occurs.
- Complimentary Access to Cortex: The AAMC and Thalamus have announced that all ERAS participating programs will have complimentary access to Cortex for the 2026 ERAS season (see November 7 press release). The GME Office will hold an information session for programs in the coming months. Details to come.
- New Non-ACGME Programs: Is your department planning to launch a new non-ACGME fellowship program? Visit the Non-ACGME Program Resources page for resources including the application for new non-ACGME programs.
- 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.
- UW Medicine Epic News and Reminders
- Epic Upgrade/2FA Changes began on October 20: this upgrade includes 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.
- 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.
Program Information
- The GMEC has approved appointment of the following new program directors; ACGME appointments require Review Committee confirmation:
- Andrew Ko, Functional Neurosurgery
- Hubert Vesselle, PET/CT
- The ACGME has a weekly e-Communication. If you wish to receive it, email ACGMECommunications@acgme.org.
Events of Interest
- GME Lunch & Learns
- 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, 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)
- 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 November and December.- November 20th was Transgender Day of Remembrance and the week of November 13-19 is Transgender Awareness Week. UW HR has collected transgender resources and curated guides, policies, and resources for managers and colleagues.
- UW Medicine has announced a second year of funding for Well-Being Grants aimed at improving the workplace and learning environment for our community. All faculty, staff, and trainees from across UW Medicine (including administrative, clinical, education and research areas) are encouraged to apply for the grants. Applications are open Nov. 29-Dec. 10. For more information, please visit the UW Medicine OFA website.
- The holiday season is often a time of giving by grateful patients, vendors, and other outside organizations. State employees within UW Medicine are governed by the Washington State Ethics in Public Service Act with regard to the gifts they may accept and how they may redirect gifts they cannot accept. Common questions about gifts from patients and other external sources (including food and beverages) and other related topics are answered in the Gifts from External Sources FAQs on the UW Medicine Compliance website. Additional information is available on the Internal Audit website.
- 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.
- 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
- Catherine Albright, Maternal-Fetal Medicine Associate Program Director, is featured in “Exercising While Pregnant is Safe – Here’s What to Know” from Right as Rain.
- A new NPR series, “Throw It Back,” explores how the objects we love as kids shape our worldview as adults. The series begins with the story of Mahlet Assefa, fellow, Nephrology, and her cotton dress. Listen to her story on NPR.
- Joshua Bloomstein, resident, Internal Medicine, is co-author of “Microbial dynamics and pulmonary immune responses in COVID-19 secondary bacterial pneumonia” in Nature Communications.
- Richard Bransford, Spine Fellowship Program Director, is featured in “New robotic-assisted device used in spinal surgery” and “Doctor performs novel robotic surgery” from UW Medicine Newsroom. KXLY Spokane and KIRO 7 published related stories.
- The Population Health Initiative has awarded 14 Tier 1 pilot grants to interdisciplinary teams of University of Washington researchers representing 11 schools and colleges across two UW campuses plus several community-based partners. One of the funded projects is Collaborative development of a community advisory board focused on serious cardiac illness in the Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, Idaho (WWAMI) region (Jason Deen, Salpy Pamboukian, Jill Steiner).
- Jeff Friedrich, Vice Chair for the Department of Surgery, has been selected by the ACGME as a winner of the Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award for 2025.
- Sarah Holton, Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine fellow, won the 3rd place basic science prize at the National Jewish Health Respiratory Disease Young Investigators’ Forum. She presented: “Identification of pro-fibrotic mononuclear phagocyte subpopulations in cryobiopsies from patients with early Interstitial Lung Disease using spatial transcriptomics.”
- Mark Harrast, Sports Medicine (PM&R) Associate Program Director, is featured in “The Female Athlete Triad: A Syndrome Affecting Women Runners” from Right as Rain. He is also featured in “Run, Walk, Marathon: 5 Tips to Get You to Race Day” from The Huddle.
- Nari Hsiu has been named the new associate program director for the UW Boise Addiction Medicine Fellowship, effective November 1, 2024. She is the program’s first associate program director.
- Patricia (Trish) Kritek, professor, Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, will be interim chair of the Department of Medicine, effective Jan. 1, 2025. She is currently vice dean for faculty affairs in the School of Medicine.
- Hannah Linden, Hematology and Oncology Associate Program Director, will continue investigating whether a PET/CT progesterone tracer known as FFNP (short for 21 [18F] fluorofuranylnorprogesterone) can better predict response to endocrine therapy coupled with the CDK4/6 inhibitor abemaciclib, or Verzenio under a Breast Cancer Research Foundation grant. Read the full story from Hutch News.
- James McCabe, Structural Heart Program Director, is senior author of “Transcatheter Mitral Valve Replacement Using Annular Reduction by Cinching With TEER in the Commissure (ARCTIC)” in Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions. Department of Medicine co-authors are David Elison and Christine Chung (Interventional Cardiology Program Director).
- Yue-Harn Ng, Transplant Nephrology Program Director, is co-author of “Neighborhood Socioeconomic Deprivation is Associated with Worse Outcomes in Pediatric Kidney Transplant Recipients” in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
- Ashok Reddy, associate professor, is lead author and Karin Nelson, Health Services Research and Development Fellowship Director, is senior author of “Behaviorally Informed Text Message Nudges to Schedule COVID-19 Vaccinations: A Randomized Controlled Trial” in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Dr. Nelson is also co-author of “Impact of Home Telehealth Expansion on High-Cost Utilization Among Veterans Health Administration Patients with Diabetes” in JGIM.
- Sarah Prager, Complex Family Planning Program Director, is featured in “Bob Ferguson continues fight against abortion pill restrictions” from Cascade PBS.
- Patrick Samson, Urology fellow, is featured in “Sound solutions” from the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
- Amanda Weidner, Molly Ormsby, David V. Evans, and Davis G. Patterson from the WWAMI-Region Family Medicine Residency Network are authors of “Recruitment of Residents to Rural Programs: Early Outcomes From Cohort 1 of the Rural Residency Planning and Development Grants Program” from the Journal of Graduate Medical Education.
- UW Medicine Recognized for WebMD Elite Choice Award
- 58 US hospitals honored for ‘meritorious’ surgical care