GME News & Notes: April

Apr 20, 2022 | Announcements, Events, GME News & Notes, News

Dear GME Community,

Cindy Hamra

Cindy Hamra Assistant Dean, GME

Most of you have probably seen Dr. Paul Ramsey’s announcement that he will be retiring as CEO of UW Medicine and Dean of the School of Medicine in June of this year.  On behalf of the GME Office, we are grateful to Dr. Ramsey for his support and leadership and wish him the best in this next phase.  We’re also looking forward to working with Dr. Tim Dellit, who will serve in an interim capacity for the next two years during the transition.   

I want to open by highlighting a few resources – first, we want to remind our trainees who are observing Ramadan that our Information by Training site page includes information about prayer and meditation rooms for many training sites. 

Second, we are often asked how program leadership can know when a policy has been added or updated.  Two easy ways to keep up are to check the GME Policies and Procedures page, where each policy has a parenthetical indicating when it was last revised, and to follow News & Notes, where any policy updates will be listed each month with a brief description. 

We’ve begun the process of onboarding the new residents and fellows who will join us this summer to begin training.  Please see Dr. Joyner’s April blog post regarding Match results and the onboarding resources for information about how get started. 

The April 2022 issue of GME News & Notes includes a reminder about the COVID vaccine and booster requirements, information about a UW safe ride home program, resources for parents, and information about upcoming events.  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  

Policies and Processes

  • Booster Requirement: Please remember that UW Medicine clinical employees are required to be boosted.  UW Medicine Employee Health has asked GME to reach out to programs with trainees who are not yet in compliance.  Please let us know if you have questions. 
  • UW Medicine is now providing second booster doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines to all individuals 50 years and older who received their first booster shot at least four months prior.  Under the new CDC and FDA guidance, certain immunocompromised individuals ages 12 and older also are eligible for a second Pfizer or Moderna booster shot at least four months after their first booster dose, as are individuals ages 18 and older who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for both their primary series and first booster. 
  • During the incoming resident/fellow onboarding process, programs should remain mindful of the COVID Vaccine requirement and disability accommodation requests.  The COVID vaccine requirement remains a condition of employment for all incoming residents and fellows. During the onboarding process, trainees may also notify you of a disability or request specific accommodation.  If you have an incoming resident/fellow seeking a COVID vaccine medical or religious exemption or a resident/fellow requesting a disability accommodation, please notify GME as soon as possible.  
  • Programs can plan to host in-person graduation ceremonies, orientation activities, and recruitment interviews. Please see Dr. Joyner’s April 1 email for more information.
  • Starting mid-November, UW Medicine residents and fellows who will conduct their own human subjects research will be required to take a one-time, 60 minute, on-demand, e-learning tutorial. The UW Human Subjects Division: IRB 101 Online Tutorial covers the basics of human subjects research and provides important practical information about navigating the approval process through the Human Subjects Division, a unit of the UW Office of Research. The learner will need to provide their Certificate of Completion with their IRB application in order to receive approval to do human subjects research.  
  • The GME Office is seeking nominations for membership on GME committees for the 2022-2023 academic year (AY23).  Descriptions of each committee are provided on the Committees page of the GME website. Members of these committees should have an interest in serving as representatives of their peers, knowledge of UW GME activities, and a desire to serve as an advocate for housestaff.  Committee members are expected to regularly attend scheduled committee meetings (70% expectation). Please submit self- or peer-nominations by Friday April 30 by filing out the following form. We will follow up with nominees and new members in early June. 
  • The ACGME has made revisions to supervision related requirements over the last few years (CPR VI.A.2) to allow for direct supervision through telecommunications technology for some specialties in recognition of the wide adoption of telemedicine as a result of the pandemic. The GME office has updated the Institutional Supervision & Accountability Policy as well as the program policy template to reflect the CPR revisions. 

Program Information

  • The GMEC has approved appointment of the following new program directors; all appointments await ACGME confirmation:
    • Jennifer Bauer, Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery 
    • Chris Ingraham, Interventional Radiology – Independent & Integrated 
    • Richard Sheu, Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology 

Events of Interest

  • GME Lunch & Learns
  • The recording from the April 7 MedHub Scheduling workshop is now available. Other helpful scheduling resources can be found on the GME Finance and GME MedHub sites.
  • The recording from the April 19 Program Administrator Meeting is now available. For those of you interested in reviewing the resource site for the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, the link to the site is on the PA Toolkit under Handbooks.
  • Trauma Stewardship Institute Workshops: UW Medicine and the School of Medicine are partnering with Laura van Dernoot Lipsky and the Trauma Stewardship Institute to address the accumulative toll of the pandemic on UW Medicine healthcare staff and providers through a 2-hour system-wide workshop. Recordings will be posted online for those unable to attend live.
  • Other GME Events can be found on our calendar

Projects and Resources

  • Since our October 2020 update on Call Rooms, Lactation Rooms, and Parental Support, the GME Office has continued to work on improvements for parent trainees, in partnership with the hospitals. Updates over the last year were captured in GME Updates: Lactation Rooms and Parental Support. Our team continues to work to improve amenities and experiences for our parent trainees.   
  • Please complete the 2022 UW Medicine Annual Workforce Survey All individual responses to this survey are confidential. Read FAQ for more information. 
  • On April 1, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and UW Medicine completed the restructure of their longtime relationship and the formation of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, a unified adult cancer research and care center.  A summary of changes, benefits of the restructure, and other helpful information are available at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center: The Future of Cancer Research and Care. 
  • UW Transportation Services offers reimbursement for one-way trips, up to 60 miles. This Emergency Ride Home reimbursement is a benefit for those in the Faculty/Staff U-PASS program, and Bike Locker or House permit holders at the Seattle Campus.  This benefit is in addition to the GME Emergency / Safe Ride Home program.  For more information please visit the Emergency Ride Home page. 
  • Please see a recent highlight of ACGME Resources:
    • Transitions in Medical Education Toolkits: The ACGME, in collaboration with several other medical education organizations, has released three toolkits to aid programs and learners as they progress through the medical education continuum from medical school to practice. The toolkits are meant to help guide programs and learners as they deal with disrupted years of education due to the pandemic. See Transitions in Medical Education on the ACGME website. 
    • 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. 
    • 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).
  • Thanks to UW Medicine Advancement for designing a new tool to support GME programs via the Graduate Medical Education Endowed Fund, which provides central support through the GME Office for resident and trainee research, diversity recruitment, community engagement and wellness activities.
  • UW Benefits has partnered with TIAA to bring a new resource for Public Student Loan Forgiveness program!  To get started, go to the TIAA/Savi webpage. It will take around 15 or 20 minutes to answer the questions and get results. The results will show the optimal repayment plan and estimated monthly savings, as well as whether the employee qualifies for a forgiveness plan, how much could be forgiven, and when.  For more information, please visit Public Student Loan Forgiveness webpage. If you have any questions, please contact UW Benefits at 206-543-4444. 
  • Resources for parents:
    • New Bright Horizons backup care benefit: out-of-network backup care.  From April 1 – June 30, you will have the option to secure care from within your own personal network (a neighbor, friend, or babysitter) and receive reimbursement of $100 per day. Each use will count towards your 5-use limit per calendar year and can be requested on the Bright Horizons backup care webpage.  To access this benefit, select “Request Reimbursement” during the backup care reservation process and elect to use out-of-network care. Bright Horizons has also provided a step-by-step guide on how to submit an out-of-network care reservation request. 
    • Child care openings for ages 3-5 available now at Harborview.  Apply now for immediate child care availability by submitting your application to the UW Children’s Center Harborview location. 
    • The National Institute of Health (NIH) now provides eligible NRSA and Institutional Training Grant trainees (such as postdoctoral trainees appointed on T32 awards) an NIH Childcare Allowance.  This allowance is up to $2,500 per year, per trainee and goes towards assisting with childcare costs.  To see if you qualify, please contact your grant administrator.   

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