Dear GME Community,
Cindy Hamra Associate Dean, GME
This month brings lots of great celebrations – first, last Friday was Match Day. It’s been fun to talk with programs and hear their excitement about our matched residents and fellows. We look forward to onboarding and welcoming them to the University of Washington!
In the GME Office, we welcome two new team members. Bethany Griffitts is our new Fiscal Specialist on the Finance Team and Chris Gibson is the new Affiliations and Agreements Specialist on the Accreditation Team. If you’re not sure who to contact about a GME related question, check out the Our Team page.
A few other notes and reminders. Ramadan started on March 22 – the Info by Training Site page includes information about prayer / meditation spaces and other resources. Spring is also the time when UW’s cherry blossoms begin to bloom. Finally, March is Women’s History Month – check out this article by UW Medicine’s Office of Healthcare Equity featuring lesser known healthcare sector pioneers and this article in UW Huddle where women share their experiences in male-dominated fields.
Thanks,
Cindy
Policies and Processes
- The GMEC approved revisions to the following policies at the March meeting. All are posted on the Policies and Procedures page of the GME website.
- Annual Program Evaluation: Revisions include alignment with the upcoming changes to the ACGME’s Common Program requirements (CPRs) scheduled to take effect in July 2023; addition of a Purpose statement; process section updated to reflect the new language that requires a review of outcomes from prior APEs, program evaluations by trainees and faculty, and allows flexibility in the data elements reviewed; added that tracking Workforce diversity also needs to include staff and community members; and added Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion to CLER questions
- Eligibility and Selection Policy: Revisions include minor changes to reflect new CPRs effective July 2023; under Program Policies, grouped requirements as specialty-specific and UW specific and moved selective service and NIH grant restrictions up from footnote; moved footnote addressing program communication to applicants of changes to salary and benefits with grant funding up into Interview and Selection section.
- Visa Policy: Revisions include updating Scope to apply to programs (not trainees) and changed non-accredited training programs to ACGME Non-Standard Training (NST) Programs. Amended footnote to include definition of an NST program; added Purpose statement to align with format of other GME policies; and updated J-1 section to reflect changes under new ACGME NST requirements
- Programs that have matched or extended an offer to a trainee who requires a disability accommodation, should reach out to the GME Office (Bre Smith) as soon as possible so that we can work with the Disability Services Office to support both the program and trainee through the process.
- Due to decreasing COVID case counts and hospitalizations, effective Tuesday, March 7th the UW Medicine Required and Extended-use Mask Policy was updated with the following changes:
- Respirators are no longer required for all aerosol generating procedures. Respirators continue to be strongly recommended, in addition to other personal protective equipment (PPE), to prevent the acquisition and transmission of COVID and other respiratory viruses during these procedures. Respirators, in addition to other PPE, continue to be required for the care of all patients with known or suspected COVID-19. Respirators will continue to be provided to all staff who choose to use them.
- Physical distancing and masking are no longer required in breakrooms, team rooms, multi-person offices, conference rooms, and similar rooms isolated from patient care spaces by a door or away from patient care spaces. Using a mask or respirator in those spaces continues to be strongly recommended.
- Masks or respirators continue to be required in all patient care spaces, public spaces ( hallways, elevators, and cafeterias), and during all patient care and visitor interactions. Please ensure you have a mask or respirator on when entering and leaving patient care buildings. Masks may also be required by Employee Health following a high-risk exposure or recent COVID-19 infection.All healthcare workers should continue to wear the highest level of respiratory protection that they can tolerate as they may encounter people with asymptomatic COVID or other respiratory infections. Wearing a mask or respirator also protects those around you in case of asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic COVID infection.
Program Information
- Welcome New Program Administrators:
- Lanie Cueva, Pediatric Hematology-Oncology
- Taraneh Moll, Clinical Informatics
- Keely Peddycord, Child Neurology
- The GMEC has approved appointment of the following new program directors; ACGME appointments require Review Committee (RC) confirmation:
- Rebecca Petersen, General Surgery Residency
- Ari Pollack, Pediatric Nephrology Fellowship
- Christopher Burke, Advanced Cardiac Surgery Fellowship [Non-ACGME]
- Rebecca Ronsley, Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Fellowshipb [Non-ACGME]
- The ACGME has a weekly e-Communication. If you wish to receive it, email ACGMECommunications@acgme.org.
Events of Interest
- Upcoming GME Lunch & Learns
- GME Onboarding Drop-in Session: For additional support for program administrators, please find below a schedule for the upcoming informational drop-in session. This is designed to help programs with our various onboarding processes and answer any questions, in a casual and virtual format.
- GME Onboarding Drop-in Session #2
- Date: Wednesday, March 29
- Time: 9-10am
- Zoom
- RSVP: Not required
- Tentative Talking Points include: Guided instruction on MedHub functions (Adding, Advancing, Terminating/Graduating); Onboarding packages (How to monitor resident and fellow status); What’s on the horizon for April and beyond; and time for Q&A.
- GME Onboarding Drop-in Session #2
- Cherry Blossom run/walk celebration at UW – March 25th (5k run/walk) and 26th (half-marathon). Space limited – register soon! See full calendar of events: Cherry Blossom Activities at the Burke! The cherry blossoms at the UW campus are a seasonal tradition and celebration for the entire region. This year’s colder-than-usual spring is demanding a little more patience. Mark your calendars for a peak bloom expected in early April.
- GME Outreach Event for trainees at SCH on April 14th from 11 am to 1 pm. We encourage trainees to stop by to say hello, meet our GME team members and take a packed lunch. Please look for an email closer to the event with specific room details.
- Other GME Events can be found on our calendar.
Projects and Resources
The GME Annual Program Timeline: Please review for important dates for March and April.- The UW Professional Staff Organization (PSO) has launched the new Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Excellence Award which seeks to highlight professional staff currently working at the UW. Nominees include those who have demonstrated a deep commitment to the advancement of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging work directly within the UW and/or their local communities. Nominations are due April 15.
- The January 2023 DIO Blog featuring the work of the Care of Patients Experiencing Incarceration (CPEI) Task Force and Learning Gateway has been updated with the new Caring for Patients Experiencing Incarceration guide.
- Submit your 55 word story! When the pandemic began, two faculty members, Molly Jackson and Andrea Kalus, launched a 55-word story campaign in collaboration with the Well-Being team to capture the emotions and feelings of the moment through short vignettes. As a way of marking this moment, of three years with COVID-19 in our lives, UW Medicine Well-Being invites you to reflect on where you have been and where you are now through the creation of your own 55-word story. Share your three-year reflections in 55 words (or less) with our community here.
- The Health Equity, Advocacy, and Anti-Racism (HEAAR) Curriculum for the Internal Medicine Residency Program has been introduced by Drs. Lynsey Bernfeld, Hasib Yousufzai, Anna Morenz, Ryan Abe, Helen Jack and Anders Chen. HEAAR is a comprehensive, multi-tiered, and inter-professional curricular thread embedded into the residency program with the goal of learning principles of anti-oppression and using those frameworks to understand and address the structural origins of health inequities. Learn more on the Department of Medicine news site.
- Dr. Jennifer Best, Associate Dean of GME, wishes to highlight Dr. Carrie Cunnigham’s deeply personal and important President’s Address at the AAS Academic Surgical Congress. In the 45 minute video, Dr. Cunningham discusses the mental health crisis impacting our community, reflecting on her lived experiences. Dr. Best notes that, “it’s a message I think all of us need to hear.”
- Trainees are encouraged to subscribe to UW Medicine STAT|INFO ADVISORY which has been designed to disseminate official information via text message to keep the UW Medicine workforce informed during emergencies and situations that might disrupt normal operations.
- Set your pronouns in Identity.UW: You can now display your pronouns in UW systems such as MyUW, Zoom and soon Canvas and MyUW class lists when you click “Set pronouns” in Identity.UW.
- A new opt-in module from Learning Gateway is now available. Prioritizing Ourselves When Fatigued is a 5 minute module intended as a brief reminder on the important issue of fatigue. Learning Gateway is happy to answer any questions about the module.
- Our new Leave of Absence webpage is now live on the GME website. Here you will find LOA planning information and resources along with an intake form to contact GME for leave planning assistance: Leave Planning Submission Form. This form can be completed by trainees or program leadership. The December 2022 Lunch & Learn on ‘Leave Policy and Guidelines’ provides an overview of both these new resources; please review the recording and slides.
People
- Toni Brassfield, Resident, Internal Medicine, won top clinical vignette at the recent Northwest Regional Society for General Internal Medicine (SGIM) conference for his poster, “Strongyloides stercoralis hyperinfection following initiation of CHOP therapy”
- Debra Cherry, Program Director, Occupational and Environmental Medicine and John Scott, professor (Allergy and Infectious Diseases) talked to KIRO 7 News in “Safeguarding wearable technology.”
- John Choe, Associate Program Director, Internal Medicine, is co-author of “AAIM Recommendations for Undergraduate Medical Education to Graduate Medical Education Transition Curricula in Internal Medicine” in the American Journal of Medicine.
- Anna Condella, fellow, Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, is lead author of “Veno-venous Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation for COVID-19: A Call For System-Wide Checks to Ensure Equitable Delivery For All” in ASAIO Journal. DOM co-author is Andrew Luks, Program Director, Critical Care Medicine.
- Shani Delaney, Program Director, Maternal-Fetal Medicine, is featured in UW study shows race-based prenatal test is outdated, ineffective – KREM.
- Mackenzie Holmberg, R3, Internal Medicine is lead author and Sarah Sanghavi, clinical assistant professor (Nephrology) is senior author of “Bridging the Gap: A Practical Approach to Discussing eGFR and Race with Medical Students” in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. DOM co-author is Başak Çoruh, Program Director, Pulmonary Critical Care.
- Nicholas Johnson, Associate Program Director, Critical Care Medicine, is co-author of “Total and subgenomic RNA viral load in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 Alpha, Delta, and Omicron variants” in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.
- Vishesh Kapur, Program Director, Sleep Medicine Program, is quoted in “Here’s What Your Body Is Trying To Tell You If You’re Constantly Waking Up Before Your Alarm” in Well+Good.
- Eileen Klein, professor (Pediatrics) is one of this year’s recipients of the School of Medicine Excellence in Mentoring Women Faculty Award. Awardees are chosen based on recommendations from peers and mentees received by the Dean’s Standing Committee for Women in Medicine and Science.
- William Lombardi, Program Director, High-risk Coronary Intervention (CHIP) Fellowship, is the 2023 recipient of the TCT Geoffrey O. Hartzler Master Operator Award. He is receiving this award for his superior operator skills and leadership in interventional cardiovascular medicine.
- Leo Morales, professor (General Internal Medicine) is quoted in “University of Washington study will survey Latinos in the state with COVID-19” and “WA Hispanics suffer high rates of long COVID. UW study launched to find out more” in the Yakima Herald-Republic. He is also featured in Long COVID in WA Hispanics being studied — high rates expected from the Bellingham Herald.
- It is with great pleasure that the Department of Family Medicine announces the hiring of Joseph Nelson as the inaugural Associate Program Director for Diversity Equity and Inclusion for the residency. Joey is a member of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation. He is a graduate of the UW School of Medicine and the UW Family Medicine Residency and practices broad spectrum family medicine. During his time as a resident he was a leader in our Health Equity and Anti Racism (HEAR) Committee and the President of the Network for Underrepresented Residents and Fellows (NURF). Joey currently serves as the Academic Chief Resident where he applies his unending positive energy to the advancement of the HEAR vision, the betterment of the residency and the UW Department of Family Medicine.
- Urology resident Chloe Peters is first author of “Pregnancy and parental leave in medicine and academia — a focus on urology” in Nature.
- From the UW Medicine Newsroom: Medical students meet their matches
- Check out the UW Otolaryngology-HNS Winter 2023 Newsletter for lots of great faculty and trainee highlights.