Ascension Providence Rochester Hospital and the Office of Graduate Medical Education held the 10th Annual Quality Improvement Research Day on May 4 as a virtual event. Eight teams of residents in Internal Medicine and 5 teams in Family Medicine/Transitional Year presented poster slides with prerecorded narration. The top two winners in IM included (1) George Nahal presenting on "Decreasing inappropriate use of vancomycin," who co-authored this project with Monica Dhawan, Mohammad Albu, and faculty mentors Sarwan Kumar and Vesna Tegeltija, and (2) Saad Chaudhry presenting on "Improving the quality of managing outpatient diabetes," who co-authored this project with Mary Dickow, Padmini Giri, Zachary Johnson, Warda Zaidi, and faculty mentor Zain Kulairi. The top winner of the FM/TY teams was FM resident Ben Maynard presenting on "Educational intervention to reduce inappropriate testing for hospital-acquired C. difficile infection," with co-authors Abraham Baidoo and Katrina Siemiesz and faculty mentor Eleanor King. Visit the QI Day webpage for a recording of the event and more details. Kudos to all!     

GME publishes article on resident well-being

The GME office recently published an article on its resident wellness initiatives in the March 2021 issue of the Ochsner Journal, co-authored by Brent Stansfield, Heidi Kenaga, and Tsveti Markova, entitled "Building a culture of well-being in primary care resident training programs."

Resident Council officers for 2021-22 elected

At the Resident Council meeting held on May 11, the officers for 2021-22 were elected:  President Danyal Taheri (PGY-2, Internal Medicine) and Vice-President Katrina Siemiesz (PGY-1, Family Medicine). For an interview with the officers, see the Resident Spotlight in this issue. The next RC meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 13.

The Resident Council would like to remind all incoming and current residents that GME hosts a page for confidential concern reporting.

Michael Chung, Otolaryngology resident, wins Gold Humanism Honor Society award

The Office of Graduate Medical Education and Department of Otolaryngology is pleased to announce that resident Michael Chung (PGY-4) recently received the Wayne State University School of Medicine’s Gold Humanism Honor Society award.  It is the mission of the Gold Humanism Honor Society to recognize individuals who are exemplars of humanistic patient care and who can serve as role models, mentors, and leaders in medicine. Candidates are nominated by medical students, residents, or faculty, and a committee of GHHS members select the awardee based on demonstration of excellence in clinical care, communication skills, compassion, integrity, moral judgment, leadership, and commitment to humanism. Congratulations, Dr. Chung!

Internal Medicine resident Mishita Goel's case study on COVID's disparate impact on twins living in SE Michigan, the subject of a story in the New York Times earlier this year, was featured by Detroit television station WXYZ. Kudos!

Mehdi Farshchian (Dermatology) publishes two articles, awarded Honorable Mention at MDS Resident Research Competition

Mehdi Farshchian published a systematic review of plantar wart treatment co-authored with Dept. of Dermatology Chair Darius Mehregan in Clinics in Dermatology. This article received Honorable Mention at the 2021 Michigan Dermatological Society Resident Research Competition. Dr. Farshchian also published "Racial disparities in patients with melanoma: A multivariate survival analysis" with Dermatology faculty Meena Moossavi in Clinical, Cosmetic and Investigational Dermatology Journal, found here. Well done!  

Mena Isnassuos receives certificate in Evidence-Based Teaching in the Health Professions from JHU, research presented at MARC

Mena Isnassuos (PGY-3, Anesthesiology) received his post-master's certificate in Evidence-Based Teaching in the Health Professions from Johns Hopkins University in May 2021 and is pursuing a master's in Education for the Health Professions at JHU as well. He will begin a fellowship in critical care at Emory University in August 2021. Dr. Isnassuos also presented a case report on "Left main coronary obstruction following TAVR procedure" at the 2021 Midwest Anesthesia Resident's Conference, co-authored by fellow Anesthesiology resident Anna Lahori and faculty mentor and Anesthesiology Program Director Sandeep Krishnan. Congratulations, and good luck!

IM faculty's research accepted for 2021 AAMC Annual Meeting

A paper by Internal Medicine faculty Zain Kulairi, Vesna Tegeltija, Mohammad Fityan, and Sarwan Kumar on "A process to monitor and improve scholarly activity during residency" was accepted for the Learn Serve Lead 2021: AAMC Annual Meeting. Well done!   

On April 21, the Dept. of Family Medicine & Public Health Sciences held its 5th Annual DFMPHS Research Day as a virtual event. The Research Day provides faculty, residents, and students with an opportunity to showcase their outstanding scholarly work. Visit the event website to watch a video recording and view the complete program. Of the 31 accepted abstracts, two were identified as excellent overall and the co-authors invited to give an oral presentation. One of these was a QI project by Family Medicine residents Peter Ly, Roshan Patel, William Nham, and faculty mentors Salieha Zaheer and Elizabeth Towner on "Cost-effective methods of increasing heart failure clinic follow-up to decrease hospital readmission within 30 days of discharge." Congratulations!

Internal Medicine residents present at Residents' Day, ACP-Michigan chapter, May 7

Internal Medicine residents and faculty mentors had 6 poster presentations and 2 oral presentations accepted for the American College of Physicians-Michigan chapter Residents' Day, held on May 7. Here's a complete list. Kudos to all!

6th Michigan Summit on Quality Improvement & Patient Safety - SEMCME, May 19

At this year's SEMCME QIPS Summit, Internal Medicine residents won three awards:  In the Voiceover Presentation category, Vatsal Khanna won 2nd position for "Overutilization of amylase and lipase testing in acute pancreatitis," with co-authors Ranim Chamseddin, Yashar Eshman, Laith Al-Janabi, and faculty mentor Vesna Tegeltija. In the Live Stream Slide Presentation category, Mishita Goel won 3rd position for  " 'Cardiac Care Checklist': An initiative to improve the screening of cardiovascular diseases in a resident internal medicine clinic." Her co-authors were Ankita Aggarwal, Vrushank Patel, Kevser Yesilyaprak, Warda Zaidi, and faculty mentor Sarwan Kumar. Aldin Jerome won 4th position for  "Optimizing workup of pulmonary embolism: A QI initiative," with co-authors Kelash Rai, Radha Adusumilli, Manishkumar Patel, Gloria Hong, and faculty mentor Joseph Vercellone.  Here is a list of all IM resident presentations. Well done!  

43rd Annual Research Forum - SEMCME, May 26

At the SEMCME 2021 Research Forum, Internal Medicine resident Jurgena Tusha conducted a livestream slide presentation on "The MuLBSTA score: Predicting the risk of mortality and disease severity in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia." Her co-authors were fellow IM resident Verisha Khanam. In the voiceover PowerPoint presentation category, Mishita Goel conducted a talk on "Utilization of procalcitonin to guide antibiotic discontinuation in respiratory tract infections in a community hospital"; her co-authors were Ankita Aggarwal, Raashi Chawla, Ameer Khan, Aldin Jerome, and Sourabh Bidhan. For these two presentations, IM Associate Program Director Vesna Tegeltija and Program Director Sarwan Kumar served as faculty mentors. Another voiceover PowerPoint was presented by resident Verisha Khanam on "Standardizing treatment for pneumonia: A QI initiative," with co-authors Jurgena Tusha, Bernadette Schmidt, and faculty mentor Vesna Tegeltija. Congratulations to all!

ACGME's AWARE resources offer stress and burnout mitigation techniques

ACGME has developed a suite of on-demand well-being resources called AWARE, designed to promote well-being among residents and faculty. AWARE primarily focuses on individual strategies for cognitive skill-building and includes a video workshop, podcasts, and the ACGME AWARE app. Programs, institutions, and individuals can download these resources for integration into existing curricula or use in tandem with other efforts to mitigate the effects of stress and burnout and foster well-being among members of the GME community.  

Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

The WSU Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provided by Ulliance is available to all residents, faculty, and staff at no cost. It's confidential and available to you, your partner, and your dependents. To reach an advisor immediately, you may call 1-800-448-8326. Click here for the Life Advisor Resource Center website log-in page. To log in, enter "Wayne State University" as the name of your employer and "Detroit" as the City of Employment. The website provides more detailed information about the services included in EAP and how to access them. 

Dept. of Psychiatry's Warriors Strong Together program

Warriors Strong Together is a program offered by the Dept. of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences that provides free assistance for all members of the WSU community who may be experiencing difficulties coping with the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic. As an added convenience, the services are available by telephone or videoconferencing per the caller’s preference.