PD Meeting Minutes and Happy Birthday

Hi everyone, On the first Friday of each month, we hold lunchtime Program Director’s Meetings, where we share program updates, explore challenging topics, give feedback to residency leadership, and celebrate birthdays. By popular demand, we will begin broadcasting meetings to the VA in September and share minutes for everyone to read. Here are the minutes from last Friday’s meeting:

1. Change in ambulatory education leadership: On August 14, we will bid adieu to the incomparable Jane Andrews, who is moving to a new position in Houston at Memorial Hermann Hospital. Jane will leave a lasting mark on our program. Among her contributions, she advised residents, chaired our Clinical Competency Committee, led didactic efforts across all our ambulatory sites, created exciting educational half-day sessions, enhanced Quality Improvement education, fostered engagement with the New Haven community, and created a resident ambulatory advisory committee. Jane has been a steady advocate for ambulatory training, social justice, and resident well-being. She will always be part of our family. We’re extremely fortunate to have recruited an exceptionally talented, dynamic, new Ambulatory APD, Dr. Katie Gielissen. Katie graduated from of our Medicine-Pediatrics Residency in 2016 and our Medical Education Fellowship this past June. Her interests include trainee assessment, medical education scholarship, and fostering careers in medical education. She will take on Jane’s advisees as her own. Please welcome Katie when you see her and read her special greeting to the residency (attached)
2. PCC update: Plans to move the Primary Care Clinic to the new NHPCC on Long Wharf are proceeding as scheduled. The move is slated for this winter and we will share more details as they become available. The NHPCC will offer residents and patients an improved physical structure as well as additional resources for patient care. Questions were raised about the availability of food and parking at Long Wharf as well as the impact of the move on resident education. We will be exploring these questions with Ambulatory Leadership and follow up soon.
3. Retreats: Individual class retreats will occur in May. The Chiefs are planning coverage for all Traditional Categorical and Preliminary residents. If you have ideas for content and venue or would like to contribute to planning, please let the Chiefs know.
4. The In-Training Exam (ITE): All categorical PGY1s, 2s, and many 3s will be taking the ITE within the next few weeks. The ITE allows residents to gauge their medical knowledge and compare their performance with peers. ITE results are highly predictive of outcomes on the ABIM board exam. While we do not use test results to make decisions about promotion or graduation, we do use the results to identify residents needing support. Most of our residents perform well on the ITE, but if you do end up with a disappointing result, we will be in touch to strategize on a response, which most commonly includes consultation with an educational specialist and creating a structured study plan. You do not need to do anything special to prepare for the exam beyond the regular reading you should already be doing.
5. Annual Program Evaluation and Review: Later this month, the Program Evaluation Committee (PEC) will be leading our annual program retreat. The PEC is led by two faculty members (Drs. Amy Schwartz and Alfred Lee) and two residents (Drs. Megan McCullough and Ethan Bernstein). At the retreat we will review last year’s ACGME survey results, recruitment efforts, educational structures, board exam results, and our overall mission. The PEC will then recommend an action plan to be pursued over the course of this academic year. The PEC continues to recruit resident members, so if you’d like to join, please contact any of the faculty or resident leaders. All PEC members are welcome to participate in the retreat if their schedules allow: it will be held at the New Haven Lawn Club on Friday, August 17, from 2-5 PM. Just let Tatianna Hilton know if you’d like to come.
6. Ways to contribute to the residency: Our program thrives because of robust resident contribution and we encourage all trainees to join committees and/or interest groups. Feel free to reach out to the Chief Residents for more information. If you’d like to start a group that doesn’t exist yet, just let us know! A partial list and a partial list of contacts includes (I apologize if I’m leaving any activity or any individual off):
   1. The Executive Council- Selection currently underway
   2. The Program Evaluation Committee (PEC)- Amy Schwartz, Alfred Lee, Megan McCullough, Ethan Bernstein
   3. The Wellness Committee- Seonaid Hay, Lindsay Vendetta, Mike Breen
   4. The Mentorship Committee- Seonaid Hay
   5. The Welcoming Committee- Nicolette Rodriguez
   6. Women in Medicine Interest Group- Merilyn Varghese, Alyssa Yeager, Jadry Gruen, Jessica Dolman
   7. The Beeson Beat- Rebecca Slotkin
   8. Arts Night- Molly Tucker, Mark Connor, Mike O’Donnell
   9. The Beeson Bombers- John Huston
   10. The Medical Jeopardy Team- George Goshua
   11. The Note Writing Committee- Veronica Azmy
   12. Distinction Leadership Groups- Chris Sankey, Dana Dunne, Stephen Holt, Yihan Yang (Education); Tracy Rabin (Global Health and Equity); Charles Delacruz and Erica Spatz (Investigation); Naseema Merchant, Robert Fogerty, and Jeremy Schwartz (QI and Physician Leadership)
   13. The Ambulatory Education Advisory panel (Katie Gielissen)
   14. The Curriculum Committee (Matt Grant, Zehra Omer, Chad Gier)
   15. Inpatient Education Redesign Committee (Chris Sankey)
   16. The GMEC (Selection done for this year)
   17. Resident Senate- Contact ynhh.senate@yale.edu for opportunities to contribute
   18. The Ultrasound Education Committee- Ben Cherry, Astha Chichra, Merilyn Varghese, Hayley Israel, Leila Haghighat, Ethan Bernstein, Eric Jordan
   19. Subspecialty interest groups and Journal Clubs- Countless
7. Journal Clubs: the Chiefs will be bringing journal clubs to the York Street Campus to complement those led by Dr. Concato at the VA. Plans are still in the works, but the goal is to promote critical-appraisal of the evidence to support the work we do.
8. Ultrasound Education: Hayley Israel updated us on her committee’s work. This year we will be providing formal ultrasound didactics for PGY3 during ambulatory blocks and bringing ultrasound sessions to morning report and/or noon conferences. We are exploring opportunities to acquire additional equipment. All residents are invited to join PCCSM ultrasound image review every other Thursday from 3-4 PM in the NP10 conference room (it was held this past Thursday, so you can plan from there).
9. Business from the floor: None this month, but please send me topics in advance raise them when we meet again in September
10. Happy birthday to our August babies!

And now it’s off to a bike ride, the annual Walnut Beach Arts Festival, and back to Fitkin tomorrow,

Mark