Zachary Port, MD

I serve as a teaching and precepting medical consultant for residents who see patients admitted to non-medicine services, such as surgery or psychiatry. In this role, I provide expertise in the management of complex medical conditions that impact patient outcomes, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, infections, and other chronic illnesses. My teaching approach emphasizes clinical reasoning, interdisciplinary collaboration, and evidence-based management. I guide residents through the assessment and treatment of medical issues that arise in the perioperative or non-medical context, using real-time clinical cases to illustrate diagnostic and therapeutic decision-making. I incorporate teaching on risk stratification, medication reconciliation, and transitions of care, drawing from current guidelines and practice-based resources. Through consult-based teaching, I help learners appreciate the nuances of internal medicine across diverse clinical environments and ensure high-quality, coordinated care for medically complex patients outside of traditional medical wards.

The purpose of morning report is to teach residents how to think. This includes an emphasis on clinical reasoning, test characteristics, and cognitive bias. Some reports focus on diagnostic challenges, others focus on management decisions. Morning Report is run by the chief residents and attended by the program director, Mark Siegel, as well as a few core faculty members or invited consultants. Interns and residents volunteer to present a recent or current patient from their service. The presenter is expected to share the history, physical exam, and primary data including labs and imaging for the patient. We emphasize personal review of primary data (including chest X-rays, CT scans, ultrasound, and EKGs) to enhance housestaff interpretive skills. Then, as a group, we focus on summarizing the case into a succinct syndrome around which we build our differential diagnosis. Residents are expected to share their opinion about the "most likely" diagnosis and their estimation of pre-test probability of that diagnosis. The conversation is resident-run, with faculty interjecting only when they feel they have a pearl or tip to add. At the end, the presenter shares the hospital course of the patient and takes an active role in discussion some teaching points related to the case.