“The way to get things done is not to worry about who gets the credit”
~ Benjamin Jowett
December 2, 2011
Dear Colleagues and Friends:
Congratulations and Kudos …
Congratulations to Emergency Medicine for completion of a seven year accreditation cycle for their residency program with its participation in an ACGME EM Pilot demonstration/innovation project. The Residency Review Committee recognized our program as an elite training program that met its training requirements. Many thanks to our residents, faculty and staff members for their commitment and dedication to their GME residency training program.
We are delighted that GHS Medical Center has been designated as a Primary Stroke Center by the Office of EMS/Trauma in the Georgia Department of Public Health. Also, our cancer program has just been awarded a 3 year approval with commendations on seven of eight categories: outcomes analysis, abstracting time frame, pathology report (CAP) guidelines, clinical trial accrual, prevention and early detection, cancer education for cancer registry, and cancer-related quality improvements. This outstanding report – a reflection of years of diligent work at multiple levels throughout the institution – is timely with Dr. Khleif joining us shortly as our new Cancer Center director.
Please join us in congratulating Dr. Michael A. Edwards for his recent appointment as Chief of the newly formed Section of Minimally Invasive and Digestive Diseases Surgery at Georgia Health Sciences University. We look forward to working with Dr. Edwards in this new role.
Congratulations to Mr. Rich Bias on accepting Chief Operating Officer for the Lahey Clinic in Boston. He has been part of the GHSU family since 1987 and his leadership here will be remembered. We wish Rich the very best in his new adventure.
Gone Hollywood …
Dr. David Terris and one of his patients were featured this week on “The Doctors” where Dr. Terris discussed his work on developing a no neck scar approach to thyroid surgery. Check it out here http://www.thedoctorstv.com/main/home_page?init_type=Feature&init_id=5402. Congratulations to David.
Roundtable Discussion … Organized Medicine and Leadership Development Among Physician Trainees …
We were delighted to have Dr. Dan Deloach, Medical Association of Georgia (MAG) Immediate Past President and MCG Distinguished Alumnus, Mr. Donald Palmisano, Jr., MAG CEO and Kate Boyenga, MAG Membership Director, on campus earlier this week. In addition to discussions with our leadership regarding physician faculty membership of MAG, Dr. Deloach also kindly conducted a roundtable discussion with our student and resident leaders. Discussions centered around the importance of becoming MAG members and leaders, what MAG membership means to the physician community and how MAG can assist physicians with on-going issues. Many thanks to our MAG leadership and we appreciate their support of opportunities for closer collaboration.
SE Georgia Clinical Campus Visit for Students and Alumni …
Recently 33 students visited the SE Georgia campus to take a closer look at the clinical campus offering, with clinical training in Savannah and Brunswick, as well as in Statesboro, Waycross and Winn Army Medical Center at Fort Stewart. We also visited several locations in Savannah and Brunswick and had our very well attended alumni reception at the Brunswick campus. SE Georgia is ready for the upcoming LCME Secretariat Site Visit next week as a next step in our regional campus expansion plan. The July 2012 inaugural class will then be selected in mid-December. We were fortunate to have 7 students to ‘pilot’ our campus this year … they confirm that these are great training environments and that the community support is “incredible”.
MCG Applicant Pool Increase This Year … And A First …
We are excited to announce that MCG had a 10% increase in the number of applicants applying to our medical school. For context, the national increase was 2.6%. Additionally, USG’s fall semester enrollment report indicates an overall increase of 2.1% in USG students in the last year with Hispanic, African American, and Asian enrollment all increased. Also, a first for us … 100% of Georgia residents who applied to medical school have submitted an application to us. This is terrific news and compliments our collective recruitment efforts. Many thanks to our Admissions staff (and all of you) for your continued efforts on recruiting the brightest and best. After all, recruitment is everybody’s business.
Synchronicity Now At Your Fingertips … Mobile Clinical Summary Mpages Launches …
Our EHR transformation team is continuing to work on workflow and operational issues as we continuously refine our EHR implementation … a major institutional initiative. Major foci of effort at present include orders refinement, computer time-out, data element issues and of course, workflow. In addition to EHR computer on site, this week’s launch of Mobile Clinical Summary Mpages for Synchronicity will also allow physicians and other authorized care providers to access off-site key pieces of clinical information from their Android, BlackBerry, iPhone or iPad mobile device. Even from off-site, providers will be able to view patient lists, perform patient searches, view schedules, diagnosis, allergies as well as review documents and outstanding records. Although this is yet another innovation for us to get accustomed to, we hope that this will help simplify workflow and ultimately increase patient satisfaction. We, of course, will also need to be extremely diligent about HIPAA – which has become a greater concern nationally as EHR use expands.
Upcoming Dates and Events …
TODAY – GHSU MCG Talent Show – ‘A Red Carpet Affair’, 6:30 to 9 pm – Lee Auditorium,
The esteemed panel of judges will be Drs. Frazier, McKie, and Ganapathy. All proceeds will be donated to the Christmas Party benefitting children with HIV infection. There will be free hors d’oeuvres & refreshments following the event. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at the door (open at 6 pm). Info: Vijay Palvia (vpalvia@georgiahealth.edu).
TODAY – 2012 SGEA Conference Submission Deadline
University of Kentucky COM will host the 2012 Regional Conference of the Southern Group on Educational Affairs (SGEA) ‘Best Practices in Medical Education: Bring Us Your Best, April 19-21, 2012. Visit the website at http://www.cecentral.com/live/2874.
December 5-6, LCME Secretariat Site Visit, Savannah Georgia
LCME Secretariats are visiting the SE Georgia Clinical campus to give us feedback on our progress.
December 6 – 6:30 pm – Employee Recognition Event – Kroc Center
A dinner event to honor GHSU and GHS Health Center faculty and staff with 25 – 40 years of service.
December 8-10, Beginning at 6 am – 2011 Cares for Kids Radiothon
Radio stations 104.3 WBBQ and 96.3 Kiss FM will broadcast live from the lobby of the Georgia Health Sciences Children’s Medical Center. Pledges can be made anytime through the online giving portal at www.georgiahealth.org/giving and during the Radiothon by calling 1-877-719-KIDS (5437).
December 14 – Noon – Lee Auditorium – President’s Lecture Series
Dr. Gautam Chaudhuri, Distinguished Professor in the departments of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology and ObGyn at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, will present “Free Radicals and Their Interactions: Implications in Breast Cancer”.