Highlights from State of the Internal Medicine Residency Program

During Medicine Grand Rounds, Aimee Zaas, MD, MHS, associate professor of medicine (Infectious Diseases) and program director of the Duke Internal Medicine Residency Program, presented the State of the Internal Medicine Residency Program. The theme of Dr. Zaas's presentation was reaching, meeting and exceeding our milestones; here are a few highlights from her presentation: Zaas discussed the program's accomplishments in Quality Improvement. The residency program has been 100 percent compliant for influenza vaccinations the last three years (two years before it became mandatory), and residents have taken on hand hygiene and tracked how they follow up on key laboratory results with clinic patients, with improvement seen in both areas. Residents also are involved in QI research projects. Academically, the program has achieved great things this year, Zaas said, with: The residency program also serves the community. In October, the program recognized the contributions of the nursing staff and purchased a portable wheelchair ramp for the North Street community in Durham. The 14th Annual Duke Medicine Charity Auction - organized each year by interns and residents - raised more than $15,000 for Senior PharmAssist and the Duke Outpatient Clinic, and the Stead Tread 5K raised more than $5,000 for the Lincoln Community Health Center. Zaas also noted camaraderie within the residency program and the numerous social events throughout the year. "Being able to enjoy the people you work with is a privilege," Zaas said. "I'm grateful we get to pull together such a wonderful group of people; it makes the program better and our patient care better." Join the residency program at 5 p.m. on Tues., June 3 for its annual Resident Research Night and learn more about research activity in the program.