The Internal Medicine Residency newsletter is posted each week to share important news, announcements and updates about the residency program. Please contact Randy Heffelfinger with corrections, contributions and suggestions.
From the Director
Happy Thanksgiving weekend to all!
While the casual follower of residency program happenings may still be in suspense regarding the turkey bowl results, I first wanted to give a huge congratulations to our entire program for raising an astonishing
$1449.50 for the Thanksgiving food drive, benefitting the DOC patient fund and the Durham Rescue Mission! This was also the first official
Stead Society Competition, with the prize of first round draft pick in the faculty draft. Thanks to JAR
Coral Day and the
Residency Council for organizing.
- Winner is Susanna Naggie's Stead Society (Stead D, to be named later) with $500.06
- Second place to Stead C with $291.55 -- Dr. Ben Powers
- Third is Stead A with $104.23 -- Dr. Heather Whitson
- Fourth Stead B with $96.63 -- Dr. Matt Crowley
- FIfth is Stead E with $20.00 -- Dr. Steve Crowley
The remainder is faculty and staff donations!
Wondering what a Stead Society is?
They are groups of residents from each class, led by outstanding former chiefs with a mission of building community, fostering mentorship, doing community service and perhaps some friendly competition. The Stead Society Leaders are: Heather Whitson, Matt Crowley, Ben Powers, Susanna Naggie, and Steve Crowley.
The turkey bowl ended in a hard fought tie, with a few injuries and a lot of fun. Thanks also to Randy and the chiefs for organizing a Thanksgiving dinner afterwards for everyone. Special thanks to those who covered pagers on the wards during the game! If you missed the game you can still check out the action on the following compilation of pictures.
Turkey Bowl 2011 Compilation
Pubmed from the program this week is from SAR
Michael Chenier for his abstract/poster recently presented at the American Heart Association meeting 11/2011: "Long term outcomes associated with hospital -acquired thrombocytopenia among patients with acute coronary syndrome"; Mentor
Tracy Y. Wang, MD, MHS, MSc
Thanks also to everyone for great participation in recruiting....from the dinners to the tours (JAR
Mandy George has led at least 10 tours!) and the sideshow (put together by SAR
Carly Kelley, and led by SARS
Dan Fox, Vaishali Patel and Tian Zhang), we have really been on top of our game!
Have a great week!
Aimee
What Did I Read This Week (by Bill Hargett, MD)
History-taking and the physical exam remain the mainstay of medical care and can lead to a diagnosis about 80% of the time. The test characteristics of many history and exam findings are now available. Appreciation of EBM is at an all time high, but do we actually practice what we preach?
[box]Bayes' theorem and the physical examination: probability assessment and diagnostic decision making. PMID: 21436660.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21436660 [/box]
Medical students, residents, and general medicine attendings from Pittsburgh, Brown, and UVa participated in a Web-based survey to determine how they applied exam findings to their probability estimates regarding four clinical cases (ascites, heart failure, group A beta-hemolytic strep pharyngitis, and ACL tear) and the impact of these findings on the ordering of further diagnostic tests. Participants were given a brief history, a pre-examination probability (based on prevalence and history), two separate exam scenarios containing information about whether specific findings were present or absent. Based on these findings, they were asked to give their estimation of the post-test probability of the diagnosis and whether they would tell the patient he/she has the condition in question, or that they do not have the condition in question, or that further testing is required.
Interestingly (check out the tables in the article), trainees and experienced physicians similarly underestimated the impact of examination findings when estimating condition probabilities and, as a consequence, often chose to order additional diagnostic testing to reduce diagnostic uncertainty. A better understanding of when and how we apply exam (and history) findings to conditional probabilities may improve care, education, and reduce patient care costs.
[divider]
From the Chief Residents
Grand Rounds
| Date |
Speaker |
Division |
Topic |
| 12/2/11 |
Fowler |
ID |
Gram Positive Infections |
Noon Conference
| Day |
Date |
Topic |
Lecturer |
Time |
Vendor |
| Monday |
11/28 |
Pleural Effusions |
Momen Wahidi |
12:00 |
Moe's |
| Tuesday |
11/29 |
Med Peds Interview Day |
|
12:00 |
Saladelia |
| Wednesday |
11/30 |
QI/Patient Safety Conference |
Jon Bae |
12:00 |
The Pita Pit |
| Thursday |
12/1 |
SAR TALK |
Jen McCarty/Emily Ruden |
12:00 |
Chick-fil-A |
| Friday |
12/2 |
Chair's Conference |
Chiefs |
11:00 |
Nosh |
[divider]
From the Residency Office
Dear Housestaff, Program Leadership and Co-Workers - (personal note by Rhea Fortune)
It is with much emotion that I write this. I have been offered and accepted a wonderful promotion and opportunity in the Duke GME office. My last day in the residency office will be December 16. I have worked in medical education for 17 years and enjoyed being the coordinator for this program for the last six. My time here has allowed me to grow both professionally and personally and played a huge part in fostering this exciting opportunity. The caliber of the medicine housestaff are unmatched (in my unbiased opinion:) by any other training program at Duke and I have always been very proud to be known outside as the “coordinator from Duke Medicine”. I will miss each one of you! The up side is that I am staying at Duke and am looking forward to using all I have learned to contribute to an already thriving Graduate Medical Education Department. In my new role I not only look forward to encouraging and challenging new and current coordinators, but hope to use my years of experience to collaboratively work with the current GME staff in cultivating fresh ideas. I appreciate all of your support as I make this transition and expect to see you “on the other side” , often!!
Thank you for teaching me what it means to be on a “Team” ! Rhea
ps: don’t stop logging those duty hours – I WILL find you !
Ambulatory Care Leadership Track-We want your input! (by Larry Greenblatt)
Thinking about a career in general medicine or an ambulatory specialty? The ACLT may be a good choice for you. We will begin this track in July and would love to get your input and feedback on what we are planning. Please come to an informal session at the home of Larry Greenblatt on Wednesday November 30th from 7:00 to 8:30. We'll have dessert and coffee and some wine and cheese. Address is 1110 Minerva Avenue in Durham, next to Duke East Campus. Please rsvp to
larry.greenblatt@duke.edu.
Home Call and/or Internal Moonlighting Duty Hr Entry – IMPORTANT
To avoid a violation when time entered is
home call or
internal moonlighting please indicate this by clicking on the time (light blue box with red “X”). This will produce a pull down menu where you can then change the hours to “Home Call” or “Internal Moonlighting”.
Failure to do this will cause the system to generate a violation report to Dr. Zaas. Duty hr Instruction for Updates
Duke Fleece Pick-Up Time and Dates
If you ordered a fleece, please stop by to pick up from the Medical Resident’s Office, Duke North, Rm. 8254, during the following times:
Request for Applications- Resident Research Grants (by Murat Arcasoy, MD)
The annual
Faculty Resident Research Grant applications are due on
March 2, 2012. Please see attached the Request for Applications, instructions, a sample NIH style biosketch, and application forms. Please do not exceed the 3 page limit for the Research Plan, and please note that you do not need preliminary data to apply.
Our "Resident Research" website will be launched in the coming weeks. These forms will also be posted on the website along with a list of previously funded projects and sample grant applications.
To discuss any issues regarding your research interests, for guidance to identify a research project and mentor, for questions related to the application process or once you decide to submit an application, please e-mail me at
arcas001@mc.duke.edu.
Please email me as well to
declare your intention to apply, your research mentor's name, the title of your Grant Application or any questions.
Faculty Resident Research Grant Instructions 2011-2012
Faculty Resident Research Grant Application Forms 2011-2012
Biosketchsample_2011
MLPR Information Session
If you would like to learn more about the Management and Leadership training opportunity, please plan to attend the information session scheduled for November 29 from 5:30 to 6:30 in the Faculty Center. If you are planning to attend, please send a brief email to
Randy.Heffelfinger@duke.edu.
Flu Vaccination - Closing in on the Target
If you would like to update y0ur flu vaccination record and have struggled to find who to contact or where to send a form, there is an easy way to do so.
Click on the Duke HR website and following the directions listed below:
http://www.hr.duke.edu/forms/index.php
Scroll down till you find the following form to click on:
Flu Exemption/Declination Form
Log in as requested, complete the form, and the data base will be updated
Dates to Add to Your Calendars
Nov 29 - MLPR Info Session (5:30 - 6:30 - Faculty Center)
Nov 30 - Noon Conference - Patient Safety and Quality Improvement
Dec 10 – DOM Holiday Party
March 9 - Charity Auction
June 13 –Resident Research Event, 5-7pm
Useful links
