APF Newsletter - February 2023

APF Introduction

Read the note from our APF leadership team and what you can expect to find in this newsletter issue.

What’s Happening Now?

Learn about the recent happenings with our APF program with a special highlight on our curriculum focus, simulation.

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Meet our new education program manager and read about some highlights on our past APF graduates.

Multidisciplinary Week

Starting in 2016 fellows spent a week early in their fellowship shadowing members of the multidisciplinary team. Check out some of the APF Partner Awards we’re highlighting for their awesome work.

APF Award Winners

Help us congratulate the recent #CUDHM APF Award Winners. These individual are being recognized by the fellows as going above and beyond as educators and models of humanism for the APF.

Stay Connected

Stay up to date with the latest APF updates and navigate the links to learn more about the program and Q&A highlights.

Did You Know?

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Our Advanced Practice Fellowship is one of the oldest APP inpatient training fellowships for Internal Medicine Residents. Our APF program started in 2009 and since then, Hospital Medicine, Emergency Medicine, the Intensive Care Unit, the Bone Marrow and the region.

Happy New Years! 2022 was certainly an eventful year with COVID ups and downs, political upheaval and a growing financial crisis. The APF certainly had a busy year, graduating two full cohorts of fellows, cementing our leadership team and hiring a new Program Manager, Kelsey Keil. Across the country fellowships like ours have struggled to recruit talented candidates, but every month new programs open competing for the pool of potential fellows. Through our reputation and outreach efforts, we have continued to have success in recruiting talented candidates, but we hope we can count on each of you to spread word to potential candidates or educational leaders with access to candidates about the APF.

Welcome, Best,

APF Leadership Team

fellowships based on the successes of the Division’s Hospitalist Training Program then, we have graduated more than seventy fellows, who now hold positions in Marrow Transplant Unit and in many other Divisions across the University Hospital

WHAT’S HAPPENING NOW?

Submission from Rudy Moravek, PA

This fall we held our first virtual open house for the APF. We experienced a robust attendance and received applications already from attendees. We will continue these sessions and would happily share links if you know potential candidates that would like to learn more.

Curriculum Focus: Simulation

As an Advanced Practice Provider working in Hospital Medicine, I still have a sense of anxiety when I get urgently get called to a patient's bedside because they are suddenly getting sicker. I recall my first of these types of patient encounters, with limited direct training in how to approach these situations. How do I think of a patient with dangerously low blood pressure? What should I do with this abnormal heart rate? How do I speak to the patient when this is happening? Over time and working through multiple of these scenarios with real patients, I have developed a small sense of confidence, but acknowledge the challenges these encounters bring to the provider and the patient.

This is why we have developed the "Simulation Experience" as a part of the Advanced Practice Fellowship in Hospital Medicine at UCHealth. Through the use of high-fidelity mannequins and the wonderful faculty at UCHealth, we strive to present our Advanced Practice Fellows the opportunity to challenge themselves in a "practice without risk" environment, so they can be provided the support and coaching to help them learn how to be a more effective provider for their patients.

LEADERSHIP UPDATE

Meet our New Program Manager, Kelsey Keil!

We were lucky enough to recruit a new Program Manager, Kelsey Keil. She majored in Elementary Education at the University of Northern Colorado. After 9 years of teaching at the elementary level and a Master's degree in Learning and Technology, she wanted to pursue opportunities in higher education. She is excited to join the Division of Hospital Medicine and support the education programs!

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT

Dana Coutts, PA-C, MSPC

Dana Coutts, PA-C, MSPC is a physician assistant and senior instructor in the neurology department. She completed her Bachelor of Medical Science at Midwestern University and her Master of Science in Palliative Care at the University of Colorado. She started her PA career in internal medicine and spent many years treating adults in the outpatient setting. After completing the Advanced Practice Fellowship in Hospital Medicine in 2015, she transitioned to the inpatient hospital neurology service where she treats a wide range of patients with neurologic disorders.

Sara Witowski, PA-C

Sarah Witowski PA-C has been practicing as a hospitalist PA since completing the APF Program with the CU Division of Hospital Medicine in 2016. Prior to this she graduated from the University of Colorado PA program with a Masters in Physician Assistant Studies in 2015. Since becoming faculty with the DHM she has served as the Assistant Service Line Director (ASLD) for the Hospital Medicine Consult Service where she helped create and implement a co-management plan with the Trauma Surgical service to help improve the care of patients admitted to the Trauma Service. After her term as the ASLD she became coLead APP for the DHM where she served for 3 years to represent the needs of all APPs within the DHM to both the hospital and DHM leadership. Currently she is working on a grant to improving care for patients admitted with liver failure as well as serving as core faculty for the APF. Additionally, she recently joined the addiction medicine faculty for the DHM, which is dedicated to providing both medical and social assistance to those with substance use disorders.

Starting in 2016 fellows spent a week early in their fellowship shadowing members of the multidisciplinary team. While the components of this program have changed over the years, at its core fellows have spent time with nursing, therapy (PT, OT, SLP) and pharmacy. Understanding that to be effective in the hospital is to be an effective member of a large interdisciplinary team, the Multidisciplinary week was designed to share information and break down silos between disciplines.

This year, the APF Leadership designated the hosts of our fellows our 2022 APF Partners Award Winners: Our nursing units: ACE, Pulmonary (now the Medical Acute Care unit) and MDSS, led by Becky Fehlig, Brooke Morelock and Julie Lombard, respectively; Dom Minajerez from pharmacy who has hosted nearly all 75 fellows that have completed the program in the last 6 years; Melissa Sixta, who has recruited and coordinated the schedules of PT, OT, SLP for most of the program’s history.

APF Partner Awards

Dominque Minjarez, Pharmacy

Dominique Minjarez is a Colorado native, born and raised just outside of Colorado Springs. He moved to San Antonio, Texas to pursue his bachelor’s degree from St. Mary’s University, and returned to Colorado to pursue his PharmD from the University of Colorado School of Pharmacy. A quick year of residency at Saint Joseph Hospital led him to five years of Emergency Medicine and Critical Care practice where he focused on creating an admission medication reconciliation program, and enhancements to Core Measures metrics. After moving over to University of Colorado Hospital he quickly integrated himself into a plethora of departmental, hospital, and system-wide committees and programs before landing on the MDSS unit. It was here that he was introduced to the APF program and began introducing members of the program to the pharmacy workflow and services. He truly appreciates the bonds and relationships that this program has offered him, and the continuing connection to the HMS staff.

Becky Fehlig, RN, BSN, Nurse Manger of ACE Unit

Becky Fehlig has been the nurse manager on ACE since April 2021. She is strongly dedicated to growth and development of her nursing staff through transformational leadership and staff wellness. ACE is a 21 bed unit that specializes in care for our geriatric population. We pride ourselves on excellent quality care for this vulnerable population. We recently became designated as an Age Friendly organization by providing care around the 4M model (Mobility, Medication, Mentation and What Matters).

Melissa Sixta, Occupational Therapy

Melissa Sixta, OTD, OTR/L graduated from Creighton University with her Doctorate of Occupational Therapy in December 2009. She also has a Minor in Health Services Administration. She worked in the subacute rehab and outpatient settings for 2.5 years before starting at UCH in October of 2012. Melissa has worked in all areas of the hospital except for the burn unit and the NICU. Melissa started as a Rehab Services Lead in February 2016. Throughout her years at UCH, she has served as one of OT’s Student Coordinators, was nominated and elected to serve on the Department-Based Council, led and organized the Multi-Disciplinary Program, presented at a Spring Symposium, developed SCI programming and presented to her department on the “Acute Care Management of Patients with SCI”, and worked on a Shower Falls Project with nursing leadership and submitted a poster for Patient Safety Week. Melissa has served as the Occupational Therapy Association’s Public Policy Chair for two years, which she led efforts in getting licensure passed for occupational therapists in CO, organized several Capitol Hill Days, and provided expert testimony at the CO State Capitol. Melissa has enjoyed leading the valuable Multi-D Program the last few years as the program has received positive feedback for interdisciplinary collaboration and teamwork.

Brooke Morelock RN,

BSN,

CMSRN, Nurse Manger of Pulmonary (now Medical Acute Care) Unit

Brooke Morelock has been the interim nurse manager on the Pulmonary Unit since December 2022. She began her career as a nurse on the Pulmonary Unit 6 years ago, and has a passion for supporting her team, breaking down barriers and providing quality patient care.

Julie Lombard MBA, BSN, RN, Nurse Manager of MDSS

Julie Lombard recently took over as Nurse Manager of the Medicine Specialties Unit (MDSS) at the University of Colorado Hospital (UCH). Prior to this position she has worked in numerous roles in the emergency, critical care, and Acute care as a frontline nurse and in various leadership positions at different systems across the Denver Metro area. MDSS is a 46 bed medical-surgical unit at UCH, making it the largest general medicine unit in the hospital. The unit has a dynamic recent history, taking on the bulk of the floor COVID patients throughout the pandemic while simultaneously developing a portion of the unit for patients requiring a long length of stay. The core principle of MDSS is its reliance on teamwork and unit cohesiveness to address the broad range of patients for whom it cares. The earliest nursing partner for the APF Multidisciplinary Week, MDSS embraces any opportunity to work across disciplines to provide outstanding, patient-centered care.

APF AWARD

APP Excellence in Education Winner: Haley Briggs, PA-C

After completing the Advanced Practice Hospital Medicine Fellowship in September 2020, Haley Briggs, PA-C, joined the Division of Hospital Medicine faculty as Instructor. She has since served as Core Faculty for the fellowship. Working with the Advanced Practice Fellows, Haley is often inspired by their ongoing hunger for growth and inquisitive approach to patient care. Haley enjoys being a “forever learner” with-

in the broad field of Hospital Medicine, an area characterized by ongoing education. She is a firm believer that there is no better way to learn than to teach. Haley is humbled to work alongside such wonderful educators and feels honored to have received this year’s APP Excellence in Education Award.

APP Excellence in Humanism Winner: Beth Smilkstein, PA-C

Beth Smilkstein, PA-C, finished the Advanced Practice Fellowship in March of 2021 and has been faculty since then. She loves working with fellows because they have signed up to learn as much as they can about doing this job well. This inspires and reminds her to try to do the same! This includes humanism, and she is very honored!

Physician Excellence in Humanism Winner: Moksha Patel, MD

Moksha Patel, MD, is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Hospital Medicine. He has been with the division for the past three years and absolutely loves it. One of his favorite parts is being able to work with the APFs. APF fellows bring a brilliant new energy to medicine and their curiosity, compassion, and humanity push him to be a better provider and person. He also genuinely enjoys his weeks on service with the APFs, whether they are rounding, running the list, or enjoying a team breakfast and sharing random trivia or fun facts about themselves. He is so grateful to be at an institution that values and trains these amazing providers.

Physician Excellence in Education Winner: Christine Welles, MD,MAS,FACP

Christine Welles, MD, MAS, FACP, completed her undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of Kansas (rock chalk Jayhawks!). She then completed her residency at Stanford, followed by a research fellowship at UCSF. Since then, she has been working as a hospitalist for at the CUDHM for several years, spending about 6 years at Denver Health, and now have been working at the University for about a year and a half. She enjoys working in academics because she loves to teach and work with learners. Many of the APFs have significant health care experience prior to being recruited to the fellowship program, and she has enjoyed learning from their expertise in these areas. Their enthusiasm and desire to provide the best care possible to patients and their families is inspirational and she feels so lucky to be able to work with them through the fellowship program.

Physician Excellence in Humanism Winner: Courtney Enix, MD

Courtney Enix, MD, is an Assistant Professor who has been with the Division of Hospital Medicine since September of 2021. She enjoys working with APFs because they demonstrate a level of enthusiasm, intellectual curiosity, and commitment to providing exceptional patient care that is truly inspiring. She is continually impressed with the caliber of DHM fellows, and she always looks forward to a week on service with our APFs!

Physician Excellence in Humanism Winner: Lisa Fosnot, MD

Lisa Fosnot, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine, primarily oncology hospitalist, and has been with the DHM for about 5 years. She LOVES working with the fellows because every time, without fail, they are so engaged in the program, the patients, learning, and just being the best providers. They come from varied backgrounds, and they all bring something interesting to the table, so she enjoys getting to know them. She’s learned quite a bit from many of them and she values how they enrich our teams greatly! She is a better provider because she gets to work with the APFs!

STAY CONNECTED

Our Values

Mission: To foster a supportive learning and innovative training environment where nurse practitioner and physician assistant fellows can reach their full potential.

Vision: Our vision is to be the national model of post-graduate physician assistant and nurse practitioner training for the care of the hospitalized patient.

Values: We place high value on providing the highest quality and team-based care to our patients. We invest in ventures that will push the field of medicine forward.

Check out these Q&A’s from current Advanced Practice Fellows

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JTb1SOUNhQ

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TV2aTNNxEY

About Our Program

You can find our APF website here, or scan the QR code for more information.

We are always looking for new APF candidates and take referrals from our graduates seriously. Please feel free to share our email:

DHM-Education@UCDenver.edu.

Lauren Dailey, PA

Laura Mattox, NP