INTERVIEW
Moving Medical Education Beyond the Classroom Meghan Walsh, MD MPH FACP
Besides your work as a hospitalist, you
therapy trials, COVID-19 PCR testing with rapid result turnaround, life support and intensive care for the sickest of our patients. As one of the first labs to build testing protocols, we quickly became the testing resource for the state and other health systems in town. But our mission led us to the focus on the disparities arising from this pandemic. We brought testing to skilled nursing facilities and jails to quickly test and isolate affected patients in these high risk settings. When we deploy research alongside great clinical care and train others to these evolving systems, we quickly iterate our care to meet any clinical challenge; navigating the COVID-19 pandemic was no exception.
are the chief academic officer at Hennepin Healthcare. Please tell us about what that work entails.
As a teaching hospital, how has the importance of what HCMC provides increased with the changing ways physicians
Our “...”community partnerships are critical to our mission.
“...”
Hennepin Healthcare is a teaching hospital and clinic system. We have over 300 residents and fellows physicians who train in over 30 specialties here. We also have nearly 100 medical students who come to Hennepin for their clinical training. Once you are a practicing physician, you are also expected to continue to advance your knowledge in your specialty. My job is to ensure this clinical learning environment is the best it can be for all of these learners, from a college student interested in medicine to a first year medical student to a seasoned faculty physician who has been in practice for 40 years. I also play a role in strategy for the organization—ensuring we are a dynamic learning organization now and well into the future. I have the best job!
expertise and advance our collective knowledge and practice.
More recently, we have nurtured greater partnerships with our community and plan to attend Open Street Festivals to co-create solutions to the health care challenges facing Minnesotans. The future of research is ending the disparities that exist in health care today. While HCMC is perceived as a safety net hospital, there are several other hospitals with a much higher percentage of Medicare
are fulfilling CME requirements?
The Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute
reimbursement. What are some of the
Medical education has been a key part of our mission for over 100 years. So much has changed and evolved in how we teach and how we learn during this time. Advancing technology, competency-based medical education change and the practice of medicine in this complex environment has led to new knowledge gaps and needs and opened the door to novel ways to close those gaps. We have moved beyond the classroom and traditional teaching methodology. Technology has allowed us to create more engaging coursework that is more flexible and comprehensive. This was critical during the peak of COVID -19, as it allowed us to continue to safely teach and learn in new ways. We have also developed incredible simulation-based training that allows us to hone our skills in high acute settings, improve teamwork training and continuously improve our competency with rare but essential procedural skills. Our future will require more partnerships with communities in Greater Minnesota to share
(HHRI) has been active since 1951
misconceptions about your patient mix?
improving health care and is recognized
I don’t think people understand the truly unique role Hennepin Healthcare holds in the Minnesota health care landscape. While there are other hospitals that take care of more patients covered by Medicare, HCMC stands alone in the percentage of revenue that comes through Medicaid (health care paid by a state and federal partnership for people who meet certain requirements around income, disability and family status). In data provided to us by the Minnesota Department of Human Services, adult patients covered by Medicaid getting primary care from our system have significantly higher rates of chronic conditions than other Minnesota adults on Medicaid. In that same data set, we see our adult patients have experienced homelessness at more than double the rate of other Medicaidcovered adults. Lastly, the majority of our patients identify as BIPOC, reflecting the dynamic diversity of the communities we serve.
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MAY 2022 MINNESOTA PHYSICIAN
as a national leader. What are some of the projects they are working on now?
HHRI plays a critical research role in Minnesota. Many are surprised that we consistently rank in the top 10% nationally of institutions receiving National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant funding. Our four focus areas of research align with our expertise as a health care safety net: addiction medicine, trauma, infectious disease and health services research. Our unique role as teachers, researchers and clinicians, as well as our commitment to equity and inclusion, placed us at the leading edge of research and care during the pandemic. If you were a patient coming to Hennepin in the early stages of the pandemic, you had the opportunity to participate in Remdesivir trials (COVID antiviral therapy,) convalescent plasma immune
