D epartment
of
M edicine
Con ne c ti ng T e c h n o lo g y , Ed uca t i o n a n d D i s cove ry w ith H um anis m in Me dicine
Vol. 11 Issue 2 Apr. 2022
Resident Reflections: Serving & Learning Through the COVID-19 Pandemic Four years of medical school followed by a minimum of three years of residency is the typical path for one to become a practicing physician. It means countless hours spent studying and understanding diseases, learning how to both diagnose and treat them, with the intent of applying that knowledge to a patient. Common pathologies such as heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, hypertension, and various presentations of sepsis are the bread-and-butter diseases one typically sees in an internal medicine residency and becomes proficient in managing. For many of us, having completed only a few months of residency training, these common pathologies were not so common. A different disease, one not yet found in medical textbooks, was running rampant, consuming hospital beds and resources, as well as creating a staffing shortage never seen before. This disease was also dissuading patients who would typically present to the hospital sick, to stay home because of fear of contracting this novel virus. This disease was COVID-19, and it affected our residents in many ways. Salem Karadsheh was a fresh intern, excited to start his residency here at UT Knoxville. He knew his internship would be different than previous residents due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. He recalls, “I had to adapt quickly to residency. There were times when my senior resident changed multiple times in a week due to senior residents getting sick. One week we had to resort to 4th call because so many residents were out quarantining. Despite these setbacks, I always felt
supported by my colleagues and attendings. The pandemic taught me to become a better learner, staying up to date on the latest treatments and guidelines to provide the best care to my patients. Although at first I was not able to see the broad pathologies I had hoped to encounter, I learned how to be a compassionate physician and have tough conversations with patients and their families.” Salem states his knowledge base has grown immensely since the beginning of residency, and he is excited to pass on his experiences to the incoming interns. Brandon Morris, one of the current PGY-2 residents, was greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the hardest part of COVID-19 was the uncertainty and unknown.
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Points of View
trainees or staff to any specific gender, race, religion, geography, or other stereotypes. We are dedicated to providing equal opportunity, inclusivity, and resources to all members of our department. We wish to promote a culture with respect for all individuals and an environment that recognizes the differences among members of our workforce and nurtures these differences in a collegial manner. To further promote our inclusiveness, we plan to introduce a new feature in our Newsletter that highlights our diversity and multiculturalism. Each quarter, we plan to interview one member of our department from different regions of the world about their country of origin, languages they speak, their beliefs, customs, festivals, foods, traditions and other notable achievements in medicine, science, literature, music, and the arts in their native lands. Hopefully, this will promote further conversation and desire to learn more about each other outside the workplace, in our clinics, in the hospital and among our neighbors. In turn, this will encourage better understanding and communication with our patients and colleagues from diverse backgrounds. We are willing and eager to embark on this important journey.
Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion In the month of January 2022, the Graduate School of Medicine hosted a number of events to highlight diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) on our campus. The Dean, Dr. Hauptman, arranged for several speakers to give talks related to this topic in efforts to highlight and promote these ideals within our Rajiv Dhand, MD, Chair institution. This is a good start, but we recognize that, like many other institutions in the country, there is much that needs to be done and we have a long road ahead of us. In the Department of Medicine, we endeavor to build an environment where each member feels valued as an integral part of the program and we are committed to upholding greater DE&I among our faculty, trainees, and staff. We have a multi-cultural department with representation from many different continents of the world. For a start, we don’t limit our recruitment for faculty, 1