Many members of the Department of Medicine pause to acknowledge a successful year.
Residents Excel in Education and Research
national meetings. The future looks bright since we have several open Institutional Review Board protocols in progress that will produce more posters and presentations at the regional and national levels. We continue to explore innovative methods of teaching clinical medicine. The Narrative Medicine program provided balance to the Evidence-Based Medicine block of studies for the PGY-1 and PGY-2 classes. The department hosted the first M-4 student to take the recently available clinical Narrative Medicine rotation in January 2012. An identical course is available for approved PGY-3 Internal Medicine residents. Details regarding these electives are available at http://gsm.utmck.edu/internalmed/curriculum/areas/narrative.cfm. Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) has become a partner with the Department of Medicine in designing curriculum following ACGME guidelines to offer instruction in communication, professionalism, and ethics. Rev. Randy R. Shoun, a certified pastoral educator and the director of the CPE program, has developed similar programs for Family Medicine residents, medical students, Internal Medicine residents, and Surgery residents at facilities in continued on Page 4
This is an exciting time for the Internal Medicine residency program. Our residents’ academic performance has improved steadily over the past four years. This year, our program ranked in the top 40% nationally, and our PGY-2 class scored in the 84th percentile on its in-service examination. We will build on these results with the recent purchase of a curriculum developed by the American College of Physicians that provides weekly reading assignments and quizzes delivered by e-mail. Our residents have been productive in research and publication, presenting research findings at the American College of Physicians and the Society of General Internal Medicine annual meetings this spring. These presentations are the direct result of a highly acclaimed program, “Monday Morning Quarterback,” initiated by Medicine faculty Mark Rasnake, M.D., and Daphne Norwood, M.D., as a way for residents to identify safety and quality issues and recommend a plan of action. Several other residents delivered case presentation posters at the American College of Physicians and the American Geriatric Society
Points of View
The publication of a newsletter for the Department of Medicine is the realization of a dream for me. Ron Lands, M.D., Amanda Johnson, and Susan Burchfield did a marvelous job in conceptualizing, planning, organizing, and designing this publication. I hope you will be pleased with their efforts. This newsletter will serve an important role by promoting communication with members of our department, our institution, our alumni, and the community at large. The name Rajiv Dhand, M.D., Chair of the newsletter, In Touch, suggested
by Lindsay Luttrell, M.D., one of our outstanding residents, aptly reflects this mission. The Graduate School of Medicine’s missions of education, clinical patient care, research, and public service will be emphasized via this medium. The current issue focusing on education is very timely as we bid farewell to our graduating trainees, while welcoming our new class of residents and fellows as they begin their chosen career paths with us. We are committed to providing an excellent and comprehensive training experience for them and feel privileged to be a part of their journey. On behalf of all the members of the department, I offer my sincere thanks to Timothy Panella, M.D., for leading the department as chair for 10 years and ideally positioning us for even greater accomplishments. 1