Pictured L to R: Stephen Stuart, Jonathan Kalehoff, Jordan Crocker and Ali Johns
We cannot believe that six months of our time serving as the 2019-2020 Chief Medical Residents for the Tinsley Harrison Internal Medicine Residency Program have already gone by. The beginning of the academic year is a whirlwind filled with exciting events like welcoming our new PGY-1s to the Tinsley Harrison training program, coaching the new PGY-2s in leadership skills through ACLS training during Code Week and our Leadership Retreats at Dr. Willett’s home. The newly minted PGY-3s experienced the honor of attending our annual Legacy Dinner, hosted by our beloved Professor Emeritus, Dr. C. Glenn Cobbs, who trained under Tinsley Harrison himself.
This year’s Legacy Dinner was particularly memorable as Dr. George Karam, a former Tinsley Harrison Internal Medicine Residency Chief and current assistant dean at Baton Rouge Medical Center, returned to Birmingham to arrange entertainment for the dinner with a mariachi band and tapas to match - one of Dr. Cobbs’ dreams since the inception of the dinner!
The transition between welcoming new interns and sending off graduating residents encourages the new chiefs to reflect on their visions, ideas, and goals for the program for the year ahead. This year we have decided to focus on several key projects, some which will be implemented this academic year, but some will likely require the help of future chiefs to complete.
One of our long-term goals is redesigning the Coronary Care Unit (CCU) experience for our residents, optimizing the educational value during this essential training block. This redesign dovetails with the development of the new Cardiovascular Institute (CVI) at UAB Hospital. This innovative multi-disciplinary service aspires to be one of the premier cardiac and vascular programs in America, and we are intentionally designing the resident experience in cardiology to mirror this desire to be a premier training program. We plan to implement changes in June 2021.
In the short term, we are also redesigning our ambulatory curriculum to be more effective, focusing on providing a more comprehensive experience with rotations through each sub-specialty in organized, weekly rotations. We plan to trial this in Spring 2020. In addition, the residency program as a whole is working to improve continuity in the resident clinic. While we recognize the multitude of components that influence patient continuity in the resident clinic, the chiefs are specifically focusing on releasing schedules 3-4 months earlier to help residents know exactly when they will be back in the clinic when trying to schedule return appointments with patients.
Improving resident wellness continues to be of great importance to our program. The chiefs' partner with our Resident Wellness Committee to provide events throughout the year to promote work-life balance and a sense of camaraderie within our program. Some recent wellness projects include community outreach events, cookie decorating during noon conferences, Halloween candy rounds, and wellness panels. We also helped coordinate a visit with the popular medical podcasting group, the Clinical Problem Solvers, and our residents enjoyed an evening out with them. We even had two residents participate in developing and hosting a podcast with them!
We are already one month into the interview season and are delighted to say it has been going great! Interview dinners at Brat Brat, Carrigan’s, Moe’s BBQ and Good People have all been successful in showcasing Birmingham’s diverse food scene. The favorite continues to be Brat Brat with a nightly Stein Hoisting! We love to brag on UAB, but we love it more when we hear our residents sharing their personal stories of why they love UAB and why choosing to train here was the right choice for them. A common theme is an amazing camaraderie combined with top-notch training and teaching that every resident experiences during their time here. We also take great pride in sharing our 100% ABIM board pass rate this year as well as a 100% fellowship match last year with the applicants!
As we settle into our role as chiefs' and look to the second half of the year, we are excited to see our changes implemented and continue to stay responsive to the needs of the residency program. We hope you enjoy this edition of Letters to Tinsley.
Best,
Your CMRs
Ali, Jonathan, Jordan, and Stephen