Front-ended by the Labor Day 2019 holiday—a frequent week when faculty and staff take vacations, the University of Arizona Department of Medicine General Faculty Meeting, Sept. 4, was sparsely attended—but full of wonderful accomplishments of its physicians and researchers in the last six months.
Among topics talked about were: diversity and inclusion training, strategic communications, clinical access initiatives and completion of a DOM Academic Program Review self-study by February 2020.
Agenda
1. Introductions
– Monica Kraft, MD, Chair, UA Department of Medicine
2. Accolades & Awards (includes Upcoming Events & New Hires)
– Monica Kraft, MD, Chair, UA Department of Medicine
3. Diversity of Inclusion Training
– Monica Kraft, MD, Chair, UA Department of Medicine
4. Introduction & Access Initiative
– Mike Kocsis, Sr. Director Strategy & Communication, BUMC
– Daisy Rodriguez, Sr. Administrator, Ambulatory Services, BUMC
5. Educational Update
– Amy Sussman, MD, Associate Chair, Education, UA Department of Medicine
– Susan Ellis, Education Associate Specialist, UA Department of Medicine
View the Video
Archived video of the meeting can be seen at this link, or by clicking on the image below:
VIDEO TIME STAMP:
01:28 | Upcoming Events
01:47 | New Hires (21 new faculty members introduced)
02:32 | Accolades & Awards
17:20 | Diversity of Inclusion Training
21:00 | Mike Kocsis, Sr. Director for Strategy & Communications, Banner Health, Tucson
34:00 | Q&A
37:15 | Daisy Rodriguez, Sr. Administrator for Ambulatory Services, Banner Health
44:18 | Q&A
59:45 | Dr. Amy Sussman, Vice Chair of Education, and Susan Ellis, Education Associate Specialist
64:12 | Susan Ellis, Education Associate Specialist — Academic Program Review
70:07 | End of Meeting
Accolades & Awards
For the “Accolades & Awards” segment of the meeting, see this link. It also includes slides for the “Agenda,” “Upcoming Events,” “New Hires” and “Diversity of Inclusion Training.” Other ways to view the slideshow from the presentation are listed below:
DOMFacultyMtg-slideshow_2019-09-04_FINAL.pdf
DOM-Gen-Fac-Mtg_Fall2019_handout_FINAL.pdf
Regarding the 21 new faculty hired since mid-March, Dr. Kraft noted that the department is now “up to about 256 faculty and about 148-50 clinical” full-time equivalents.
Among remaining events mentioned see (with links to calendar items on the DOM Events webpage, where you can add them to your personal schedule via MSOutlook, iCal, Google or Yahoo!).
- Sept. 7 | Southwest Regional Advances in Digestive Diseases | 7 a.m., Starr Pass Resort & Spa
- Sept. 9 | Advances in Aging: “The Burden of Cancer on Older Adults” | 12 p.m., Kiewit
- Sept. 27 | Fall Prevention Fair | 3 p.m., HSIB
- Sept. 27-29 | Reunion Weekend
- Sept. 28 | The Diabetes Heart Disease Connection | 11 a.m., HSIB
- Oct. 2 | Discovering New Medicine in Arizona Summit | 8 a.m., PHX Biomedical Sciences Bldg.
- Oct. 2 | Arizona Bioscience Awards | 3-8:30 p.m., Phoenix Convention Center
- Oct. 17 | 3rd Annual Innovations & Inventions Research Fair | 4:30 p.m., HSIB
- Oct. 26 | Spotlight on Stomach Cancer | 8 a.m., HSIB
- Nov. 2-3 | Homecoming Weekend
- Nov. 9 | UA Urology Golf Tournament for Prostate Cancer Research | 7 a.m., Casino del Sol
- Nov. 12-15 | Cancer Convergence | all day, HSIB
- Nov. 15 | Founders Day Lecture | 11:30 a.m., HSIB
- Nov. 20 | Clinical Excellence Awards (at COM-T General Faculty Meeting)| 4:30 p.m., HSIB
For a printable PDF of the UA College of Medicine’s 2019-20 Calendar of Events, see this link.
Diversity Training
Regarding the diversity training, Dr. Kraft provided an overview of courses to come as part of larger efforts across the UA Health Sciences campus and encouraged all faculty to participate.
“It’s really important to the evolution of our department that we really think about this topic a lot more. I plan to appoint a vice chair for faculty affairs—look for a request for applications for that—who will be involved in this initiative among others that affect faculty. I am really in need of a partner in this arena and, so, am hoping we’ll get some good applicants,” she added.
Later in the meeting, it was mentioned support and participation in these meetings and courses is included also as a goal in the College of Medicine – Tucson’s recently completed ACGME Update.
Banner Strategic Communications
A 22-year resident of Tucson who has worked in the health-care industry for the past 15 years, Mike Kocsis has been in his current position as senior director for Banner Health strategy and communications in Tucson for three months. He expressed confidence in the ability of the enterprise to rise above past “gaps” in the migration toward the company’s academic partnership with the UA Health Sciences to take broader market advantage of the investment made in Tucson. A big part of that will be better, proactive communication, he noted.
“I know the back story and I know it hasn’t been an easy migration, if you will, or an easy partnership to get off the ground,” Kocsis said, but “Banner is very serious about Tucson and investing in Tucson and being a better partner in Tucson. And this goes to the very top in terms of their commitment to our team in Tucson.
“I really want to share that with you because I feel, as I’ve gone around and spoke with various leaders here in Tucson, academic leaders, department chairs, administrators, the clinical team, you know, it became very apparent to me that there were a lot of gaps. There were a lot of missed opportunities, if you will, and I think many of those, quite frankly, stem from just a lack of communication.”
Kocsis added that the potential upside of the partnership with Banner’s clinical infrastructure and the “amazing minds” of UA physician-scientists and researchers is enormous and “helps to reinforce what we can do as a collective whole.”
Banner Access Initiative
A lifelong resident of Chicago, except for a year as a child she spent in Puerto Rico, Daisy Rodriguez spent 12 years in health care at Northwestern and Loyola universities and another six working with an inner city, safety net hospital, one of the largest federally qualified health centers in Chicago.
As ambulatory services administrator, she noted a big challenge is to get the patient no-show rate down to reduce the need for double-bookings to ensure clinical space is utilized to its fullest. She discussed a few strategies around that, which included a tool to better predict no-shows and additional advantages of switching to Salesforce in tracking how clinical time is managed.
A new pilot program also addresses EMR-to-EMR communication with area primary care providers who refer patients. It’s hoped that will serve as a backstop for patient reinforcement to complete their appointments as well as improve interprofessional communication, Kocsis mentioned.
Education Announcements
Department Vice Chair of Education Dr. Amy Sussman announced that the “Curricular Overlap,” which saw a doubling of students on clerkships in inpatient and outpatient rotations from February to July has ended successfully, resulting in a record number of students expressing interest in pursuing careers in internal medicine.
“I really want to say a heartfelt thanks to every single person, really in the whole Department of Medicine,” she said. “It’s a wonderful testament to how our department has pulled together. Thank you to everybody who has stepped up.”
Dr. Sussman noted some clinics are still in need of good mentors and encouraged attendings to play a positive role to mentor students.
She said the college recently completed its ACGME Self-Study Summary Update with three areas of focus: Diversity & Inclusion (which includes how we’re ensuring a diverse faculty), Work-Life Balance (including efforts to limit burnout), and Faculty Instructional Development (with metrics to measure success). A site visit, initially scheduled for November, likely will be pushed back, Dr. Sussman added.
Academic Program Review
Susan Ellis, department education associate specialist, reminded division chiefs and faculty to look for communication coming as early as this week on information needed as the department prepares for its own self-study regarding its seven-year evaluation by the UA and the Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR).
The comprehensive Academic Program Review is due in February 2020 and will cover the 2018-19 academic year, Ellis said. This is a routine UA/ABOR program review that occurs every seven years for all state universities. The last one was completed in 2013 for the 2011-12 academic year.
“It sounds intimidating, but the good news is it’s sort of—at least from my perspective—mostly collating and summarizing all of the documentation and recordkeeping and reporting that we do for our accreditation agencies anyway. We just have to sweep it up for the past seven years,” she added.
A site visit will be Feb. 26-27, 2020. Like ACGME site visits, the department assembles a panel of outside reviewers to read the self-study document DOM will generate, meet with various constituents and then generate a report that goes to Dr. Kraft, the college, university and, eventually, ABOR.
Ellis said an email was scheduled to go out as early as Sept. 5 to DOM division chiefs with as many as nine items they and their staffs would be required to pull together for the self-study. Many of them are similar to the list of “Accolades & Awards” from the general faculty meetings, but also include things the chiefs would know better than anyone else about their faculty members and programs.
ALSO SEE:
“Promoted, New Faculty Recognized at College’s Summer General Faculty Meeting” | Posted Aug. 15, 2019
“Dozen DOM Docs Recognized at College of Medicine Faculty Meeting” | Posted May 16, 2019
“Banner – University Medicine CEO Q&A Highlights DOM Spring Faculty Meeting” | Posted March 22, 2019
“Packed House, Agenda Make for Eventful Fall 2018 DOM General Faculty Meeting” | Posted Nov. 9, 2018
“Inaugural Clinical Excellence Award Winners Feted at COM – Tucson General Faculty Meeting” | Posted Nov. 8, 2019
“First Half of 2018 a Whirlwind of Accomplishment by DOM Faculty, Slideshow Attests” | Posted June 26, 2018