UMass FMCH Tuesday Talk - October 5, 2021/CLINICAL
Welcome to the FMCH Tuesday Talk. Please continue to send us your announcements, celebrations, and accomplishments to [email protected].
Table of Contents
Message from the Chair
Upcoming Events
Focus of the Week - Clinical
Announcements
Frankly Speaking Podcast
Faculty Presentations/Publications
Clinical Services Spotlight
Message from the Chair
 
As we enter Fall and the reality of a ‘third surge’ of COVID fully sets in, I want to take a moment to express my appreciation for everything our faculty, residents and staff are doing every day to care for our patients and each other. I am amazed by the commitment and skill of our teams. I also recognize that in many ways our current situation is much harder even than the first waves – we are all collectively exhausted, and we are providing full spectrum care with severe staffing shortages that are affecting every corner of the medical center. Hopefully we are seeing a trend in the right direction with our regional COVID cases. However, an end to staffing challenges is not in sight for the near future, so let’s continue to support each other. Your leadership will continue to advocate for the resources you need.
 
A couple of very important reminders:
 
COVID Precautions. There has been a recent worrisome cluster of caregiver and patient COVID transmission on an inpatient unit. It is as important as ever that we follow all infection control procedures, including masking and eye protection. Now is not the time to let down our guard.
 
Still Time to Respond to the FMCH Climate Survey. To fully realize our aspiration to have an inclusive culture, the first ever department climate survey has launched. This survey allows a closer examination of experiences of bias, racism and microaggressions across the department, and will lay groundwork for development of a department diversity action plan. Over time the survey will serve as a tool for monitoring our progress. Everyone’s perspective is important. Thanks to those who have responded. If you have not, please complete the survey by October 16th.
Upcoming Events

FMCH Grand Rounds
Tuesday, October 12th, 12:00 - 1:00 pm, "'Getting Home for Dinner' Initiative: 5 Epic Best Practices To Use Right Now"
Meeting ID: 191 986 273 Passcode: FMCH
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/191986273?pwd=NEtlZmNkdWlSUGwyeTJQU3dCeUs1QT09

FMCH Monthly Research Form
Friday, October 15th, 12:00 -1:00 pm, "A Qualitative Study of Vocational Rehabilitation & Community Living Services for People with Disabilities in Massachusetts"
Meeting ID: 93066045211 Passcode: 623481

American Board of Family Medicine Maintenance of Certification
KSA (SAM) Workshop: “Care of Children”
Thursday, November 18, 2021, 8:00 – 10:00 AM
WEBINAR (no need to leave your desk) Link will be sent prior to 11/18/2021
We will complete the latest (just released) 60 question Care of Children KSA via a virtual CME event. You will record your answers while we work through the KSA, then after completion, log into your ABFM account and enter the results and claim your CME credits through the ABFM. Successful Completion of the Knowledge Self-Assessment (KSA) Module is eligible for up to 10 ABFM Credit Hours.
See the attached invitation for a WEBINAR to complete the ABFM KSA: Caring for Children. To register, please complete and follow the directions on the attached registration form.
Focus of the Week - Clinical

True North / Institutional Health Equity Goals for 2022
In 2022, we will continue with the Well Child Care initiative and launch a new initiative related to osteoporosis screening.
 
Clarifying and Correcting a previous document about Medical Student Documentation in the Clinical Learning Environment
  • Teaching physicians are not required to re-document medical student entries in the medical record. 
  • Teaching physicians must verify but not re-document. 
  • The teaching physician must verify history, physical exam and/or medical decision making. The teaching physician must personally perform (or re-perform) the physical exam and medical decision-making activities of the E/M service being billed but may verify any student documentation of them in the medical record, rather than re-documenting this work.
  • To attest the record in EPIC, use Medstudent attestation to verify the note.
(Source: CMS Manual System: Pub 100-04 Medicare Claims Processing. Chapter 12, Section 100.1.)
Announcements

TendHealth Faculty COVID Recovery Series
You matter! The Department wants to support you through your COVID recovery efforts. We have hired TendHealth to provide recovery courses for our faculty.  A series of four sessions over two months will guide you through recovery and build resilience. 
Objectives:
Learn new concepts, build resiliency, and find community through live courses.
The team of expert and diverse instructors bring together a community of like-minded health professionals to learn new skills and expand our insights.
Faculty will need to choose one cohort and stick with it for all the sessions. 
TEND is able to move the start date of the faculty cohorts back to hopefully avoid cancelling patient sessions. Here are the new dates:
Cohort 1: Mondays 8-9:15am, 11/1, 11/15, 11/29, 12/13
Cohort 2: Fridays 4-5:15pm, 11/5, 11/19, 12/3, 12/17
RSVP as soon as possible to Jennifer Masoud to reserve your spot in your chosen cohort, Jennifer.masoud@umassmemorial.org.

Please share your thoughts as we develop a departmental diversity plan that responds to identified needs among our faculty, staff, and learners on both the school and clinical sides. Your participation in this survey will help us to see where we are as a department and will direct meaningful, data-driven action toward a more inclusive workplace.  This survey is intended for faculty, staff, and learners who identify as current members of the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health (FMCH). Your responses are anonymous and data will only be shared in ways that protect individual identities. Please get your responses in before Saturday, October 16th. Thank you.

REQUIRED TRAINING: School faculty and staff
In compliance with the requirements of Title IX, 34 C.F.R. §106.45(B)(1)(III), UMass Chan requires training for all faculty and staff entitled 'Title IX for Higher Education' by October 29, 2021. The course takes an estimated 17 minutes to complete. Please access it in the Learning Management System (LMS): LMS Access and Information Page or direct access: https://umassmedical.litmos.com/. You will need to log in using your employee ID#.

eIRB:
To continue to promote the changes with the school’s research management system: 
eIRB is being upgraded to a cloud-based environment that will provide greater product stability. The anticipated go-live date is October 12, 2021. The Legacy eIRB production system will close on Friday 10/1/21 at 5pm to all researchers, and a hold on new submissions will be in place from 10/1/21 through 10/11/21.
These two steps above are critical to ensuring that approved studies successfully transfer to the new system. The most recent test run identified many studies that are at risk of failure because these two steps have not been completed. Please do not delay; complete these steps today.

The WFMR Structural Oppression and Anti-Racism (SOAR) Committee is planning a number of upcoming didactic sessions as part of the SOAR framework for residents. We are looking for faculty and residents interested in co-facilitating the following sessions:
  • Intersectional Feminism and Reproductive Justice on 11/16/21 (specifically looking for faculty co-facilitator)
  • Anti-AAPI Racism (AY21)
  • Oppression Against Indigenous Peoples (AY21)
  • Anti-Latinx Discrimination (AY21)
  • Disability, Ableism, and Holding Medicine Accountable (AY22)
  • Immigration and Colonialism (AY22)
  • Medicine and the LGBTQ+ Community (AY22)
If you are interested or have questions, please contact Jordan Howard-Young, MD at

Please consider for in-person learning Pri-Med East 
Thursday−Saturday, December 9−11, 2021 at the Boston Exhibition and Convention Center. Many of our colleagues will be presenting for 19 AAFP CME hours. This year’s keynote speaker is Pulitzer Prize-winning author Siddhartha Mukherjee, MD on: “Themes From the Future of Medicine”. I hope to see you there.

STEP UP
Program Dates: September 1st, 2021 to October 31st, 2021.
Using your smart phone and/or smart watch track the number of steps each week and enter it into the data base link that will be sent out at the end of each week by your designated team leader. You can choose your own team, designate a name for your team and a leader who can keep track of data by each team member using a smart link. Your team leader will complete the first sign up survey after which we will create a “team link” for you where each member of your team can enter their own numbers/data. It will take less than a minute for the whole week’s activity tracking. Incentive: Improve team bonding, improved physical activity, friendships among co-workers, recognition in the Tuesday Talk and system wide recognition at the end of the program.

FMCH Teacherless Writing Group Opportunity
Are you wishing you could write more? Would you like to move it up on your priority list?
Would seeing friends and writing make it easier to put it up higher in your goals? Join family medicine faculty at our monthly Teacherless Writing Group where we read our work to each other, give and receive loving feedback and write for 12 minutes. We have been meeting on Tuesday nights, previously over dinner at Fatima’s, this past year on Zoom, and lately outside in warm weather. We are open to other options for time and place. If you would like to participate in a doodle poll for the date and time of our next meeting, send an email to one of the following members: Lucy Candib ([email protected]); Lisa Gussak ([email protected]); Katharine Barnard ([email protected]); or Stacy Potts ([email protected]). We hope you will join us!

Teaching of Tomorrow (TOT)
January 7-8 and March 25-26, 2022
Registration is Open! 
For over 25 years, UMass faculty from the departments of Family Medicine and Community Health, Internal Medicine and Pediatrics have trained over 1,500 clinical faculty and preceptors from across the Northeast and beyond. TOT focuses on building and refining foundational skills for effective clinical teaching in both the inpatient and ambulatory settings. Preceptors from any specialty and discipline will enhance their clinical teaching skills through discourse and practice. TOT also provides valuable opportunities to network with other clinician educators. Our award-winning faculty utilize the principles of adult learning, drawing on participants’ experience and building knowledge through dialogue. The conference provides frequent opportunities to practice and assess new skills in a safe and fun environment.
Audience:
  • Clinical educators – MDs, DOs, NPs, PAs, RNs, Behavioral Health, Pharmacists
  • Primary Care and Specialty providers
  • Teachers of students, residents, and advanced learners
  • Teachers in both In-patient and Ambulatory settings

Trying to Keep Up with the Literature?
The department pulls together the tables of contents (TOCs) for about 15 medical journals and distributes this bundle monthly to a select listserve that people can easily sign up for. The TOCs include 4-5 FM journals, JAMA, NEJM, AJPH, Health Affairs, Medical Care, JGIM, Am J Prev Med; etc. – lots of great articles that can easily be accessed through links within the bundle. We are also open to adding more journals if there’s an interest expressed! Take a look at what's been posted in the past several months by going to the department's web pages under the section on Research. You will see a tab in the left-hand margin for these TOC bundles that we post monthly (www.umassmed.edu/fmch/research)
If you’d like to be on the distribution list, please send an email to Judy Savageau ([email protected]). 

Research Forums:
In September, we started the first of this academic year’s research forums and invite all of you to attend (held through zoom). These run from September through June on the 3rd Friday of each month from noon-1pm. We would be happy to add you to our list of upcoming presentations (it’s very informal) if you’re working on a new project idea or an on-going project and would love some feedback from attendees. Please contact Judy Savageau ([email protected]) if you would like to be on our schedule of an upcoming presentation.
                                                                                                                                       
Research Web Pages:
Our department’s web pages have a specific section for ‘research’ (www.umassmed.edu/fmch/research) where we list publications, presentations, student/resident projects, information on getting support from the department for your particular project, etc. Please be sure to let us know (or make sure you send a notice to the Tuesday Talk about, for example, a new publication) so that we can highlight your great work!
Frankly Speaking Podcast

A weekly Podcast series covering newsworthy topics in primary care medicine.

Join us for an overview: Suicide and attempted suicide are significant health issues affecting the United States and the world. Are you aware of the tools available to you that can support suicide prevention strategies and save lives? Don't miss this session to learn about how the use of an electronic heath record in a large health system may help predict suicide attempts. Guest: Jill M. Terrien, PhD, ANP-BC, presents: "Can Artificial Intelligence Predict and Prevent Suicide?" - Frankly Speaking Ep 244.
Faculty Presentations/Publications

Several current and prior department members have published a chapter in a new textbook published by Routledge:
Chapter 14 "Promoting writing through teacherless writing groups," Lucy M. Candib, MD, Stacy Potts, MD, Katharine Barnard, MD, Jill Tirabassi, MD, Lisa Gussak, MD, Henry DelRosario, MD, and Daniel Lasser, MD, MPH. This chapter is the final chapter in: Teaching Writing in the Health Professions: Perspectives, Problems, and Practices. Forthcoming, Copyright Year 2022. For more information see:

As part of the HRSA-funded Oral Health work several members of the department have been working on a conference presentation at the end of this week that is highlighting one of these projects incorporating one of our 2nd year medical students who worked with us over the summer months. Hugh Silk, MD, MPH, Jones M, Judy Savageau, MPH. Creating a Model Oral Health Curriculum for Medical Schools and Pediatric Residencies. 2021 American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Presentation (virtual poster presentation – Section on Oral Health).
Clinical Services Spotlight:
COVID-19 UPDATES

Required Vaccination
  • The November 1st deadline is approaching for all caregivers to have at least the first COVID vaccination.
  • Caregivers who have had COVID-19 are also expected to get the vaccine.
  • Caregivers must get a COVID-19 vaccine even if they are antibody positive.
  • Please review the COVID-19 immunization policy on The Hub. 
  • All medical and religious exemption requests are due by October 10th. Please see The Hub for forms and additional information. 

Massachusetts Update
  • There is a slight decrease in the 7-day average percent positivity, now 1.96%.
  • There are currently 602 patients hospitalized in the state with 158 in the ICU and 99 intubated.
  • There were 20 new deaths reported this week, with a total of 18,260 confirmed deaths.

UMMMC Update
  • On October 3rd, 36 total COVID Cases in UMMMC; 11 of the 36 patients are in the ICU. 14% are fully vaccinated.
  • Worcester Stop-the Spread test positivity is down slightly at 5.8%.
  • In-house test positivity for symptomatic patients is down slightly at 10.6%; the asymptomatic rate is stable at 2%.

Reminder About COVID-19 precautions 
  • Anyone at any age can get COVID-19. Those at highest risk include older patients, patients with co-existing diseases such as diabetes, asthma, obesity, and who are immunocompromised.
  • The fatality rate in the US is approximately 2.6%.
  • Children are at risk for a multisystem inflammatory syndrome.
  • Stay vigilant:
  • Masks must be worn in all indoor public places for 2 years old and up if:
  • Fully vaccinated and in an area with substantial or high transmission.
  • Not fully vaccinated.
  • Fully vaccinated with a weakened immune system.  
  • In areas with a high number of COVID cases, consider wearing a mask in crowded outdoor settings and in areas of close contact with unvaccinated people.
  • Masks are required in all healthcare settings.
Wellness Resources

The Caring for the Caregiver Program provides resources such as the Caregiver Support Line (508-334-HELP) and The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) which offers a variety of services and supports (including virtual peer support and wellness tips. EAP can be accessed at 866-263-3525, or www.LiveandWorkWell.com, [company code UmassMemorial]. More information is available on the Caring for the Caregiver page.
Working on Wellness
Yoga Classes with Dr. Liz Erban
Please join department members for early morning gentle yoga, Wednesday mornings 6:30am via Zoom.

Much appreciation to Dr. Erban for hosting these outstanding classes. Join Zoom Meeting
Zumba with Dr. Anna Zheng

Please join department members Monday mornings at 6:00am over ZOOM, Thursday evenings at 6:15pm**(30 Anna Street, NEW tall, spacious indoor location), some Saturday mornings at 9:15am and get moving with Zumba. Please note details and any changes via webpage: http://annazheng.zumba.com/. ZOOM still possible for all classes.

Much appreciation to Dr. Anna Zheng for hosting these outstanding classes. Join Zoom meeting: https://kennedychc.zoom.us/j/5578995952 pwd=bzVnY0xXdFNTQkpQQ1hmZkw3Snh6Zz09.