Welcome to the FMCH Tuesday Talk. Please continue to send us your announcements, celebrations, and accomplishments to FMCHtuesdaytalk@umassmed.edu.
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Table of Contents
Message from the Chair
Upcoming Events
Focus of the Week - Clinical
Announcements
Frankly Speaking Podcast
Faculty Presentations/Publications
Clinical Services Spotlight
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MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR
Regarding COVID, trends continue in the right direction with regard to test positivity. While there is a slight decrease in COVID hospitalizations, overall capacity at the medical center remains very high. Surgery is still limited to highest priority cases. We are following the overall hospital medicine census in order to determine when our surge team can stand down.
Two weeks ago, I shared about several openings in the Department. I want to highlight now that the Vice Chair for Community Health search is officially open and the ad is attached. Please help us with networking for the following open positions:
- Several positions in the Worcester residency (contact Ginny).
- An investigator position focused on community-engaged intervention research (contact Suzanne Mitchell).
- Vice Chair for Community Health position with Jennifer Bradford and Linda Cragin co-chairing the search committee (contact Linda).
See the attachments to this newsletter for more details.
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Upcoming Events
FMCH Grand Rounds
Tuesday, February 1st, 12:00 - 1:00 pm. Trish Seymour, MD, Mitchell J. Gitkind, MD, Manas Das, MD, Melissa A. Fischer, MD, MEd, Ashton Gunn, MEd and Jillian Belgrad, Present: "The VISTA Curriculum at UMass Chan Medical School: New Perspectives".
Meeting ID: 191 986 273 Passcode: FMCH
FMCH Grand Rounds
Tuesday, February 8th, 12:00 - 1:00 pm. Sandra Augusto, MD, Presents: "Prenatal Potpourri: Updates on Hepatitis C Virus, Intrahepatic Cholestasis of Pregnancy and Antenatal Testing in the Outpatient Setting".
Meeting ID: 191 986 273 Passcode: FMCH
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Focus of the Week - Clinical
Omicron Variant
- A new BA.2 omicron variant is circulating in more than half of the US.
- It is 1.5 times more contagious than omicron and affects younger people more often.
- Rate of reinfection is unknown.
- The new omicron, "stealth omicron", inherited its name because researchers state it is difficult to discern from the BA.1 omicron variant.
Pre-Procedure testing
Kits Are Available NOW for Advanced Pickup for Surgery/Procedures on:
Tuesday, February 1st, 2022.
Pickup Days: Monday through Friday
Pickup Time: 8:30 am – 3:45 pm
Surgery/Procedure date Collection date Drop-off date
Feb. 1st, 2022 Jan. 30th, 2022 Jan. 30th, 2022
Instructions for patients: After you have collected your sample, please remember to write your name, DOB, and the date and time on the provided label. The sample should be dropped off the same day as a collection at 367 Plantation Street Worcester, MA, between 7:00am and 8:00 pm. Follow the signs in the parking lot and place the labeled sample in the black mailbox located in the parking lot. If you have any questions, please call Lab Customer Service at 508.334.2863.
Wellness
You are invited to become a member of the Department Wellness Committee. Key goals for this year include improving the efficiency of use with the Electronic Health Record. Watch your email for future training sessions
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Announcements
Hepatitis C and General Hepatology
Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes)
You are invited to join an exciting virtual collaborative learning opportunity!
What? Hepatitis C ECHO, a virtual case-based tele-mentoring educational model
Who? Primary care interdisciplinary team members (providers, nurses, social workers, community health workers, patient navigators, etc.)
Why? Tele-mentoring model that links specialists to primary care providers (PCPs) via video conferencing from any computer; Case based, iterative learning facilitated by specialists and related experts; through guided practice, PCPs become proficient in specialty care
When? A new cohort begins Friday, February 11th, 2022, 12:30 - 1:30pm ~ with 10 sessions held bi-monthly.
Curriculum content includes:
- HCV screening
- Acute HCV
- Chronic HCV: Workup
- Treatment of non-cirrhotic patients
- Treatment of cirrhotic patients
- Monitoring during treatment
- Monitoring post treatment
- "Topic by request"
- Other hepatitides in the context of HCV/Hepatitis A&B
- Treatment of special populations
The UMass Chan Office of Communications has released a podcast about the Scribe Fellowship: UMass Chan Scribe Fellowship Podcast 1-2022 The Fellowship is under the leadership of Steve Earls and Linda Cragin in collaboration with the Office of Admissions. Drs. Elizabeth Erban, Dennis Dimitri, Fred Baker and Christina Kim are precepting the fellows. Plans to expand in the coming year are underway with Scribe America.
100 Million Mouths Campaign as part of the work of the Center for Integration of Primary Care and Oral Health, a joint venture between Harvard Medical/Dental School and our UMMS Department of Family Medicine and Community Health.
We have selected nine new state oral health education champions to add to our current five state champions in year 2. Work will be ongoing this year to assess the efficacy of Champions engaging health schools in these 14 states to produce graduates of primary care residencies and medical and nursing schools who have improved their knowledge, skill, and attitude around oral health.
Spring Department of Family Medicine and Community Health Retreat:
Vision 2030 - The Next Chapter for FMCH
Save the Date: Friday - May 20, 2022
8:00am-6:00pm
Plan for in-person retreat at South Street Campus, Shrewsbury
(with virtual event as back-up)
The Worcester FM Residency has four new residency leadership roles open: Children’s Health Education Director, Advocacy Director and two Associate Program Director (APD) roles. In addition to being posted internally, the APD roles are also being posted externally. Please find the job descriptions attached. Email Ginny Van Duyne to express your interest and please include your CV (virginia.vanduyne@umassmemorial.org).
Suzanne Mitchell is leading the search for a mid-career, tenure track, Community Health Investigator dedicated to the conduct of research aligned with our mission emphasizing the relationship between clinical practice and community health with a focus on serving vulnerable populations and promoting health equity across the lifespan. Please see the application requirements at AcademicJobsOnline position 20374, https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/20374. Please refer inquiries to Suzanne.Mitchell2@umassmed.edu.
Looking to improve oral health in your office for children? The AAP will help!
Social Determinants of Oral Health Project ECHO
The American Academy of Pediatrics is recruiting primary care practices (including family physicians) to join a 7-month learning collaborative designed to enhance pediatric primary care practices’ capacity to improve pediatric oral health outcomes for children ages 6 months – 5 years with a focus on oral health risk assessment. Participants will utilize the electronic health record, or otherwise integrate the AAP Oral Health Risk Assessment (OHRA) tool into practice. In addition, participants will learn successful strategies for medical-dental integration and learn to assess oral health through a social determinants of health/health equity lens. Practices will engage in the ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) modelTM, a telementoring platform that leverages video conference technology to connect subject matter experts with primary care teams in local communities, fostering an “all teach, all learn” approach.
Contact Shannon Limjuco, AAP, ECHO Director, at slimjuco@aap.org for any questions.
Volunteers needed for WFCC
Worcester Free Care Collaborative is always in need of volunteer family physicians and family nurse practitioners to support its mission to address needs of the uninsured and underinsured of our community. We also need help with pediatric vaccine program management. You fill find it fulfilling to address needs for vulnerable patients and work with highly motivated student volunteers. Contact student leader Tyler Healy (tyler.healy@umassmed.edu) for needs across the 6 programs or Danielle Heims-Waldron (danielle.heimswaldron@umassmed.edu) for Monday night’s Epworth pro
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Frankly Speaking Podcast
A weekly Podcast series covering newsworthy topics in primary care medicine.
Please join us for an overview: Stroke is a major health problem and the risk of stroke is five-times higher in individuals with atrial fibrillation (AF) than those without. AF can be asymptomatic or subclinical. In 18% of AF patients, the condition is only detected at the time of stroke. It is not known whether individuals whose AF is deterred via screening carry a similar risk to individuals with known AF. A recent randomized trial evaluated a screening program for AF in individuals at high risk of stroke; for individuals identified with AF, anticoagulation was given for stroke prevention. Guest: Alan Ehrlich, MD, FAAFP, presents: "Getting in the LOOP About Atrial Fibrillation and Stroke". - Frankly Speaking Ep 261.
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Faculty Presentations/Publications
Hugh Silk, MD, MPH, FAAFP and Judy Savageau, MPH presented with medical student Mack Jones on the topic How to Weave a Health Topic into Medical School Curriculum Across All Years: Using Oral Health as an Example at the virtual STFM Conference on Medical Student Education last week.
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Clinical Services Spotlight: |
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COVID-19 UPDATES
COVID Update MA
- To date, Massachusetts has had 1,473,496 positive COVID cases.
- The 7-day average of percent positivity is 8.92%.
- There are 2.377 hospitalizations with 363 patients in the ICU and 233 intubated.
- There have been 21,336 confirmed deaths.
- There were 7,181 confirmed new cases in the last week.
- Last Tuesday, MA reported 46,092 breakthrough cases over the prior week.
- In total, MA has had 394,602 breakthrough cases, with 1,499 deaths among people with breakthrough infections.
COVID Update UMMMC
- As of Monday am, there were 173 COVID patients hospitalized across the system, 131 at the Medical Center (25 in ICU).
- Of those in acute care, 45 out of 76 (62%) are fully vaccinated, and 13 of 26 (50%) cases in the ICU are fully vaccinated.
- Worcester Stop-the-Spread test positivity is slightly down at 23.8%.
- In house test positivity is slowly declining (35% for symptomatic patients and 9.8% for asymptomatic patients).
- The number of employees out due to COVID continues to gradually decline, currently 9 in past 24 hours and 80 over past 6 days.
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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.
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Yoga Classes with Dr. Liz Erban
New Yoga Link!
Our Yoga class hit the 1 year anniversary - which in zoomland means we need a new link. Happy anniversary yogis and much gratitude to our fearless leader, Liz!
Also, a great time to join, new members always welcome. Start your mid week with some relaxing yoga!
Please join department members for early morning gentle yoga, Wednesday mornings 6:30am via Zoom.
Join Zoom Meeting ID: 923 9393 3653 Passcode: 764113
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Zumba with Dr. Anna Zheng
Thursdays 6:15pm: In-person or ZOOM
Please join department members Thursday evenings at 6:15pm**(30 Anna Street: tall & spacious indoor location) 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. New to the class? Please email Dr. Zheng at ZumbawithAnnaZheng@gmail.com to register, complete brief health screen if it's your first class and the ZOOM link.
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