UMass FMCH Tuesday Talk - March 5, 2024/CLINICAL | |
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
Department Member Recognition
Frankly Speaking Podcast
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Message From the Chair
Diane McKee, MD, MS
I want to be sure you are aware of three upcoming events:
TOMORROW: join us March 6th at 6:00pm as we celebrate Lucy Candib’s book, Family Doctors Say Goodbye. Lucy and her co-author/editor,
Will Miller, Chair Emeritus of Family Medicine at Lehigh Valley, will host a discussion about transitions across the careers of clinicians. The event is being held in partnership with the medical school library, on campus in the Lazarre Conference room (next to the med school library). Snacks and drinks will be included. Please RSVP for the event HERE. See flyer for additional information.
APRIL 2nd: Dr. Kiame Mahaniah, Massachusetts Undersecretary for Health, will give Grand Rounds as part of the first Warren Ferguson Community Health Visiting Professorship day. His topic is Inspiring Clinicians to Engage with their Community. The Grand Rounds will be hybrid; you can sign up to participate in person on the University Campus and stay for discussion over lunch by emailing Pam Tero at pam.tero@umassmed.edu. If you wish to make a donation to the Warren Ferguson Community Health Visiting Professorship you can do so here.
MAY 16th: The Department’s Annual Retreat with our theme Family Medicine Proud!, from 12:30 - 6:30pm at the UMass South Street campus in Shrewsbury. Please save this date on your calendar; registration info to come.
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Focus of the Week - Clinical
Josephine Fowler, MD, MBA, Vice Chair of Clinical Services
UMass News on Language Line
UMass Memorial is the first healthcare system to roll out a 24/7 video and audio translating app. This will be helpful for patients with limited English and those with hearing impairment. Check it out, it is embedded in EPIC, has more than 240 languages, and is available 24/7.
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CDC has dropped the 5-day isolation guidance for COVID-19
- The CDC now says people who have COVID-19 should stay home until they’ve been fever-free without medication for at least 24 hours and their symptoms have been improving for 24 hours.
- After being afebrile for 24 hours with improving symptoms, you may resume regular activities. (Additional information can be found on the CDC website.)
- Please adhere to guidance from UMass.
- For future information, see the correspondence from UMass and the CDC website. As of this newsletter, we will no longer report COVID data unless there are significant changes in state or local policies.
RSV Update (rare Guillain Barre)
- Recent studies show Pfizer's RSV vaccine may be associated with Guillain Barre.
- CDC is monitoring whether the RSV vaccine is linked to Guillain Barre in older adults.
- Both RSV vaccines carry this risk for patients 65 years and older.
- CDC estimated the cases are small.
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Announcements
Women's History Month Virtual Event - Save the Date!
Monday, March 11th, 12:00 - 1:00pm, Crista Johnson-Agbakwu presents "Placing the 'Equity' in Women's Health". See flyer for additional information. Register here.
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Med Moth is looking for speakers at its spring event, scheduled for March 20th at 6:30 pm in the Albert Sherman Center Multi-Purpose Room (Cafeteria). Med Moth is an event based on The Moth Story Hour where 6-8 members of the UMass Community (SOM, GSN, GSBS, and Baystate) share stories for 5-10 minutes each. Past talks have been about the speaker's journey into medicine, meaningful patient encounters, or other experiences that have shaped one's personal or professional identity in health care. Some have been humorous (a horrible first day of internship) and others have been more serious (coping with the guilt of making a medical error) but the topic is up to the speaker. We seek to highlight a diverse collection of voices and capture the richness of experiences of the members of our UMass-Chan community.
Those interested in sharing a story can contact the event organizers, Aly Wayne (alysandria.wayne@umassmed.edu) or Mariam Tolba (mariam.tolba@umassmed.edu) for more information. Talks do not need to be scripted or pre-approved.
Register now for the Coalition for a Healthy Greater Worcester Annual Meeting, Thursday, March 21st, 4:00-6:00pm. In person at Worcester Community Action Council, 18 Chestnut Street, or via zoom.
UMass Memorial Children’s Medical Center is hosting a Teddy Bear Clinic on
May 18th, 2024. This year’s Teddy Bear Clinic is sure to be an exciting adventure that kids will love. Not only will they get to learn more about the doctor's office but also meet some educational professionals who will help teach them about proper hygiene and healthy habits. If you are interested in hosting a booth, please fill out the form here: https://forms.office.com/r/QhusB1NXCw. Please note, all booth volunteers who are not already UMass Memorial employees will need to be onboarded by our volunteer services group and will need to be pre-registered with UMass Chan to be on site. If you have any questions or would like to talk more about the Teddy Bear Clinic, please feel free to reach out to Alison.LeBlanc@umassmemorial.org.
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Department Member Recognition
Congratulations to the Benedict practice team for being a Winner in the 2023 MQHP Patient Experience Awards, recognized for Patient-Provider Communications. MHQP introduced this award program in 2018 as a way to recognize the primary care practices that perform highest on their annual Commercial Patient Experience Survey, the only statewide survey of patient experience in primary care in Massachusetts. Benedict was one of two UMass Memorial practices to win. “Primary care is the foundation of our health care system,” said Julita Mir, MD, MHQP’s Board Chair. “These practices from all across the state recognized with this award have distinguished themselves where it matters most – in the experiences of their own patients.” https://www.mhqp.org/2024/02/26/mhqp-announces-winners-of-2023-patient-experience-awards/
Congratulations to Kristina Gracey, MD, MPH, on her promotion to Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health.
Congratulations and welcome to:
Rebecca Gwaltney who will be taking over FMOB Education Director from Kristina Gracey (thank you!).
New Chiefs and Schedulers in Worcester:
Chiefs
BFHC: Brennan Dagle, MD
HFHC: Andrea Chin, MD
FHCW: Tekiyah Shabazz, MD
Schedulers
BFHC: Lyndsay Okragleski, MD
HFHC: Alex Wenk-Bodenmiller, MD
FHCW: Jonathan Smith, DO
New Chiefs in Fitchburg:
Chiefs:
GME Chief: Vishwa Patel, MD
Health Alliance Chief: Karin Darakananda, DO
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Thanks to Lorna Chiasson and Linda Hollis
for helping Hugh Silk parse out donations from Colgate to sites across the country. Several pallets of donations were received.
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Frankly Speaking Podcast
A weekly Podcast series covering newsworthy topics in primary care medicine.
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frankly-speaking-about-family-medicine/id1194659367.
Please join us for an overview: Low back pain is one of the most common symptoms presenting in primary care. Listen in as we analyze the results of a recent systematic review supporting the use of a variety of effective nonnarcotic treatments for this condition. Gain evidence-based insights to help you choose the most informed option for managing low back pain. Guest: Robert A. Baldor, MD, FAAFP, presents: "Low Back Pain-More Evidence for the Effectiveness of Nonnarcotic Modalities" - Frankly Speaking Ep 370.
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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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