Activities During Residency
Research Activities
- Publications
- Have completed article entitled "Left Main Coronary Artery Dissection Associated with Emotional Stress. A Case Report and Comprehensive Review of the Literature" with John M Joelson, MD. In process of submitting to cardiology journals.
- In process: A series of three case reports of spontaneous coronary artery dissection, being written for publication. It includes three cases of this rare disorder which were seen at Baystate within the past 2 years.
- In process: "Paperwork as Paradigm"; Studying the effect of a new H&P form on hospital admissions and medical practice. IRB approval obtained, data collection complete, data analysis underway.
- In process: Case report; Overwhelming Strep Pneumosepsis with Purpura Fulminans
- In process: Case report; Angioedema Associated with Gadolinium Infusion
- ACP Associates Competition Clinical Vignette Poster Presentations
- Massachusetts ACP:
- National ACP
- ACP Associates Competition Oral Presentation
Education
- Grand Rounds
- 2001: Treatment of Agitation in the Elderly.
Medical Grand Rounds at Baystate are held weekly and attended by all housestaff, most of the faculty, and many community physicians. I was the only PGY-1 to present at Grand Rounds this year.
- 2002: Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection; Medical Grand Rounds
- 2002: Base Excess and Strong Ion Theory; Nephrology Grand Rounds
- Medical Student Education
- 2001-2003: Clinical Instructor for Tufts Medical School.
- 2001-2003: Co-lecturer for Tufts medical student ethics conferences
- 2002, 2003: Lecturer for Tufts medical students on Coronary Artery Disease, Abdominal Pain, and other topics. Formal teaching sessions held each quarter as core component of clinical education curriculum; all Tufts medical students participate in these sessions.
- 2002, 2003: Supervising resident for medical students, PA students, and Internal Medicine interns in various capacities
- 2003: Taught "Chief Rounds" to medical students, in which a clinical topic (such as cardiac murmurs or JVD) is reviewed using JAMA's series "The Rational Clinical Examination," in conjunction with bedside instruction on physical findings.
- Resident Education
- 2001-2003: Created and updated the CCU Intern Survival Guide, used by interns each month as they begin their CCU rotation. The Guide is intended as a reference for fundamental expectations during the month. This later became an element of the CCU Guide software for the Palm.
- 2001: Created the CCU Progress Note form, which has been adopted as a residency-wide standard.
- 2001: Responsible for the creation of Critical Care Noon Conferences as part of the residency education program; organized lectures, facilitated creation of syllabus, obtained pharmaceutical company support and provided critical care handbooks to residents. This has now become a standard part of medical resident educational curriculum at Baystate.
- 2001: Created Internal Medicine Residency Resource Guide, a web-based central resource for internal medicine residents, intended for use on handheld computers. Created to allow easy access to commonly needed information while active in patient care duties.
- 2001, 2002: Independently created a new Admission H&P (Page 2) form. After 8 months of committee meetings at various levels, the form is now the hospital standard for
all medical and surgical admissions. This form was later modified and adapted by the pediatrics department and is now standard for their admissions, as well.
- 2001, 2002: Taught various residents HTML and web design to allow them to create web sites for their projects.
- 2002: Organized and presented a conference for residents entitled "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Fellowships but Were Afraid to Ask," with presenters including the fellowship directors of the departments of cardiology, infectious disease, and hematology/oncology - as well as resident presenters sharing their own experiences. This was the first such conference in our residency; it was very well attended and well-received.
- 2002: Designed curriculum necessary for support of new H&P form.
Led educational sessions for entire medical and surgical staff (housestaff and faculty). The H&P form was designed both as an aid to efficiency in the admission process and as an educational tool, outlining the bare minimum expected of a complete generic admission H&P.
- 2003: Created the template used by all Baystate residents for poster presentations in the annual ACP meeting, provided graphic design support.
- Educational presentations included:
- Community Education
- 2001: Faculty presenter for Baystate's annual Medical Education Workshop. This year's topic was "Technology Within Your Grasp: Using IT for Teaching, Learning and Patient Care." I designed the majority of the curriculum, then taught 3 sessions, each 1 hour-long, on the use of handheld technology in medicine. The audience included residents, faculty, and community physicians. I was the only housestaff member of the faculty.
- 2003: Created multiple Palm OS-based medical applications. These include a narcotics conversion tool with many features and an inhaler identifier. A CCU Guide is currently under development. Click here for Palm software page.
- 2003: Featured on NBC affiliate WWLP TV's News 22 to discuss Alzheimer's Disease.
Service
- 2002: Served as part of team to review & improve the web presence of the residency program.
- 2002, 2003: Elected to the Graduate Medical Education Committee as the representative from the Internal Medicine residency.
- 2002, 2003: Selected (by vote of residents) to represent department of Internal Medicine residency program during formal RRC reviews, both internal and external. We were awarded a 5-year review cycle, representing the highest quality program.
- 2002, 2003: Represented department of Internal Medicine in the Residency Advisory Council, a group that meets quarterly with Baystate's Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs to review issues affecting the hospital's residency programs.
- 2002: Helped to understand and improve the relationship between the emergency department and the IM department regarding resident education. Spearheaded analysis of new methods to distribute patients within the residency program ("The Grid").
- 2003: Participated in testing and assessment of new hospital-wide electronic medical record system.
- 2003: Volunteered time as an independent physician at Pioneer Valley Free Health Services, a clinic staffed entirely by volunteers, using donated office space, medications, and laboratory services.
Awards / Honors
- 2001-2003: Received multiple "Baystate's Best" awards from patients, their families, or other physicians for exemplary patient care.
- 2001: One of only two Internal Medicine Interns who received an award
for "Excellence in Teaching," as voted on by the Tufts University medical
students.
- 2001: Asked by one of our interpreters (who see 40% or more of our patients with us) to act as primary physician for her father - probably my favorite award. He remained my patient throughout my residency.
- 2001: Selected as the PGY-1 member of Baystate's team at the statewide "Medical Jeopardy" competition in the ACP-ASIM Annual Meeting (I was completely useless, we lost)
- 2002: Winner of the annual Excellence in Medical Student Education Award; only a single resident is selected each year. Nominations are made by the medical students, with the final selection by the Internal Medicine faculty.
- 2002: Selected again by Tufts University medical students to receive
"Excellence in Teaching" award.
Professional Affiliations / Certifications
- American Medical Association (AMA) since 1997
- American College of Physicians (ACP) since 1998
- Massachusetts Medical Society since 2001
- Hampden County Medical Society since 2001
- Percussive Arts Society since 1986
- Permanent medical license in state of Massachusetts; expires 02/12/2005
- Massachusetts Controlled Substances Registration (schedules II, III, IV, V, and VI); granted 12/17/2003
- Federal DEA/DOJ Controlled Substances Registration (schedules II, IIn, III, IIIn, IV, and V); expires 06/30/2006
Other
- 2001: Built (framed, wired, drywalled, soundproofed, painted, carpeted, installed built-in bookshelves & lighting) two large rooms in the basement of our house. Extensive renovations were completed in the remainder of the house.
- 2001-2003: Played drums, percussion, and occasional electric bass in a variety of bands, performing at Basketball Hall of Fame, First Night Northampton (multiple times), "Beatnik Night" at Cafe Nine in New Haven CT, and many other functions (set lists available here)
- 2001-2003: Worked on bass guitar skills, played bass guitar in a variety of informal groups
- 2002: Performed extensive landscaping at our house, including a stairway and outside lighting
- 2002-2003: Learned to weld with oxy/acetylene & flux-core arc welders, created wire sculpture
- 2002-2003: Built a professional quality marimba using a 4.3 octave set of Deagan keys
- 2003: Proofreader/Editor for a new edition of Michael Verive's textbook "NS Basic Programming for Palm OS"
- 2003: Performed bass guitar and various percussion (cunga, bongo, shaker, cabasa) on a demo album by Mike Canarie
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