We really 'mustache' if you like nephology. Dr. Andrew Jones (PGY-1), Dr. John Briggs (PGY-1), Dr. Federico de Puy (PGY-2), Dr. Michael Allon (Attending), Maria Taylor (Pharmacist), Dr. Mata Burke (PGY-1), Dr. Chris Small (PGY-2), Dr. Dimpu Patel (Fellow)When Michael Allon, MD, orients new housestaff to their rotation on the inpatient nephrology ward, he passes out a list of guidelines. Much of the instructions come as no surprise: show up prepared for rounds, know what is going on with your patients, be efficient, write discharge summaries on the same day the patient goes home.
The last expectation on the list is a bit more unconventional: “Have fun.”
“UAB residents are extremely well-trained. They are very, very sharp. They take good care of patients,” Dr. Allon says. “Some of them are just so focused on that, they have trouble seeing that you can have fun.”
This January, the incoming renal team took Dr. Allon at his word. In the course of learning how to take care of patients with kidney disease, they all took part in lighthearted banter that made the work more enjoyable. Their enthusiasm also fostered a sense of true teamwork, where residents backed up interns, and everyone was accessible to others.
On the final day of rotation, they all showed up in the team room wearing mustaches à la Dr. Allon—an homage to an inspiring attending physician and how fun can transform the training experience.
Other Good News for the Week
Ken Saag, MD (Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology) has been elected to membership in the Association of American Physicians.
On December 17, 2014, George “Mac” McAllister of Hayden, Alabama, became the first person in the United States to receive the Evaheart Left Ventricular Assist Device, a potentially more physiologic L-VAD device than others currently available.
The findings of UAB investigators Anupam Agarwal, MD (Division Director, Nephrology) and James George, PhD (Cardiovascular Disease) could lead to new treatments for patients with acute kidney injury, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
Original research by Robert Centor, MD (Associate Dean, Huntsville Regional Medical Center) and Carlos Estrada, MD (Division Director, General Internal Medicine) et al. has been published in the Annals of Internal Medicine demonstrating that patients presenting with pharyngitis to a student health clinic were more often infected with F. necrophorum than group A β-hemolytic streptococcus.
Uma Borate, MD, and Gabrielle Rocque, MD (Hematology and Oncology) received a grant for "Patient-Centered Care in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia" which is a partner study with Medscape. Monika Safford, MD (Preventive Medicine) is also working on the project.
Richard Rosenthal, MD, FACE (Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism) has been elected president of the Southern States Chapter of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.
Do you have Good News to share? If so, please email the Department of Medicine's Director of Communications, Carolyn Walsh.