We are all honored and grateful for the opportunity to serve as the Tinsley Harrison Internal Medicine Residency Chief Medical Residents for the 2015-2016 academic year. As we reflect on the last six months, it is amazing how time flies. Perhaps our sentiments are best expressed in the words of the legendary Dr. Glenn Cobbs, “Holy Smokes!”
We began the year by welcoming another wonderful class of forty-three interns at our annual orientation picnic at Aldridge Gardens. We have spent the year thus far learning together and having some fun with Liver Rounds at local breweries, a Thirsty Thursday Barons baseball game, and a resident Thanksgiving Potluck, to name a few. Currently, we are in the midst of interviewing 325 applicants from over 2,400 applications to join our residency next year!
Beyond traditional teaching for residents and medical students on wards and in conferences, this year we have formed learning communities (LCs) within the residency to allow our trainees the opportunity to work with a small, core group of colleagues. There are eight LCs named for different neighborhoods in Birmingham, which are each composed of about 15-18 residents from all PGY years. These groups work together in Journal Club and on distinct, resident-driven Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Projects throughout the year. We hope that these “neighborhoods” will continue to strengthen the close-knit, collegial community that we have all enjoyed during our time at UAB.
We are also excited for the creation of a new continuity clinic for residents involved in the Health Disparities Track. This PATH Clinic provides a multidisciplinary experience for residents in which they work closely with Social Work, Case Management, Optometry, and Psychiatry to care for diabetic patients without insurance. The resident response to this opportunity has been overwhelmingly positive and could not be possible without the leadership of Dr. William Curry, who serves as the clinic preceptor. This clinic experience has decreased ER visits, hospital admissions, and healthcare spending for these patients significantly, but most importantly provides good healthcare to people who really need it.
Our excellence as an academic training center endures with innumerable opportunities for clinical learning and research. This year, we were thrilled to announce that we had a 100% fellowship match for the second consecutive year as well as a record ABIM Board pass rate for 2015. The hard work of the residents on the Tinsley Harrison service with early discharges has resulted in significantly shorter boarding times in the Emergency Department and increased hospital bed availability, both of which serve to improve patient care. These remarkable efforts have been rewarded with departmental funds, which we plan to use to obtain an ultrasound machine for resident education and use in bedside diagnosis and procedures.
We look forward to the next six months serving this program and continuing in the footsteps of Tinsley Harrison. The residency is also greatly indebted to its alumni for a lasting legacy of incomparable medical training and an infinitely supportive community. We hope that you enjoy learning more about the growth and development of our program in this edition of Letters to Tinsley.