Educational Innovations Grants Program
Cycle 1
Evaluation of an Experience-Based Curriculum in Surgical Residency
Awarded to: James Whiting, MD; Sarah Cairo, MD, MPH; & Justin Wilkes, MD
Department of Surgery
In July 2015 a new curriculum was instituted at MMC to address the changing practice models of a surgeon, enhance the educational experience for residents and improve the quality of patient interactions via continuity and a focused curriculum. Smaller, more focused rotations will move from the inpatient to the outpatient world with a more realistic scope of practice and competency-based training. This project will evaluate the program by assessing residents’ quality of life, interprofessional experience, ABSITE board-pass rates and time studies.
Population Health Curriculum Development Project
Awarded to: Hana Akselrod, MD, et al.
Department of Internal Medicine
The development of an interprofessional Population Health Curriculum focused on building teaching capacity and increasing innovative collaboration across silos of patient care with key community partners. This project will utilize assessments, facilitate dialogue, conduct faculty training, and expand upon existing resources.
Development of a Rural Internal Medicine Track within the MMC Internal Medicine Residency Program
Awarded to: Thomas Gearan, MD; Kristen Sciacca, MD; and William Medd, MD
Department of Internal Medicine and Stephens Memorial Hospital
Develop an enhanced model of residency training to better prepare residents to enter careers in rural settings developed between the Maine Medical Center Internal Medicine Residency Program and Western Maine Healthcare (Oxford Hills Internal Medicine and Stephens Memorial Hospital). The evaluation of this program will be through Internal Medicine In-Training Examination and ABIM Certification Exam performance, achievement of ACGME Milestones for Internal Medicine, demonstration of successful performance in EPAs for Internal Medicine, patient surveys, 360 surveys, faculty and resident survey feedback, successful Match results, successful placement of graduates in careers in rural internal medicine, graduate surveys, and employer surveys. This is an evolving program with quite a few innovative approaches in development.
Transgender Health in a Regional Emergency Department: Assessing Barriers to Medical Services and Caregiver Preparedness to Create a Targeted Educational Intervention
Awarded to: Will LaPlant, MD, MPH candidate MS4; Rebecca Bloch, MD; and Tania Strout, PhD, RN, MS
Department of Emergency Medicine
A three-part study and intervention using survey-based needs assessment of transgender patients and clinicians’ and nurses’ comfort in dealing with LGBT health. This Project will produce a targeted inter-professional educational intervention utilizing the results of the needs assessment and will involving both didactic content and a practice session with a standardized patient. Results will lead to improved quality of care for LGBT patients and will be generalizable to other residency programs across the US.
Patient Activation and the Atrial Fibrillation Clinical Transformation project
Awarded to: James Powers, MD, FACC; Deirdre Mooney, MD, MPH; and Daniel Meyer, MD
Department of Cardiovascular Service
A custom made “tool box” centered on the Patient Activation Module (PAM) and shared decision-making (SDM) will be applied in parallel with the Atrial Fibrillation Clinical Transformation project (ACT). This project will use direct patient education and goal setting at the time of diagnosis and in outpatient follow up, and will uniquely draw from data already imbedded in the AHA Get with the Guidelines Registry and use the clinical Microsystems approach of Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) to evaluate and improve protocols. The primary outcome of interest is a change in patient activation level based on the clinical PAM assessment from time of diagnosis to 3-4 month follow up. Lessons learned this project would be applied to other major diagnosis pathways (CHF, ACS, VT/ICD, etc.)
The Clinician-Educator Residency Track at Maine Medical Center
Awarded to: Christina Kapala, DO
Department of Internal Medicine
This program will provide an innovative, longitudinal curriculum in medical education by tying together existing educational resources and by linking residents with outstanding Clinician-Educators as mentors. Over all strengthening the existing educational program for medical students and residents, and will attracting strong future residency candidates and grow the community of accomplished medical educators. Graduates of this Track are likely to seek out clinician-educator positions, and will positively impact the educational culture and legacy of MMC and its residency programs.