Educational Innovations Grants Program

Cycle III

Innovative Curriculum for Ob/Gyn Residents to Attain Competency in Vaginal Hysterectomy with Uterosacral Vault Suspension

Awarded to: Mary Brandes MD, FPMRS, FACOG & Caroline Foust-Wright MD, MBA, FACOG

Maine Medical Partners Women’s Health

The skills required to perform a vaginal hysterectomy (VH) and a basic support operation (uterosacral vault suspension (USVS)) require that a resident assist with or perform enough cases to attain competency in these complex procedures. By most estimates, a minimum of 20-30 cases would be required to become competent in vaginal hysterectomy alone without USVS. This level experience is not available to MMC residents at this time. Although recently residents have met the minimum Residency Review Committee requirement of 15 VH cases in their four years, none have been credentialed in USVS. This project will employ a curriculum change in the teaching of VH/USVS with the goal of competency for MMC graduating residents in this procedure:

  • Enhanced education in relevant surgical anatomy and core surgical skills.
  • Increase the experience in VH/USVS using multiple videos of the key portions of the procedure, essentially creating “virtual cases” for the residents.

These video cases would approximate the experience of participating in actual cases and result in the attainment of competence for the gynecology residents by the end of their fourth year. 

Innovative Curriculum for Ob/Gyn Residents to Attain Competency in Vaginal Hysterectomy with Uterosacral Vault Suspension

Awarded to: Jennifer Monti MD, MPH

Division of Cardiology, Maine Medical Center

Innovation Cohort at Maine Medical Center will be a home for collaborators to engage each other, test new ideas, start companies, run experiments, and access resources required to drive the growth of scalable innovations. This project has the following specific aims:

  • An innovation curriculum that could be shared across educational institutions.
  • The development of communication channels between the MMC education community and the dozens of biomedical startups in the greater Portland area.
  • The establishment of two to four startup companies that are the direct results of ideas incubated within the innovation cohort.
  • Publication in the academic and lay press regarding our educational impact on the learners here and medical education at large.

Establishment of a Global Surgery and Cultural Competency Scholars Program

Awarded to: Kartik Pandya, MD, Christopher Turner, MD, MPH & Adam Ackerman, MD

Maine Medical Partners Pediatric Surgery

The Global Surgery and Cultural Competency Scholars Program is composed of dedicated surgeons who share a commitment to improve surgical care in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMIC) and to promote health systems awareness to surgical trainees at Maine Medical Center (MMC).

Specific Aims:

  • Create a novel global surgery and cultural competency curriculum for general surgery residents.
  • Engage general surgery residents with a one month immersion at the University Teaching Hospital of Rwanda (CHUK) under the direct supervision of general surgery faculty.
  • Enable general surgery resident to perform a quality improvement or scholarly project from their experience for presentation.
  • Provide mentorship for junior faculty members with interest in medical education, global health and cultural competency.

 Wellness in Teaching: a dynamic educational intervention to improve faculty performance

Sue Rose, MPH, Vicki Hayes, MD, Amy Segdwick, MD, FACEP, E-RYT, Christine Hein, MD, & Bryan Lamoreau, MD

Maine Medical Center Department of Medical Education

Programs to reduce provider burnout before it results in impairment are rare; data on these programs are scarce. This program will bring faculty development together with provider wellness to improve overall interprofessional teacher performance, and will directly benefit our interprofessional participants, which includes residents.

The 6-week program consists of 3 modules, each 2 weeks in duration that will teach and reinforce wellness concepts of flow, mindfulness and resilience with the practical application to improve teaching effectiveness. Additionally, the program will include regular yoga practice to reinforce the practical application of flow, mindfulness, and resilience to improve performance.

The Wellness in Training program should reduce stress, burnout, and improve wellness. These results suggest that personal training in mindfulness skills can increase educators’ sense of well-being and teaching self-efficacy, as well as their ability to manage the learning environment and establish and maintain supportive relationships with learners.