Resident Board Pass Rate 100% on Most Recent ABIM Exam and for Eight Consecutive Years

All Einstein internal medicine residents who took the 2008 American Board of Internal Medicine Certifying Examination passed. Congratulations! The three-year ABIM reportedrolling average pass rate for the program is 100%. Einstein is one of a small, elite group of programs that can boast a three-year rolling average pass rate of 100% as reported by the American Board of Internal Medicine. All 167 residents who have taken the exam over the past eight years passed on first attempt! 

Internal Medicine Residency Receives Second Consecutive Full Five-Year Accreditation from ACGME

The Albert Einstein Medical Center Internal Medicine Residency was reviewed by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Residency Review Committee for Internal Medicine (RRC-IM).  

Following a thorough review of all aspects of our program, the RRC-IM granted the program full accreditation for five years (the maximum granted by RRC). This is the second consecutive time that the program has received the maximum cycle length of five years. Both reviews were without citation.

The RRC-IM review of residency programs includes a detailed analysis of all aspects of training, including curriculum, level of resident/fellow responsibility, balance of education and service, work environment, patient mix, teaching conferences and rounds, faculty credentials, research productivity, ABIM Examination performance, library and on-call room facilities, nursing support and opportunities for teaching junior residents and medical students. As part of its review, the RRC-IM conducts interviews with key faculty members and first-, second-, and third-year residents. In addition, all residents complete an anonymous questionnaire developed by the RRC-IM.  Residents evaluate the quality of teaching, diversity of the patient population, level of primary patient care responsibility, interaction with other residents, ambulatory care experience, duty hours, facilities, opportunity to develop competence in procedural skills, opportunity to participate in research and prompt and constructive evaluation and feedback. In order to insure confidentiality, these resident questionnaires are returned directly to the RRC-IM.

Einstein Residents Participate in 2009 Annual American College of Physicians Annual Associate Poster Competition

Five posters (listed below) were presented at the 2009 ACP Associates Competition in Philadelphia. This is an incredible accomplishment for our residents since few of the many projects submitted are accepted for this very emulous competition. Five were accepted in the research competition and two in the clinical vignette category.  

• Can Lipophilic Statins Affect Her2/neu Expression in Breast Cancer?*

*Selected for podium presentation and was one of only ten Research abstracts selected as winners in the 2009 National Associates Competition

• Modifiable factors that influence Colorectal Cancer Lymph Nodes Sampling and Examination
• The Association of Insulin Resistance and Cancer among Adult Participants aged 40 years and older in NHANES III
• Make it Happen: A resident led campaign to improve hand hygiene and contract precautions among Internal Medicine Residents. A Pilot Program developed by the Resident Task Force for preventing Hospital Acquired Infections
• Aquaporin 5 (AQP5), a Novel Target for Cancer Therapy, is Expressed in Primary Human Leukemic Cells
• Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome. New onset seizures in a patient with lupus nephritis and recent immunosuppressive treatment
• Ovarian vein thrombosis in a patient with asymptomatic chorioamnionitis

Last year 5 posters were presented at the 2008 ACP Associates Competition in Washington, DC.

• Reduced Risk of Breast Cancer Bone Metastases Associated with Cox-2 Inhibitors
• High MELD Score and Type of Immunosuppression are Predictors of Gastrointestinal Bleeding After Liver Transplantation
• Cardiac Risk Assessment in Patients with Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy
• A Study of the Relationship Between Lipophilic Statin use and Estrogen Receptor Negative Breast Cancers
• Haemophilus Parainfluenzae Endocarditis in a Young Patient with Abdominal Pain

 

Einstein Residents Win American College of Physicians' 2007 Doctor's Dilemma Contest

Residents representing Albert Einstein Healthcare Network defeated 29 teams from around the nation in the Jeopardy competition on medical knowledge sponsored by the American College of Physicians (ACP). The Osler trophy was presented to the winners at the annual meeting of the American College of Physicians in San Diego. Each team member also received an individual certificate. Residents and medical students from across the United States compete for title of national champion. Organized in the format of the Jeopardy television game show, the competition includes questions that span various aspects of medicine including medical calculations, unusual diseases and medical history. The Einstein teams defeated six local hospitals , including Abington, Drexel, Jefferson, Hahnemann, Fitzgerald Mercy and Temple for the right to represent eastern Pennsylvania. Coached by chief medical resident, Janani Rangaswami, MD, the team then triumphed over two other Pennsylvania regional teams. This achievement earned the team the opportunity to represent Pennsylvania at the national competition in the Spring.

Night Time Coverage (Float) Additions Well Received

The Department is pleased to announce new additions to our already successful night float system. An intern night float cross coverage system affords our on-call interns more time to evaluate, care for and read about their newly admitted patients. A senior resident night float system was added to our coronary care unit to complement our medical intensive care unit and general medical floor resident night float systems.

A PGY-4 Chief Medical Resident is available every night in the hospital. The Chief Resident has a variety of responsibilities including teaching, supervision and administrative oversight.  

All Lectures Now Recorded and Available Online for Review

All of our lectures are being audio recorded to accompany the electronic slide sets. Lectures are available on the Einstein intranet and can be reviewed at any time. Residents now have the ability to listen and watch lectures that they may have missed or want to hear and review again.  

New Innovations

Beginning in the 2007-2008 academic year, Albert Einstein began to use New Innovations Residency Management Software Suite. New Innovations is a web-based system that tracks all aspects of graduate medical education. The program assists all Einstein Residency and Fellowship programs with tasks such as procedure logging, evaluation and evaluation tracking, scheduling, monitoring of conference attendance, duty hour tracking and general personnel data tracking.

Einstein Residents Accepted into Outstanding Fellowship Programs

Twenty-two outstanding fellowship positions were obtained by our residents this academic year. This has been one of our most successful years with respect to number and quality of fellowship appointments. Our residents continue to be accepted into a variety of subspecialty training programs throughout the country. Great job!

Einstein Fellowship News

All of our fellowship programs received full accreditation during the most recent ACGME site visit. The Department of Medicine is pleased to announced the addition of a fellowship in Infectious Diseases to complement our other fellowship training programs. The Department currently sponsors fellowship programs in cardiovascular disease, interventional cardiology, gastroenterology, geriatrics, hepatology (non-accredited), nephrology, pulmonary/critical care medicine, and rheumatology. The cardiology fellowship program recently expanded to five fellows per year. Our gastroenterology and nephrology programs recently expanded to three fellows per year. Heart failure and transplant nephrology fellowships are also available.

Department of Medicine Simulation Center and Procedural Training

The Department of Medicine has had its own Simulation Center for a number of years. Residents have an opportunity to practice and perform hands-on skills on the simulators. The Department has been utilizing SimMan which enables residents to learn ACLS and a variety of procedures on a very life-like simulator. New simulators including Eye Examination Simulator, Ear Examination Trainer, Clinical Female Pelvic Trainer, Rectal Exam Trainer, Central Venous Catheter Insertion Simulator, Knee Aspiration Model, and Thoracentesis and Paracentesis Trainer have been added to the Center recently. The simulators help teach our residents and students physical examination skills as well as provide them with an opportunity to master the technical skills needed to perform a variety of procedures. For more information about our Simulation Center, please visit the Department Simulation Center section of our website.

The program developed and incorporated a new curriculum for procedural training this academic year. This curriculum includes computer based educational modules, hands-on simulator training and the performance of procedures under the direct supervision of an attending proceduralist.  

Einstein Simulation and Learning Center

Einstein is constructing a 6500 square foot Simulation and Learning Center that will be located in the Korman Research Building. The Center is scheduled to open in the next year. The Simulation and Learning Center will provide residents, physicians, nurses, allied health professionals and students "real life" patient experiences with guided, artificially created scenarios and procedures that evoke or replicate actual patient care. At least six types of training will be available at the Center:  Human patient simulators, simulated clinical environments, virtual procedure stations, procedure training, certification courses, and team training. Training in simulated environments is an emerging additional step in the learning process--a step between classroom instruction and actual clinical instruction with real patients. As an academic medical center, Einstein is committed to teaching excellence and to the full integration of simulation into everyday residency training.

Liver Transplantation, Palliative Care and Rapid Response Team Added to Resident Curriculum

Residents now have an opportunity to care for patients that have undergone orthotopic liver transplantation. Residents will gain experience in managing complex patient care issues. The curriculum will include an understanding of immunosuppression, infections in the immunocompromised host, organ rejection as well as other problems that may be seen in this unique patient population.  

A new elective in Palliative Care has been added to the internal medicine curriculum. Residents will work directly with experts in Palliative Care and have an opportunity to develop the skills needed to assist patients in this important area of care.

Residents will have an opportunity to participate in the Einstein Rapid Response Initiative. This multidisciplinary team is available to provide immediate care to any patient in need. Residents will participate in a variety of training modules. Residents will learn how to work closely with other health care professionals to quickly assess, treat and triage a variety of clinical situations.

Associate Program Director Appointed

We are pleased to announce the selection of Dr. Matt Behme to Associate Program Director. Dr. Behme is a graduate of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson. He completed internal medicine residency training at Einstein. DrBehme , will oversee ambulatory education and joins Drs. Richard Allman, Mingioni and Philip O. Katz who continue to serve as Associate Program Directors.

Expansion of Non-teaching Service

The Department of Medicine is pleased to announce the expansion of the non-teaching service. This service is now staffed with physician assistants and nurse practitioners. Our full-time hospitalist group provides supervision. The expansion of this service has allowed the number of patients cared for by the residents to remain optimal and not overwhelming.

Chief Resident Expansion

The Department of Medicine is pleased to announce that each academic year six chief residents will be selected to serve the program at the PGY-4 level. The chief residents are vital members of the Department as they have administrative, educational and important clinical roles. The program will continue to have the availability of a chief resident in the hospital each and every night. The chief resident will have a variety of responsibilities which will include teaching, supervision and administrative oversight.