Einstein Residents Win American College of Physicians' Doctors 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).  Residents Uma Borate, MD, Supriya Narasimhan, MD, Harish Iyer and alternate Santosh Uppu, MD comprised the 2006-07 team.  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.  

The ACP's Doctor's Dilemma is a competition of medical knowledge.  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 gave the team the opportunity to represent Pennsylvania at the national competition in April.

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

All Einstein internal medicine residents who took the 2006 American Board of Internal Medicine Certifying Examination passed. Congratulations! The three-year rolling average pass rate for the program is 100%. Einstein is one of a small, elite group of programs with a three-year rolling average pass rate of 100%. 

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.

 

Associate Program Director Appointed

We are pleased to announce the promotion of Dr. Nina Mingioni to Associate Program Director.  Dr. Mingioni is a graduate of New York University School of Medicine.  She completed internal medicine residency training at Einstein where she spent an additional year as chief medical resident.  Dr. Mingioni joins Drs. Richard Allman, and Phil Katz who continue to serve as Associate Program Directors.

New Innovations

Beginning in the 2007-2008 academic year, Albert Einstein began to use New Innovations Residency Management Software Suite.  This is a web-based system that tracks all aspects of graduate medical education.  The program will assist 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 Participate in 2006 Southeast Regional Pennsylvania Chapter of the ACP Poster and Jeopardy Competition

Twenty-five resident abstracts were accepted and presented at the 2006 Southeast Regional Pennsylvania Chapter of the American College of Physicians-Pennsylvania College of Internal Medicine Scientific meeting held at Abington Hospital in October. 

Einstein’s Jeopardy team finished first among nine participating teams representing area hospitals.  The Einstein Jeopardy team will advance to the State finals. 

Einstein Residents Accepted into Outstanding Fellowship Programs

Twenty 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. Residents have been 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 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 four fellows per year.  Our gastroenterology and nephrology programs recently expanded to three fellows per year.

New Simulators Added to Johnson Learning and Simulation Center

The Department of Medicine has created an extraordinary Simulation Center where residents can learn and practice hands-on skills directly on simulators.  The Department has been utilizing SimMan, which provides residents with the opportunity to learn ACLS and a variety of procedures on a very life-like simulator.

New simulators, including an 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 this academic year.  The simulators will 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 detailed information, please refer to the Simulation Center section of our website.

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.  Under the leadership of Dr. Santiago Munoz, 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.

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.  This academic year the program will 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.