Dear Colleagues,
In this month’s message, I am pleased to highlight an exciting new collaborative initiative that will launch this summer between Geriatrics, Primary Care, and Mobile Integrated Health at UMass. You will also read about the Resident and Fellow Poster Day that was held last week and a couple of important upcoming events. Additionally, I am delighted to highlight Dr. Mayra Tisminetzky of Geriatrics and Health Systems Science, who is featured as the Chair’s Spotlight for the month of June.
New Initiative Aims to Fill Gaps in Care for Frail Geriatric Patients Post-Hospitalization | Frail geriatric patients are vulnerable to acute stressors including hospitalizations. They can become more vulnerable when they transition from one environment to another and need additional support when recovering from acute stressors. In an effort to provide better coordinated and patient-centered care during the transition period, Stephanie Sison, MD, a geriatrician working at the Benedict Adult Primary Care Clinic and assistant professor of medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine, and Kouta Ito, MD, a geriatrician and assistant professor of medicine in the Divisions of Geriatrics and Health Systems Science, are planning to partner with Mobile Integrated Health (MIH), a team of specially trained paramedics at UMass, to address the gaps in care between discharge and when home health services begin, as well as follow up after home health services are complete. The main goal of this collaborative initiative is to provide additional support for frail older adults in their recovery phase after an acute stressor, filling in the gaps that have been observed to commonly exist when older adults transition from hospital to home, ultimately improving patient outcomes such as reducing the incidence of rehospitalization. Read the full spotlight out tomorrow, in DoM Connect.
Resident and Fellow Posters | On Thursday, May 25, Internal Medicine residents and fellows from the Department of Medicine presented their clinical vignette, research, and quality improvement posters at the 2023 Poster Day. Over 80 posters were presented and over 70 DoM faculty volunteered to be poster judges. The event was extremely well attended! Thank you to everyone who made the annual Poster Day a huge success. Please check out DoM Connect for photos and more on this exciting event.
Grander Rounds | On Thursday, June 8 at noon, the Department of Medicine will host Grander Rounds which will focus on “Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Best Practices” and feature a panel of speakers from UMass Memorial Medical Center, Baystate Health, Saint Vincent Hospital, and Milford Regional Medical Center. This is session 2 on this topic. Session 1 was held in January and can be viewed here. I hope you will join us. Zoom link.
Dr. DeMarco’s Retirement Celebration | Please join us for a retirement celebration in honor of Dr. Deborah DeMarco on Wednesday, June 21 from 6-8:00 p.m. in the Cube. I will be giving opening remarks along with Chancellor Collins and Dean Flotte. The Department of Medicine extends our heartfelt gratitude to Dr. DeMarco for her tireless work and dedication to the educational mission of our department and UMass Chan. Her work has had an important impact on countless educators and trainees during her tenure which will be felt for many years to come. We wish her all the best in her upcoming retirement.
June Chair’s Spotlight | In this month’s Chair’s Spotlight, we highlight the work of Dr. Mayra Tisminetzky, of the Divisions of Geriatrics and Health Systems Science. Dr. Tisminetzky’s research focuses on the epidemiology of aging and cardiovascular diseases, with a specific focus on addressing the management and clinical outcomes of older adults with multiple chronic conditions. In her spotlight, we will highlight some of her recent and prominent projects, and her dedicated work teaching medical, nursing, and graduate students at UMass Chan. Read more.
Last thoughts | This past weekend many of us celebrated the unofficial start of summer barbequing with friends and family, and on Monday, we observed Memorial Day. We pause to honor and remember those who gave their lives while serving and are thinking of those who have lost someone they love.
Sincerely,
Dave
Stay informed:
Find us at https://www.umassmed.edu/medicine and on Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn
SharePoint: https://umassmed.sharepoint.com/sites/medicine