General Internal Medicine Scholarship Retreat: research opportunities, connections, and collaborations

General Internal Medicine Scholarship Retreat

On October 17, 2018, a third-floor room of Union South was filled with internists engaged in scholarly investigations. The annual Division of General Internal Medicine Scholarship Retreat was dedicated to three aims: reviewing three key areas of strength for UW-Madison scholarly work in the field of internal medicine, identifying research opportunities, and fostering collaborations. 

Attendees included new faculty members still within their first week on the job and investigators with decades of experience. Three speakers delivered plenary presentations that aimed to inspire inquiry in medical education research, health care information technology, and strategies to improve provider wellbeing. 

Shobhina Chheda, MD, MPH,  professor (CHS), General Internal Medicine and associate dean for medical education, UW School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH), presented “Scholarship in Medical Education: Accessible and Achievable.” Dr. Chheda is co-principal investigator on a $2.5M grant, "Transforming Medical Education 3.0: Moving Medical Education ForWard," from the Wisconsin Partnership Program and holds national leadership positions in education through the Society of General Internal Medicine (including being a founding faculty of the SGIM TEACH program) and the Alliance of Academic Internal Medicine/ Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine (CDIM). She is the 2018 president for CDIM. The new ForWard MD curriculum in SMPH offers many opportunities for scholarly work in medical education, Dr. Chheda explained. Possibilities include topics such as longitudinal coaching, learner transition, phase 1 preceptorship, improving methods for assessments of clinical skills learning, methods for integration of basic sciences, establishing new teaching methodologies such as enduring learning objects (ELOs) and patient-centered education (PAcE) cases, and interprofessional education.

Shannon Dean MD, associate professor (CHS), Department of Pediatrics and chief medical information officer, UW Health, presented "Health IT at UW Health: An Overview and Opportunities for Scholarship."  As she explained the structure of the UW Health Enterprise Analytics team and biomedical informatics (BMI) resources available through UW Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, Dr. Dean fielded questions about how to submit electronic health records (EHR) data analysis requests, the use of self-service clinical reporting tool SlicerDicer, and upcoming initiatives in clinical and health informatics at SMPH. “Opportunities abound here at UW for scholarship in applied clinical informatics,” she said. 

Cory Geisler JD, vice president of provider services, UW Health, and Mariah Quinn, MD, MPH, assistant professor (CHS), General Internal Medicine and associate program director and director of humanism for the Internal Medicine Residency Program co-presented "Provider Wellbeing at UW Health: What is Being Done to Measure and Improve Wellbeing?" Geisler and Dr. Quinn reviewed the structure and scope of the UW Health Office of Provider Services and its interconnections with SMPH. Recently, UW joined a national Physician Wellness Academic Consortium initiated by Stanford University. Currently, local efforts include performing a gap analysis to identify, propose, and execute initiatives aimed at improving provider wellbeing. "Our long-term goal is to bend the curve on provider burnout and improve professional fulfillment," said Geisler.

Plenary talks were followed by facilitated discussions focused on each of the three topic areas, and a large-group discussion of next steps. 

James Sosman, MD, professor (CHS), General Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease, emphasized that it is a dynamic time for scholarly investigation in all areas of internal medicine. Through ongoing connection and collaborative effort, investigators in the division are likely to be at the leading edge of advancements that positively affect medical education and clinical care.  

 

Photo (top): Attendees of the retreat gathered in small groups for facilitated discussions about possible avenues for investigation and scholarly inquiry. Photo credit: Clint Thayer/Department of Medicine