What sets us apart?

What sets us apart…?

in fostering their own and their residents’ well-being

Enhance peer and social support networks with frequent social activities including all fellows within the Department of Medicine. Also, activities such as some Journal Clubs will be hosted by faculty in their homes.

Increased access to mental health/counseling as our institutional GMEC has established a program wherein each fellow will have a scheduled and protected time annually with the Employee Assistance Program to discuss their well-being, which includes burnout, fatigue, stress, and potentially substance abuse and other issues. The learner may choose to opt out of this scheduled time. After this annual meeting occurs, the learner may also continue to meet with the Employee Assistance Program up to 6 times per year free of charge if they choose. There is also educational information about recognition of stress and burnout provided to attendings and learners at orientation and throughout the year. Other tools are made available to Program Directors such as the PHQ-9 and Maslach screenings if they choose to use them with their learners.

Encouragement of healthy lifestyle as our fellows have access to our Life Center on the Prisma Health campus as well as subsidized rates for personal trainers. Hours are conducive to fellows, opening at 5:00 am on most days. There is also an exercise room within the main hospital available to fellows during the closed hours of the Life Center. There are also social events for residents and fellows throughout the year that include health activities such as hikes, 5K runs, and stretcher races.

in quality improvement and patient safety

Computer-based training educating about patient safety and quality topics such as the Swiss cheese model, Fishbone diagrams, responsibility for reporting safety events and near misses, feedback communication processes for those who report, root-cause analyses, how to disclose adverse events to patients, QI improvement processes, evaluation metrics and benchmarking through our Care Coordination Institute.

in patient care based on their practice-based learning and improvement efforts

Our departmental Quality Improvement Team and Vice Chair of Quality provide educational sessions at least twice a year at which our own quality data is reviewed and benchmarked within our network and nationally. Moreover, efforts are made to define meaningful opportunities for performance improvement at those sessions. Each provider is provided their own quality data and benchmarks on a monthly basis.

in identification and reporting of near misses, adverse events, and

serious adverse events

Computer-based training module educating about patient safety and quality care and including topics such as the Swiss cheese model, Fishbone diagrams, responsibility to and logistics of reporting safety events and near misses, closed-loop feedback communication processes for those who report, root-cause analyses, how to disclose adverse events to patients, QI improvement processes, QI activities, and evaluation metrics and benchmarking through our Care Coordination Institute. In addition, this education will be addressed, when applicable, in Pulmonary/Critical Care Morbidity

and Mortality Conference, as well as regularly scheduled quality conferences. Fellows will also be working on QI projects in collaboration with core faculty and institutional quality/patient safety leaders including our Department’s Vice Chair of Quality and Prisma Health Vice President of Quality and team. Many of these projects will be proposed from previously identified near misses or adverse events.

in contributing to an inclusive work environment

Interactive panel discussions led by our Vice President of Diversity, including faculty clinicians, residents, and staff representing diversity in race, ethnicity and gender to educate the audience about identification of microaggressions and practical strategies for addressing and reducing microaggressions in the clinical learning and work environments.

in sharing educational and clinical experiences

There will be residents from other programs rotating with the department as well as students from the medical school. We will also have nurse practitioners/physician assistants rotating with the team. The fellow’s role will be to teach learners in the form of didactic sessions as well as directing patient care responsibilities via a team-based care model. In addition, we plan to combine many of our conference efforts with other fellowship programs to provide multi-specialty input into the education. Our fellows will also have the responsibility of planning and delivering content for some conferences.

in knowledge of ethical principles foundational to medical professionalism

Dynamic interactive case conferences include discussions of ethical principles in application to patient care. Topics include issues related to shared decision-making, treatment of advanced diseases such as cancer and COPD, ethics of transplantation, end of life care and termination of support, identification of appropriate surrogates for unresponsive patients, and delivering bad news and disclosure of adverse events to patients and families. These concepts are further solidified through daily interactions with the palliative care team during multidisciplinary rounds on the critical care services.

in supporting the career choices of each fellow

A large portion of the training curriculum is available for research and elective activities.  Some fellows who wish to pursue academic careers may wish to concentrate solely on research activities.  Others who wish to pursue private practice or clinician educator careers may spend this time doing research, quality improvement projects, teaching roles, or other electives.  All fellows have opportunities through our institutional partners (e.g. Clemson, USC, Furman) to obtain a Clinical and Translational Research Certificate or various masters degrees.

in enhancing procedural competence through simulation

The Prisma Health/USCSOM simulation center is among the most sophisticated simulation-based learning and research centers in the United States, with 18,000 square feet of purpose-built space equipped with simulation, multi-media and information technology. The center is located on the second floor of the USC School of Medicine Greenville on the Greenville Memorial Hospital Campus.  It was one of the first 30 simulation centers in the world to be accredited by the Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH) in 2012. This is the highest honor attainable by a center in recognition of its efforts in center operations, healthcare system integration, and teaching and assessment standards.  Available to our fellows is the use of the state-of-the-art bronchoscopy simulator developed by 3D Systems known as Bronch Mentor.  This system provides the most realistic hands-on training for a wide range of bronchoscopic procedures.  Simulation models include Essential Bronchoscopy, Diagnostic Bronchoscopy, Emergency Bronchoscopy, Essential Endobronchial Ultrasound, as well as a curriculum developed by the American College of Chest Physicians which integrates fundamental procedural skill with clinical knowledge and decision-making.