Articles

Preparations for the new academic year are underway with plans to expand Graduate Medical Education's impact and footprint at Baptist Memorial Hospital - North Mississippi and beyond. With the full complement of 36 resident physicians bringing it to its mature size, program stakeholders aspire to elevate the standard of patient care and access to care in the hospital and community.

Three inpatient teams

The most significant growth will happen on the inpatient academic Hospitalist service. Beginning Monday, July 3, 2023, three teams rather than one will offer inpatient care.

The first team will be staffed in the same model as this past academic year’s service, with a core faculty attending physician, an upper level resident physician, and two interns. These teams will alternate between 7 days of inpatient service, followed by Monday – Friday at the BMG – Oxford Internal Medicine clinic, then repeat that cycle beginning the following Monday for the rotation block. During the first half of the academic year, PGY3s will serve as the upper level resident on the service, and in the latter half of the year, PGY2s will step in as the upper levels. 

The second pairing will be exclusively a Hospitalist attending working directly with PGY2 resident physicians, with weekend cross-coverage provided by other PGY2s on a subspecialty rotation during that block. 

Finally, a PGY3 inpatient service will provide the trainees who are near completion of the program more of a true feel of practicing as an independent Hospitalist. Current Hospitalists will oversee the service, but the upper levels will work with more indirect supervision through their own patient list and a traditional 7 on, 7 off schedule. 

Procedures team 

Another key addition will be a procedures team who will be able to assist with any IV access issues on any day of the week. They will be signed into Voalte for easy communication from physicians and nursing staff. We anticipate expanding the capabilities of this team to include other Internal Medicine-based procedures.

Additional experiences 

Additions to the PGY1 schedule include a required Wound Care rotation, focused case management experience on the intern Acute Rehabilitation Unit and Skilled Nursing Facility rotation, as well as built-in palliative care experiences. 

Block 7 that spans from mid-December 2023 to mid-January 2024 will remain as a round robin model, with shorter elective experiences considered once all essential services are covered. 

The Infectious Disease rotation in the PGY3 year will be at BMH-NM with telesupervision by physicians from Mid-South Infectious Disease Associates in Memphis, TN. 

Away rotations 

Three required rotations will take resident physicians away from Oxford, MS. Second-year trainees will continue to complete their Endocrinology rotation at the Baptist Medical Group Endocrine Clinic in Southaven, MS. PGY3 trainees will travel to Baptist Memorial Hospital – DeSoto for their gastroenterology rotation, and to Memphis for their geriatric rotation. 

Didactics 

In didactics, a slight scheduling change is in store, with two back-to-back 45-minute events beginning at 12:00 p.m. and running through 1:30 p.m. Tuesday – Thursday and only one 45-minute session starting at 12:00 p.m. on Mondays and Fridays. 

A Simulation / POCUS session will be held each week in the new academic year, doubling the frequency in that area of education. Recurring monthly lectures will continue to be held include Journal Club; Quality and Safety; Imaging; Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Workshops; Morbidity and Mortality, and Root-Cause Analysis, as well as weekly MKSAP and Deep Dive lectures and Chief Resident Board Review. Case presentations will occur Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday each week, which adds one additional conference of this type from last year. 

Educational resources 

Slight adjustments will be made in resources available to resident and faculty physicians, as well. Yale ambulatory curriculum will now be used rather than the previous Johns Hopkins offerings and will be guided by ambulatory faculty. The New England Journal of Medicine Knowledge Plus modules and Resident 360 access will continue to be utilized by the PGY2 and PGY3 classes. For specific rotations, faculty leads are encouraged to request any textbooks or resources they deem necessary from the program. 

Any additional adjustments or updates for next year will continue to be communicated as plans are solidified. As always, faculty feedback and guidance is welcomed and appreciated.