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The core faculty of the Internal Medicine residency at Baptist North Mississippi recently attended a weekend strategic retreat in Cleveland, MS, on March 24-25, 2023. 

With the third class of resident physicians bound for Oxford in the summer of 2023 and the completion of the ACGME accreditation site review, the initial startup phase is coming to a close and leaders are looking ahead to guide and pave the way for future growth. Program Director Seger S. Morris, DO, delivered a state of the program review, after which the group identified unique strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats surrounding the initiative.  

They also laid the framework to build a strategic house for Graduate Medical Education at Baptist North Mississippi. A strategic house is comprised of values, pillars, and mission that drive the team’s overall purpose. The pillars represent the specific initiatives identified to help achieve, or uphold, the overall objective. The foundation of the strategic house is built upon shared core beliefs. 

In addition to planning for the future, the team enjoyed time together with their spouses taking in the sights and sounds of the Mississippi Delta. During the meetings, a group of spouses traveled to McCartys pottery and received a private tour of the grounds and facilities. On Friday evening, a dinner was hosted at Backdraft restaurant in historic downtown Cleveland. The next morning, the team gathered for breakfast at the Farmhouse Table before touring the Grammy Museum. 

The event served as both a focused time to look ahead, and to celebrate how far medical education has come in Oxford, MS, in the last few years. 

Representatives from the Mid-South Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program (MSAM) provided a Grand Rounds presentation in October to the Graduate Medical Education Department at BMH-NM. Dr. Shawn Hamm, who serves as program director of the fellowship, and Dr. Jared Matthews, a current fellow in the program, traveled from Memphis to provide training and updates in their field of specialty. 

Dr. Hamm provided an overview of the community need for this type of advanced care and details about the consult service provided by the program faculty and its trainees. In a 12-month period ending in April 2021, there were 100,306 drug overdose deaths in the United States, which was a 28.5% increase from the previous 12-month period of April 2019 – April 2020. From 2019-2020, Shelby County, Tennessee, saw a 22% increase in overdose-related deaths and a 68% increase of opioid-related ED visits, mostly from people aged 21-39 years old. 

Dr. Matthews followed with a presentation titled “Pain Management for Patients on Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT)." He explained what MAT is and provided details on what medications are available and used in treatment of alcohol use and opioid use disorders. 

The addiction medicine fellowship program is a collaboration between Baptist Memorial Hospital and Vertava Health. The organizations work to promote the disease model of addiction, raise awareness of substance use disorder, and integrate evidence-based addiction treatment throughout BMHCC’s outpatient clinics, emergency departments, and inpatient units. 

PGY1 resident physicians Dr. Zachary Ellis and Dr. Dakota White recently participated in the American College of Physicians and University of Mississippi Medical Center Department of Medicine’s Annual Abstract Day Competition on October 27, 2022.  

Drs. Ellis and White were selected to present their case, along with over 100 other residents, fellows, and medical students. They were successfully judged and served as the first resident representatives ever from the BMH-NM program at the event. Their presentation was titled “Pneumoscrotum, the initial presentation of pneumothorax following a motor vehicle accident: A Case Report.” Training programs and medical schools from across the state were represented. 

Core faculty member Sam Harris, MD, recently obtained certification in Health Care Quality and Management (HCQM) from the American Board of Quality Assurance and Utilization Review Physicians (ABQAURP).

The HCQM certification demonstrates that a clinician possesses the practical knowledge and tools to reduce medical errors, ensure patient safety, eliminate waste and unnecessary service, all while avoiding potentially harmful delays in care. The ABQAURP is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to improving the overall quality of health care.

"I am proud of Dr. Harris for leadership in making this commitment to further develop a skillset that is critical in the modern era of medicine and health care, and equally proud of his success in achieving board certification," said Program Director Seger S. Morris, DO. "We look forward to him sharing this knowledge and skill with our entire residency program to benefit our faculty, trainees, and patients."

To qualify for the certification, candidates must have several years of experience working on case management and health care quality, as well as have completed at least 25 hours of continuing education in certain categories. Once the requirements have been met, the examination covers topics such as clinical resource management, physician advisor roles, transitions of care, risk management, patient safety, and much more.

“Professionals who have achieved certification in HCQM are deeply committed to patient safety, health care quality, and effective care,” according to the ABQAURP website. “Those certified in HCQM demonstrate their superior ability to critically evaluate industry literature, identify evidence-based best practices, and make recommendations that balance appropriateness of health care services with cost and quality.” 

Dr. Harris joined BMH-NM as a Hospitalist in 2019 and has served as an integral part of the team of faculty physicians since the inception of the Graduate Medical Education program in Oxford, MS. He leads trainees in Quality and Safety curriculum, including lectures, projects, and bedside teaching.  

Congratulations, Dr. Harris!