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The next step in the accreditation process is upon the Internal Medicine residency program at Baptist North Mississippi. In January 2021, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) awarded initial accreditation to establish the training program and paved the way for welcoming the first two classes of resident physicians to Oxford, MS, in 2021 and 2022. 

The ACGME sets the standards for U.S. graduate medical education programs and their sponsoring institutions and awards accreditation based on a voluntary evaluation and review process following published common and specialty-specific standards. In the 2021-2022 academic year, there were approximately 12,740 residency and fellowship programs for 182 specialties and subspecialties in the U.S. A Review Committee oversees the accreditation process and is comprised of specialty experts that provide peer evaluation of sponsoring institutions and residency and fellowship programs. 

These site visits ensure adherence with applicable institutional and program requirements. Typically, the ACGME site reviewer will spend time speaking with a broad range of program participants, including institutional officials, the program director, associate program directors, core faculty members, resident physicians, and the program coordinator, in order to garner a clear view of the training environment from multiple perspectives. 

After initial accreditation is conferred on a program, a follow-up review is required within 2 to 3 years as a final step to continued accreditation. The Internal Medicine program at Baptist North Mississippi has been notified by the ACGME that this study will be scheduled between now and March 1, 2023. In preparation for the date, a gap analysis is underway to identify any potential areas of noncompliance, and an internal review was conducted as a mock site review.

Upon the completion of a successful site review, the ACGME representative will provide a report to the ACGME Review Committee who will then make the final decision of whether to award continued accreditation status to the program. This determination is expected in the Spring of 2023.

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!

Brody Eaton, DO, spoke to the GME Department at Baptist North Mississippi about a critical subject in the medical field, particularly for resident physicians – financial literacy. 

During the presentation on November 7, Dr. Eaton coached the group in learning how to evaluate their own financial realities, most efficiently pay off student loans, as well as suggested steps they can take now and in the near future to set themselves up for long-term financial success.  

With physician burnout considered as a widespread issue, Dr. Eaton shined a light on the financial aspects that influence clinicians’ overall wellbeing. 

“Physician burnout is such a huge problem these days,” Eaton said. “What we’ve found is that if your financial house is in order, and you have the ability to step away from work, that does more for burnout than anything else. Burned out physicians result in worse patient care and worse outcomes for the patient, so burnout is not good for anybody. If we can learn how to better keep our financial affairs in order, you’re going to have more flexibility to practice medicine because you want to and not because you have to.”  

Dr. Eaton is a family medicine physician with ARCare, the largest federally qualified health center in Arkansas that also operates clinics in Mississippi and Kentucky. He was born and raised in northeast Arkansas, completed his undergraduate degree at Arkansas State University before joining the first class of medical students at William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine. After earning his medical degree, he moved back to his home state for residency training in Jonesboro, Arkansas, which he completed in 2017. He has worked for ARCare ever since and is focused on the preventative aspect of community care. 

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. 

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.