LCME Update...

The LCME Survey Report is expected to arrive Dean's office on Monday, November 9th.  This report will provide greater detail on each Element, with recommended outcomes (Satisfactory, Unsatisfactory, Satisfactory with Monitoring). The Medical School will then have 10 business days to respond to findings, responses, and any factual errors.

Initial responses have been prepared, based on the Exit Report information that was received in follow up to our Site Visit, which took place virtually on July 15-16, 2020. The Exit Report  summarized the Team's primary findings based on their impressions from our submitted materials and interviews during the Visit itself.  While the Survey Report may differ from the Exit Report, it is expected to be representative of the most likely areas for findings from the LCME.

The LCME review process has fallen behind schedule, and final accreditation status for all virtual site visit schools will be determined by the LCME at their February meeting. 

REMINDERS:

Access Keys: Contact Marianne Watters if you are planning to work onsite and need a general access key or key to B620

OME Mail:  Mail for your program needs to be picked up at least once every two weeks - if not more.

Did you see?

• New Security features in Health Sciences Building 

• New Parking Validation Program 

• The "Health Sciences Education Center: Transforming Health Education" video

• Open Enrollment Virtual Benefits Fair

Assessment & Evaluation

Special Project:  The Office of Assessment and Evaluation has received an Academic Investment Education Program (AIEP) for their project, Standardizing Assessment in Scientific Foundations Medical Education at the UMN Twin Cities and Duluth Campuses through a peer-review process. This award will be given over a three year period. The grant will be used to create an item bank of 10,000 questions. 

The item bank is informed by a table of specifications (TOS) for the content areas and assessment domains of years 1 and 2 pre-clinical education.  This table was derived by 1) reviewing all of the content of the TC and DU campuses pre-clinical scientific foundations courses; 2) reviewing course syllabi, 3) identifying core content from the USMLE Step 1 examination; and 4) utilizing the framework for the domains of knowledge from the Aquifer Sciences Initiative.   This provides evidence-based teaching and learning resources that promote effective cognitive integration of the basic and clinical sciences and productive and collaborative teaching by basic and clinical science faculty to ensure learner’s foundational basic science knowledge is effectively organized .  

We will recruit, train and pay senior medical students and graduate students in the required areas of expertise as indicated in the TOS to write the multiple-choice questions.  These participants will be trained in the workshops as indicated above and will receive support and individualized instruction from the team of the current proposal (Violato, Dale, Diebel – see Appendix D).  When these items are written they will undergo technical and editorial review to ensure that they conform to the highest quality.  We will need to write 10,000 MCQs over three years: 1) 3000 in the first year, 2) 4000 in the second year, and 3) 3000 in the third year as identified in the major areas of the TOS.  We will hire a .5FTE project manager to organize and recruit medical and graduate students and edit and review the items for technical quality.  

A&E Team Presentation:  In a recent UME All-staff meeting, each unit shared presentations showcasing each member of the team, on what they do and the "interesting projects" they are working on. Unfortunately, only UME staff saw these presentations.  In this edition of The Pulse, ALL OME staff can view this great presentation from the A&E team.  I hope to get a hold of some of the other unit presentations for future Pulse editions!

Graduate Medical Education

Open Position:  GME recently posted (with approval) the Accreditation Associate position.  It is a full-time permanent role and they are accepting applicants both internal and external to the University. 

This position is responsible for managing affiliation agreements (50%), accreditation activities (40%) and other duties (10%) for GME across the institution.  Interested individuals can go to the UMN job site (https://humanresources.umn.edu/content/find-job) and search for requisition # 337826.   If you know of anyone looking for a new role that you think would be a good fit, please pass this position along and encourage them to apply.

Please direct anyone with questions to contact Heather Woeste at heather@umn.edu.

Other news: Check out what else has been happening in the GME world in the GME Connection and the Resident/Fellow Newsletter.

Changes...

...in CPD: An organizational change was announced at the last All-staff meeting that was a result of the reduced staffing model in CPD.  Many of the CPD employees found employment in OME units or in other departments in the Medical School.  The following staff took on new roles and responsibilities in these areas:   

Morgan Riordan-Project Manager in Department in Anesthesiology

Laura Walton-Admissions Coordinator

Jared Brasak-Becoming a Doctor (BADr) Course Manager

Janice Basara Johnson-Education Coordinator in the Department of Medicine

Laura Almeroth-Outside Role (Last Day is November 13) 

Congratulations to all!  Hannah Holzschuh, Jodi  Brenden-Amir, and Carola Kulow will continue on in their roles in CPD

...in Minority Affairs & Diversity: Mary Tate and James Cooper have moved out of OME and into the Office of Diversity Equity and Inclusion under Vice Dean Ana Nunez. The Office of Learner Development is currently looking for a part time person to fill the role that James occupied.

My sincerest apologies to Monica for not including her in the last edition of the Pulse.  I feel like she has already been with us for years and she just started in January!!  And she is on MY (Marianne) team!

Two interns were recently hired to fill positions vacated by graduating students - Niloofar Sohi and Zixin Chen will join us on Nov. 9th.  More information on Niloo and Zixin in the next edition of The Pulse.

The interns continue to work remotely and have very flexible hours. If and when you are interested in requesting assistance for short-term or long-term projects or for onsite events/projects please complete the “Request for Remote Work” form (please do not use the old form).  Contact Marianne Watters if you want a student designated to work a number of hours/week in your program.

Coping with COVID

This is a new section in The Pulse that is temporary. The hope is that it will provide ideas for coping during this crazy time of "virtual working", resources for well-being, and maybe a little comic relief.  Please think about what you would like to add to this section in the January/February edition of the Pulse - and put it in the newsletter submission form.

What have I learned? What keeps me going? How am I taking care of myself?

Maria Zbarouskaya (Student Intern): "I've learned a bit about troubleshooting due to some technical issues. Zoom has been effective for training purposes. Social distanced gatherings in GME have helped me feel more connected with the staff. Spending time outside and away from screens is important. Seeking a work, school, and play balance is important for mental health even though our computers are right there and we could be constantly busy." 

Marianne Watters: "In the first two weeks of the shut down I found an amazing deal on a little workstation and office chair through  a Facebook Garage Sale post that has made all of the difference for me; however, I really missed my standing desk!  As luck has it, I was watching this great "Home Ergonomics for U..." webinar last month and got some great tips on how to set up an ergonomic work station using items around the home. They also showed some relatively inexpensive office items for purchase.   

This webinar also had many other tips on how to take care of yourself including general wellness exercises,  safe outdoor adventures, etc.  I highly recommend watching this webinar - it was life changing!"

Fun Recipes & Other Entertaining Ideas...

• Check out Diane Hennan's fabulous Pumpkin Pie recipe in the "Remotely Good Recipes"cookbook that was shared in the Sept/Oct edition. 

Please add your favorite recipe by copying one of the slide templates and adding your recipe to the copied slide - with a picture of the finished project if possible. [(Or send it to Marianne) We'd love to see more holiday favorites!

• Easy fun and fancy way to do a charcuterie board: https://www.food.com/ideas/how-to-build-charcuterie-board-6904#c-773976  [Submitted by Cynthia]

Professional Development Resources for DEI

National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in American Higher Education NCORE

Social Justice Training Institute SJTI

Center for Organizational Responsibility and Advancement CORA YouTube Channel

• "Huge kudos and thank you to the RPAP/MetroPAP team for all their work to launch the 50th class of RPAP students and 10th class of MetroPAP students to their sites this October! Patty Bailey, Laurel Sweeney, and Tami Brown worked incredibly hard to make sure our new virtual orientation experience was a success. Thank you for everything you did for the faculty, staff, and especially the students!" [Liz Sopdie]

• "Monica Petrov has always gone the extra mile for me. Not only has she taught me so much in the GME department but she has shown interest in other aspects of my life outside of the workplace. She has been an example to me of someone who completes work only in the highest measure. Monica has helped me grow in areas of professional communication, detailed work, and leadership." [Maria Zbarouskaya - student intern] 

• "Marianne Watters has been a great supervisor and example of good leadership to me. Marianne checks up on how I'm doing in relation to work and other aspects of my life like school work and personal life. Marianne is someone who wants everyone around her to succeed and this approach has helped me feel welcome, encouraged, and supported as an intern." [Maria Zbarouskaya - student intern] 

• "A huge thank you to Jennifer Neufeld for partnering with GME over the last year to pilot centralized PeopleSoft course enrollments.  And thank you so much for all your work towards kicking off centralized course enrollments across all 138 programs effective spring semester!  You are so appreciated!" [Heahter Woeste]

• "Maija Braaten - Amazing job with the MSPEs for our fourth year students. The MSPE process is always a time and resource intensive project, but this year we had additional obstacles and challenges with the disruptions to students' clinical schedules due to COVID and some new faculty advisors authoring their first MSPEs. Maija did a fantastic job of making sure new clear language was added to the MSPEs outlining the COVID related changes to rotations and working with various specialty departments to ensure students got all their comments in." [Scott D]

•  "I want to submit kudos to Diane Henan, Nou Ka Yang, and Cynthia Johnson who have worked tirelessly day in and day out for each of their sections. They go above and beyond to help those around them with a smile on their face and always produce the highest quality work, paying attention to every detail. It has been a pleasure to work alongside each of them." [Gowshika Kamalanathan - student intern] 

• "HUGE kudos to Maija and Scott D for the giant lift to get the MSPE's done for our 4th years! With all the changes due to COVID, it was even more of an undertaking that it is in a normal year, and that's saying something. You are amazing and deeply appreciated!!" [Addy Irvine] 

• "A while ago Kelaine and I planned a Zoom knitting check-in, where I showed her all the projects I worked on over the summer. I learned that she's been teaching herself to draw and paint instead of knitting since the pandemic started. Major kudos for being one of those people who is actually more productive and starts a whole new creative endeavor during quarantine, Kelaine. Her her art is amazing - ask her about it!"  [Cynthia J.] 

• "We've said it before, but it bears repeating - a huge THANK YOU from the Office of Assessment and Evaluation to all who made administering the USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 CK exams on campus possible last summer. It wouldn't have been possible without support from all the deans and the volunteer help contributed by many, many staff members. It was a monumental effort that benefitted lots of grateful students!" [Cynthia J.] 

• "Kudos to Scott Davenport, the Academic Advising Team, and Rachel Rudeen for your help with the uploads and final edits to the Medical Student Performance Evaluations (MSPEs) for the MS-4 students.  I truly appreciate your energy and support during the final crunch!" [Maija Braaen]

• "Luke Feuling-Porter - Luke goes above and beyond to check in with his co-workers across UME and is always thinking about how decisions and plans will impact everyone involved. I have really appreciated this quality of his throughout this year." [Janell Lopez]

• "Valerie Bauer - Valerie volunteered to help with scrub distribution earlier this month while she was doing some other work on campus. We had some students that could not come at the time that we offered, and Valerie's offer of help meant that we could offer more time options for our students to pick up their scrubs." [Janell Lopez]

• "Ali Niesen and Joe Oppedisano - Ali and Joe saw an area where I might be able to improve my processes by using Smartsheets, and they volunteered their time to give me a tour of this awesome tool and help me think of ways that I can use it in the future." [Janell Lopez]

• "I'd like to recognize Jackie Gauer, Eric Martin LaPlant, and Adam Maier whose efforts over the past year to implement MedHub as a student assessment tool for the Years 3 and 4 clerkships are bearing fruit. In spite of stability issues and a lack of reliable client support, this team has worked in a diplomatic but very persistent way to partner with MedHub toward solutions, which is so important when you have a huge investment of time and money in a product and not a lot of other vendor options. But finding those solutions is an often thankless job that isn't in any of their job descriptions. Their work makes a difference for many, many people who have no idea what it takes behind the scenes to make it all go!" [Cynthia J.]

• "Our team is an awesome team. Thank you to all of UME who show up and participate. Zoom is not the same, but it's wonderful to see your faces!" [anonymous] 

• "A BIG thank you to Le Que Heidkemp and Heather Woeste for their work with our GME community to achieve flu shot compliance across 140 programs with over 1,000 residents/fellows.  Heather and Le Que were focused on their efforts to help the community understand the process, establish resources and provide incredible customer service to all parties.  I know the residents/fellows (and programs) appreciate the additional support shown to them throughout the process. You make a difference." [Carol]

• "What would we do with out Jennifer Burks to keep us well connected with our learners and programs?  Jennifer publishes our monthly newsletters and is a strong administrative partner to our faculty leaders in support resident/fellow events such as the Resident/Fellow Forum, Resident Leadership Academy, Chief Resident Forum and our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Group.  Thank you Jennifer. I am grateful!"  [Carol]

• "Yes, you are remembering correctly - Monica Petrov was going to retire months ago. We have been incredibly fortunate that Monica has stayed on to provide continued service to our customers and our team.  Monica, your focused efforts on affiliation agreement process improvement and the training of others makes a huge difference every day.  Thank you for remaining a key member of our team."  [Carol]

• "Christy Illig returned from maternity leave in August and hit the ground running, as she always does.  Among many other tasks and projects, Christy is the administrative partner leading the effort to develop focused HIPAA training for international medical graduates so that they have updated resources to help them understand the American health system and our use of electronic health records (EHRs). We are fortunate to have Christy's support on this project" [Carol]

• "A shout out to Ben Seltzer for his partnership on tracking compliance with quarterly clinical and educational work hours.  You are appreciated." [Carol]

• "Harshita Kalidini and Maria Zbarouskaya provide key administrative support to many projects while completing their undergraduate classes and being active in many groups.  I don't know how they do it all.  Their support to our work and willingness to step in and help with a variety of tasks and projects makes all the difference.  How fortunate are we?  Very!  Thank you both!"  [Carol]

• "Susan Culican, Michael Cullen, Carolyn Hildebrandt and Kaz Nelson - Thank you for your leadership each and every day.  Your commitment to the work we do is inspiring and I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to work with you.  Grateful."  [Carol]

•  "Marianne Watters - thank you for our leadership and management of the student administrative intern team.  They are an extraordinary group of talented individuals and we are grateful for the work you do to recruit, train, develop and retain their talent!  Yay for us!"  [Carol]