Hi everyone,
After months of strategizing, number crunching, and partnering with YNHH and VA leadership, I’m pleased to announce that we’ll be adding 8 more residents next year. With six more PGY1s and two more PGY2s, here’s what we can do:
- End q4 28-hour call at the VA: We will create a resident night rotation, which will substantially decrease the number of overnight calls. This change will finally end q4 28-hour call in our residency.
- Create a VA Triage Role: We will create a PGY3 triage rotation, modeled on an elective piloted in 2017 (see attached). The triage resident will work with ED and medicine attendings to optimize admission decisions. Hours are TBD, but we’re targeting late afternoon to evening, when the ED is busiest.
- More VA Electives: Dr. McNamara has created a smorgasbord of outpatient electives at the VA. We already have rotations in geriatrics, palliative medicine, and addiction medicine. Next year, we’ll add occupational and environmental health, home-based primary care, and complementary and integrative health. Dr. McNamara is also developing electives in rural tele-health and gender-affirming care. We’ll also have more opportunities for residents to attend half-day sessions in pain management, paracentesis clinic, sleep medicine, echocardiography, interventional cardiology, dermatology, physiatry, and chiropractic and acupuncture.
- A Larger COE: In most years, the VA Center of Excellence in Primary Care Education has had more interns seeking to join than they could accommodate. Next year, we’ll add two residents, with the possibility of growing more in the future.
- A Larger Physician Scientist Training Program: The school of medicine has astounding resources to train physician scientists, but our PSTP track has had far more applicants than we’ve been able to accommodate. This year, we will increase the number of PSTP interns recruited from 6 to 8.
- More General Preliminary Interns: As with the PSTP, we’ve had far more preliminary applicants than we can accommodate. With the expansion, we will increase our general preliminary pool from 1 to 5, adding to the 10 neurology and 5 ophthalmology interns we already match.
- New Intern Hospital Medicine Rotations: With new interns, we will create hospital medicine rotations at the VA and YNHH, where interns will work directly with hospitalist attendings. In the weeks ahead, we will develop rotation goals, but they will likely include more opportunities to work up fresh admissions, perform procedures, and hone skills in history taking, decision making, and communication. Your input is welcome!
With the support of the VA and YNHH, we’ll be able to realize several goals we’ve dreamt about for years. With more residents, we’ll enhance education and wellness, tap into the talent of our hospital medicine colleagues, and expand opportunities for applicants hoping to train at Yale. Equally importantly, more residents means we can better meet the needs of our patients. I can’t imagine more exciting developments as we approach the 2023 Match.
Enjoy your Sunday, everyone. After a brisk hike up East Rock, I’ll be spending the day assembling our rank list.
Best,
Mark