Governor’s Corner
Chris Knight, MD FACP
As I write we are on the cusp of summer–the days have almost extended to their full sixteen hours and the weather is warming up on both sides of the Cascade mountains. I wanted to give an update on what the Chapter has been working on and our plans for later this year before everyone packs up their gear and heads outdoors for the summer.
Leadership Day
We had a superb trip to the other Washington in May–Drs. Matt Hollon, MD, MACP Tara Kerr, MD and myself went to Congress to advocate for ACP policy goals as part of ACP Leadership Day. In addition to the three of us we had six medical students and residents from all over the state meeting with our Senators and Representatives. We focused on legislation that would make prescription medication more accessible to patients, address primary care workforce shortages, and create a sustainable fee structure for Medicare in the future. We have already seen some of our congressional delegation adopt these bills through co-sponsorship, so we know that our advocacy has had an impact. After our successful trip to DC, we would now like to refocus locally–we are in the early planning stages of an advocacy event for the next Washington State Legislature session in early 2025. Please keep an eye out for more information on that, and if you would like to participate, reach out to me.
Lean in circles
I’m grateful to Carrie Horwitch, MD, MACP–former Washington Chapter Governor and ACP Regent–for leading an ACP-sponsored collaboration to found Lean In Circles for women in our Chapter. She and her fellow circle leaders will coordinate groups focused on parenting, medical education, and various phases of a physician’s career–please look for more details in this issue of the newsletter.
Long COVID
Anita Chopra, MD, FACP continues to coordinate a monthly Long COVID interest group. Meetings are virtual, usually on the last Wednesday of the month. These have attracted a nationwide audience, and Dr. Chopra was called to represent ACP at the U.S. Healthcare Leadership Summit on Long COVID. I’m grateful to her for her expertise and engagement, and I strongly encourage anyone who cares for patients with Long COVID or simply has an interest to join those meetings–there is so much to learn! See below for the next meeting.
Board Review Course
Although summer is a break in the traditional academic calendar, for residents and their training programs June-July is a busy time as we say goodbye to outgoing R3s and hello to incoming R1s, all within the span of a few weeks. To support programs and their graduating senior residents, our chapter offered a low-cost board review course last week to anyone who wanted to participate. We have a great collaboration going on with a number of other chapters who also offer access to our course for their residents–as someone who teaches in the course, I think it’s great to have so many learners participating. Although the course is intended for initial certification, anyone who has chosen the 10-year MOC exam would also likely find it a helpful refresher, and all are welcome! I’d like to thank Doug Paauw, MD, MACP and Joyce Wipf, MD, MACP for founding this course, and Rachel Safran, MD, FACP, and Ananth Shenoy, MD, FACP for their ongoing work in developing and sustaining it.
Student and resident councils
Gratitude also to Antonio Guadamuz, MD for founding our Council of Medical Students. Dr. Guadamuz has chosen UC San Francisco for residency, so we will reluctantly be sending him to the Northern California Chapter, but he has created a vibrant group of medical students with representation from all three medical schools. They are already organizing a residency fair event for later this summer. Joslyn Johnson, a second year student from Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences, will be taking over leadership of the group. I am also working on organizing a complementary Council of Residents–the number of residency programs in the state has doubled in the last ten years, and new programs continue to open. I hope to get input from a broadly representative group of residents about how ACP can help with their professional goals and aspirations. Please see below on more information on the mentorship program they are looking to stand up.
2024 Fall Annual Chapter Meeting
I’m thrilled to report that next year’s Chapter meeting will once again be at Bell Harbor Conference Center in Seattle. A huge shout-out to our Executive Director, Liz Truong – Liz is an essential partner in leading the Chapter, and she was leading our search for a new venue. However, while doing that search she was simultaneously able to negotiate an amazing deal that will allow us to return to Bell Harbor at much lower cost. We now have the best of both worlds–a stable situation at a venue we really enjoy and robust contingency plans if we ever want to move. Thanks, Liz, for your work on that.
Get involved!
I would love to hear from any of you who want to get more involved with the chapter. We are always looking for chances to connect with members, and are particularly interested in opportunities to engage with you in community service work. Please email me (governor@washingtonacp.org) if you would like to get more directly involved with ACP.
This newsletter marks the halfway point of my tenure as Governor. Although it feels so soon to me, it’s already time to elect my successor. I can’t disclose the candidates until they are announced by ACP, but I can say I have absolute confidence that the next Governor will be superb. Please keep an eye out for the official election notice from ACP in late July, followed by a ballot later this summer. I’m looking forward to working with one of our two amazing candidates as Governor-Elect next year.
Chris Knight, Governor || Washington Chapter – American College of Physicians
clknightfacp@fastmail.com
Save the Date! 2024 Annual Chapter Meeting
November 8th & 9th, 2024
Our 2024 Annual Meeting Co-Chairs Douglas Hayes, DO and Prachi Munshi, MBBS are excited to welcome you back to Bell Harbor for our 2024 annual meeting! Please note the date is for the 2nd weekend in November which is different than what it has historically been.
2024 Annual Meeting – Abstract Submissions Open!
Abstracts Due: August 12th, 2024
On behalf of the Washington Chapter of the American College of Physicians, we invite you to participate in this year’s annual abstract competition. Accepted abstracts will be invited for an oral presentation or to exhibit a poster. This year’s Washington Chapter – ACP Annual Meeting will be held November 8-9th, 2024, at Bell Harbor International Conference Center in Seattle (as well as live webcast).
We encourage all abstracts relevant to the field of Internal Medicine, however please note that the majority of abstracts at our fall meeting are “Clinical Vignettes”. While we also accept abstracts in other categories including clinical research, quality improvement, high value care, and medical education scholarship please be aware that our “Spring Scientific” session in May each year continues to grow and is a better venue for those categories of work.
The deadline for abstracts is Sunday, August 11th, 2024 at 11:59 PM.
The nine top-rated resident/fellow Clinical Vignette abstracts will be invited to present a seven-minute oral presentation on November 8th and 9th during the annual meeting’s plenary sessions. The top-rated oral presentation will win a travel grant to attend and present their abstract at next year’s National ACP meeting in April 2025 in New Orleans, LA! Those who accept an invitation to submit poster entries are asked to be present with their posters from 4:00 – 6:30 pm on Friday, November 8th. At that time, they will discuss their abstract with the judges as part of the judging for the competition. The best resident/fellow poster and medical student poster receive an award.
Guidelines to help you prepare a submission for a winning abstract can be viewed here.
Council of Student Members: Seeking Mentors and Mentees for our Mentorship Program!
Hello from the Council of Student Members! The council represents students from three medical schools: Washington State University, Pacific Northwest University and the University of Washington. We have received interest in a mentorship program, where students can connect with physicians to gain insight into potential career trajectories and receive guidance throughout their education. To address this need, we have partnered with the membership committee to start a program that connects mentors and mentees. If you are a physician looking to work with medical students on a one-on-one basis or in a small group format, please sign up! Since the needs of our student members are diverse, we are also looking for a diverse cross section of practicing physicians from academia to community practice. The time commitment is flexible and established by mentors and mentees (may range from exchanging emails, scheduling a phone call, to providing a shadowing opportunity, for example). Ongoing plans to support the mentorship relationship include monthly prompts for one-on-ones and opportunities for large group gatherings.
Joey Parker’s Teaching Corner
One of the constant struggles leaders and educators must guard against in their learners is complacency. As our learners move through residency their knowledge increases, and for many (hopefully all!) their in- training exam scores also improve. With this, confidence rises and it may become more difficult to engage them in daily improvement. We often spend most of our time as educators working with those who are struggling in the core competencies, but often forget we must spend time on the high achievers to continue to challenge them to reach new heights. As Nick Saban remarked, “complacency breeds an utter disregard for doing what’s right.” Our challenge as leaders is to never allow complacency to settle in our learners. We must continue to help create new goals and challenges for the high achievers. There are many ways to do this, including instilling the mindset in our learners that the process is more important than the outcome, role modeling professional behavior and lifelong learning, and ensuring you continue to offer regular feedback. I like to tell my residents there will never be a time in medicine where you “have arrived.” There will always be something new to learn, and the earlier you can create habits of learning at least one new thing each day, the more likely this habit will continue throughout your professional life.
Long Covid Interest Group August Meeting: Cognitive Changes of Long COVID, Brain Fog, Memory Changes, and More
Wednesday, August 7th from 5:00PM – 6:00PM
Join us for our monthly Long Covid Interest Group – this month we will hear from Dr. Andrew Schamess on the cognitive changes of long covid including brain fog, memory changes, and more.