30
Douglas G Hawk, MD
Chief, Internal Medicine
CAPT
|
MC
|
USN
WRB
Patrick G O’Malley, MD
Director, Internal Medicine
COL
|
MC
|
USA
USU
As national trends in primary care drive
demands for technology and efficiency, the
development and availability of tools,
programs and processes that support those
endeavors is essential—and the role of
innovation is critical. The Internal Medicine
(IM) Service, one of the largest outpatient
clinics in the DoD, continually focuses on the
use of innovation to ensure that its preventive
and primary care services are patient-centered
and based in best practices.
This year saw many changes, including the
assumption of Warrior Clinic, the joint medical
home for all wounded, ill and injured service
members; the embedding of physical therapy;
and a clinic-wide reorganization. This shuffling
of the nine Patient-Centered Medical Home
(PCMH) primary care teams within IM
enhanced our ability to provide specialized
care via diabetes, hypertension and sports
medicine
clinics,
the
continued
care
coordination provided by IM social workers,
the operation of sick call for active duty
service members, and a large and vibrant
internal medicine residency program, all while
enhancing efficiency and better positioning
the clinic to respond to emerging trends.
Integrative Health Serves as the Life-Force of
the Innovative PCMH Model of Primary Care
Our Integrative Health & Wellness team
continues to be the pulse-check for our PCMH
model of primary care, and innovation is its
life force. Led by Assistant Service Chief Moira
McGuire, RN, it offers the resources necessary
for lifestyle management and prevention, the
essence of PCMH. The team provides
behavioral health consultations, nutrition
services,
mind-body
medicine
sessions,
tobacco cessation, acupuncture services, and
sexual health and intimacy counseling. The
team also works collaboratively with our
clinical pharmacists, who help our patients
manage their medications, as well as with our
clinical social workers, who provide care
coordination for some of our most complex
patients.
This year we were joined by a new mind-body
medicine practitioner who is also a yoga
therapist. This enhanced level of expertise has
seen the expansion of our yoga-based mind-
body medicine services throughout the
medical center and the National Intrepid
Center of Excellence (NICoE). IM also launched
an Integrative Health & Wellness clinical
elective for fourth-year medical students, who
shadowed providers and learned first-hand
about the integrative approach to patient
care, the importance of lifestyle management,
and a strength-based approach to patient
care.
Internal Medicine also hosted the 13th Annual
Healing Arts Exhibit in collaboration with the
Murtha Cancer Center, providing a showcase
for patients, family members and staff to
share the many ways creative expression has
positively impacted their health.
Broad, Expansive Medical Education
The Division of General Internal Medicine at
USU is integrally connected with the broader
aspirational goals of our renowned academic
medical center and the larger Military Health
In
ternal Medicine
31
System community. While only a small
division at USU, its mission spans the broader
clinician-educator community across the
entire MHS and involves managing the
academic appointments of almost 200
internists across the MHS.
Our areas of expertise include PCMH services,
disease management, hospital medicine,
population health, quality and safety,
geriatrics, clinical research, IM fellowship
education, leadership curriculum, clinical
epidemiology, guideline development and
learning organization development. We have
strong academic collaborative ties with MHS
Health Affairs, the Agency for Health
Research and Quality, Johns Hopkins, Indiana
University, Northwestern University, UCLA,
UCSF,
the
University
of
Wisconsin,
Mathematica Policy Research and RAND
Health.
At the UME level, the mission involves a
substantial effort in the clinical skills training
of our medical students. Our staff have
played key roles in developing major
guidelines such as the VA/DoD clinical
practice guidelines on dyslipidemia and
hypertension, medical education innovation
such as ambulatory residency training, and
curriculum development.
At the GME level, our GIM fellowship, led by
Dr. Kevin Douglas, plays a vital role in
developing our leadership workforce in
education, research and administration. Dr.
William Shimeall has ably led a superb
residency program for more than eight years.
Patient Safety Anchors Inpatient Goals
The Division of Hospital Medicine takes pride
in providing excellent healthcare as we
expand our collaboration with Veterans
Affairs
through
the
VA-DoD
sharing
agreement. Both the volume and complexity
of medical cases has increased significantly,
adding meaningfully to our graduate medical
education program.
Our hospitalists continue to work with our
outpatient primary care physicians to ensure
safe transitions of care for patients who are
discharged from the hospital. A focus on
patient safety continued to be a key
cornerstone for inpatient medicine, and
hospitalist staff collaborated with hospital
teams to reduce falls and standardize
admission protocols for patients admitted
with hip fractures. Also, patient safety
reporting events continued to be reviewed by
hospitalist staff,
who used creative solutions
and enhanced communication systems to
mitigate
future
errors
and
prevent
miscommunication.
Finally, our hospitalists piloted an innovative
collaborative project with Pharmacy in 2016
to improve patient education. All IM patients
were automatically scheduled for an
appointment with a clinical pharmacist prior
to a visit with their primary care physician in
order to perform medication reconciliation. A
quality improvement project is currently
evaluating this intervention for improvement
in medication adherence.
Educating medical
residents is a key mission
of Internal Medicine.
Here, Internal Medicine
GME Associate Program
Director Dr. Julie Chen
works with a medical
resident on a Patient-
Centered Medical Home
(PCMH) team, where
teaching on high-quality
preventive medical care
is emphasized.
Opposite page:
In the on-base studio for
a Mindful Minute digital
video recording session.
Internal Medicine plans
to launch the health and
wellness initiative in
January 2017. It will
feature weekly 60-second
podcasts and videos to
help WRB staff develop
and maintain healthy
lifestyles.