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July 11, 2018
PEER SUPPORT
for the MMC Medical Staff
Physician leader: Christine Irish, MD
Confidential • One-on-One • Peer Support
FEATURED ARTICLES
  • Medical Executive Committee Nominations
  • Preventing Hypoglycemia in Hospitalized Patients
  • Where the Ticks Are Biting

Scroll down to read these and other new articles.
Letter from Joel and Lisa
Dear Members of the Maine Medical Center Medical Staff ,

We grieve the recent death of our colleague, Dr. Randy Darby. He had a remarkable influence as a friend, teacher and leader. He will be long remembered and honored, especially in the departments of Anesthesia, Medical Education and at the Center for Safety, Innovation and Simulation. Many in our community gathered for his memorial service to say our goodbyes. There was an outpouring of love and support for his family and friends. Our sympathy and support will continue on behalf of Dr. Darby’s wife and daughters.

July brings both goodbyes and hellos…
Planning ahead to say hello to new Med Staff leadership and representation, we ask you all to please submit your nominations by July 27 for the upcoming election. Send names to medstaff@mmc.org . See more details below.

This issue highlights July’s cycles of change: welcoming new students, residents, faculty and staff, while saying goodbye to graduates, as well as longtime leaders and colleagues.


"Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."
- Robert F. Kennedy, Cape Town, South Africa, 1966

Submit a quote to thescope@mmc.org .

Clinical Topics
Medical Executive Committee Nominations – Allied Health Professionals
By Cindy Boyack, MD, Chair, Medical Staff Nominating Committee, and Jonathan Lowrance, CRNA, AHP Rep, Medical Executive Committee
The Nominating Committee of the MMC Medical Staff has convened to begin the election process for upcoming vacant positions on the Medical Executive Committee (MEC). It is time for the allied staff members to nominate and elect a new representative to the MEC to replace your outgoing representative Jonathan Lowrance, CRNA.

Medical Executive Committee Nominations – Physician Staff
By Cindy Boyack, MD, Chair, Nominating Committee; Lisa Almeder, MD, Medical Staff President; Christopher Cary, MD, President-Elect; Steve Hess, MD, Treasurer
The Nominating Committee of the Medical Staff is seeking to create a slate of nominees to be elected representatives to the Medical Executive Committee. This committee is your representative body that convenes monthly to do the work of the Medical Staff, as well as to advise and collaborate with hospital leadership on a variety of issues.

Hello, New Residents; Goodbye Dr. Bates

 Peter Bates, MD, Senior Vice President, Chief Academic Officer, Academic Dean, Tufts University School of Medicine Maine Medical Center Program, welcomed a new group of residents to Maine Med on June 19.

Dr. Bates, who is retiring this month, has been welcoming our residents every year since 1999. This year he told the new doctors their job is to bring joy and meaning to medicine, and to dedicate themselves toward improving our health care system.
RIMM Program Offers Rural Track for IM Residents
By Tom Gearan, MD, Program Director, MMC IM Residency Program
The Rural Internal Medicine Maine (RIMM) track is a first-of-its-kind training program designed to provide residents with the skills and confidence to transition directly from IM residency to general internal medicine practice in a rural Maine community. The program is a partnership between MMC and Western Maine Health (WMH), and builds off the strong tradition of medical education at WMH, which has included the TUSM-MMC “Maine Track” rural Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship and the rural rotation for MMC IM residents.

Preventing Hypoglycemia in Hospitalized Patients
By Dan Meyer, MD, Associate Medicine Director
Patients with diabetes make up approximately 25 percent of the patient population at Maine Medical Center every day. Their care can be complicated, and often glucose control can be significantly disrupted by acute medical issues or the complexity of the inpatient environment. This puts them at risk for both hyper- and hypoglycemia both of which have been associated with worse outcomes in various clinical contexts such as stroke, acute MI and post-operative infection rates.

MaineHealth ACO 2017 Annual Report
By Elizabeth H. Johnson, MD, MS, FACP, President and CEO, MaineHealth ACO
I'm proud to announce the publication of the MaineHealth Accountable Care Organization's (ACO) 2017 online annual report , an exciting and accessible tool for exploring how the ACO is building bridges to value-based care. “Building bridges” is in fact the theme of the report, and in it you'll discover how we're building bridges between sites of care, between primary care and specialist providers, between the clinical and social components of health and much more. It's an informative and engaging read.

Where the Ticks Are Biting
By Lisa Almeder, M.D., Medical Staff President
There is a lot to know about tick-borne diseases to take good care of the patients in our region. Not only is the incidence of tick-borne disease increasing, new ones are being identified. I encourage you to get up to speed on this very timely topic given its impact on our population, the increasing epidemic and the need to recognize and make the right diagnosis.

Please use the following resources to learn more about preventing tick bites and diagnosing tick-borne disease...


Photo Credit: CDC
Thank You Dr. Bill Williams
We wish Dr. Bill Williams the best in his retirement. We are grateful for his long service on the staff, his dedication to clinical care and public health and his recent leadership as Associate CMO. His legacy is one of principled commitment to quality and attention to detail. His colleagues gave him a send-off entailing a few details -- make that many "sticky" (note) details .
New Vice President of Medical Affairs and Associate Chief Medical Officer Named
Adrian Moran, MD, has been named Maine Medical Center's new Vice President of Medical Affairs and Associate Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Moran will formally step into his new role on August 13, 2018.

Anesthesiology Changes Staffing Model, Minimizes Hand-Offs for Better Outcomes
By David Warters, MD, Chief of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine
Beginning January 1, 2018, our anesthesiology group implemented a new system whereby we divided our anesthesiologists into MMC and Community hospital “pods.” By establishing MMC core faculty, we decreased the number of anesthesiologists practicing at MMC by approximately 30 percent. Consistent staffing is facilitating our evolution towards more sub-specialization and enabling us to establish standardized clinical pathways.

Advocating for the Children of Migrants and Asylum Seekers
By Lesley B. Gordon, MD, MS, Internal Medicine
As medical professionals, we play a fundamental role in advocating for our patients’ -- and by extension -- the community’s human rights. The Trump administration signed an Executive Order on June 20 ending their practice of separating migrant and asylum-seeking children from their parents.

Make the Most of Interdisciplinary Care Rounds
By Christopher Wellins, MD, MS, FACP, Senior Medical Director of Utilization Management, and Mary McNulty, MSN, RN, CCM, Senior Director, Care Management & Interpreter Services
The co-champions of the 2018 AIP goal of “Reducing Hospital Avoidable Patient Days by 5 percent.” have developed this educational video showing best practices for Interdisciplinary Care Rounds (IDCRs), a major tool that is helping us deliver on this goal.

Epic Optimization Progress Report
By Marcy Dunn, Chief Information Officer, and Jackie Cawley, DO, Chief Medical Information Officer
To learn and keep up with the many and changing features of the EMR is not easy. We know we can make improvements to better support you in the care of your patients.

SeHR Shorts
By Donna Morong, R.N., Manager of Clinical Informatics – Medical Affairs
In this edition:
  • IPACE Progress Note
  • SmartLink for Generating Problem Oriented Charting
  • Physician/APP Refresher & Efficiency Classes
  • MMC Inpatient Provider Support Line
Care Team Well Being
Reducing Stress and Burnout Workshop
Brown Bag Series for Med Staff, Residents and Fellows
The Brown Bag discussion series has planned a deliberate break in July and August, and will return in September.
Monthly Lunchtime Mindfulness and Meditation
Publications, Achievements and Recognition
William Dexter, M.D., Honored by Society of American College of Sports Medicine
Faculty Appointments and Promotions
Events and Important Dates
Beach to Beacon Volunteers Needed
Medical Staff Dinners
We Want Your Article Submissions
Your participation is essential to making The Scope a dynamic and sustainable publication. Please submit articles of 250-300 words to thescope@mmc.org . Include practitioner’s byline with title, credentials and appropriate contact for further information. We publish on the first Wednesday of each month, all submissions are due one week prior to publication. Learn more.

Medical Staff Value, Mission and Vision Statements
Value Statement
The Medical Staff of Maine Medical Center values both individuality and collaboration. We will continually pursue higher value health care. We embrace a culture of curiosity and life-long learning. We are partners with Maine Medical Center, and we mirror its values of compassion, service, integrity, respect, and stewardship.
 
Mission Statement
The Mission of the Medical Staff of Maine Medical Center is to provide affordable, high-quality health care to our community. We teach future health care providers and develop innovative ways to improve the health of our community. In partnership with the Medical Center, we proudly accept our responsibility as one of Maine’s leaders in patient care, education, and research.
 
Vision Statement
The Medical Staff of Maine Medical Center will be the driving force within Maine Medical Center leading the way to making Maine the healthiest state in the nation.