Hello MPPDA!

It was great to see so many of you in Las Vegas!  This April was our first official two day meeting focusing on wellness and good care – of our residents, our patients, and ourselves.  I always leave our meetings energized with positivity, and a long to-do list for myself when I get home of new initiatives or new ideas to implement. We have several follow ups from that meeting to post here, and several requests for your input.

Enhancing Networking

  • Speakers Bureau
    • As we mentioned at the meeting, considering inviting an MPPDA colleague to your institution for grand rounds, med-peds conference or a divisional meeting. We have a wealth of experience, and supporting each other’s academic opportunities. Here is the list of MPPDA members and topics they can present – Speaker’s Bureau List.  Please let us know if you have something you would like to add to this list.

Leadership Roles

  •  Here is the list of MPPDA members and the roles they hold in different constituent organizations – MPPDA Leadership Roles in Other Organizations.  If you are interested in similar roles, please each out to them.  Again, if you have anything to add to this list, please let us know.

Putting Names with Faces

  • Here is a link to the updated MPPDA PowerPoint of names and faces by program – WHO WE ARE. We hope to keep this updated to play during the meeting each year to help us get to know each other even better.

MPPDA Member Spotlight

  • We are continuing our ever popular monthly series of MPPDA member spotlight. This is a more in depth introduction to one of our members each month created by LisAnn Verrico, our at-large Membership representative.  Please e-mail LisAnn at [email protected] if you have a nomination for upcoming spotlight members.

Supporting programs

  • Consultation Grant
    • These are available for programs in need or for any institution interested in learning more about how to create a med-peds program. The grants include up to $1000 for travel for a consultant to come to your institution.  The link for applying for a grant is here- consultation grant.

Promoting Scholarship

  • MPPDA Textbook
    • Remember if you are writing a sub-chapter – your draft is due to your chapter editor by June 1st. Please let us know if you have any questions. All other, we are hoping to complete editing over the summer, and planning on a finished  product sometime during next academic year

Denominator Project

  • If you have not sent your list of graduates in, please send them to Andrea Ramirez at [email protected]

Seed Grant

  • These are up to $2000 a piece for medical education research related to the mission or vision of MPPDA. Please consider applying for one of these grants with a resident or junior faculty member. You can apply here: seed grant applications.

Upcoming meeting dates

  • Fall 2016 –AAIM 1st Skill Development Conference
    • October 20-22, Gaylord National, Washington, DC
  • Fall 2016 – APPD
    • Sept 22-24, 2016 – Arlington, VA
  • MPPDA Spring 2017 – April 4-5, 2017 – with APPD April 5-8, 2017
    • Hilton Anaheim, CA
  • APDIM – Spring 2017 – AAIM Week
    • March 19-22, 2017, Baltimore, MD
  • MPPDA – Spring 2018 – with APDIM – TBD.  This will be our first integrated meeting with AAIM Week
  • APPD – Spring 2018 – TBD

Pediatric Hospital Medicine Fellowship Accreditation Application

Lastly, as we learned at the meeting, the ABP has sent the proposal for pediatric hospital medicine fellowship accreditation to ABMS. We have learned the ABMS will ask for open comments from all constituents sometime in mid-May.  The MMPDA Executive Committee plans to send a response to the ABMS similar to what we sent to ABP, but focused slightly differently.  The APB said their priority was to do what was best for hospitalized children.  We plan to focus our comments on why med-peds hospitalists are great for the care of children.  In closing, we plan to address that the workforce and pipeline of med-peds hospitalists could be significantly negatively impacted by this fellowship accreditation moving forward.  We welcome your comments and input, and will post our drafted comments as soon as they are available.

A report of MPPDA 2016 from Dr. Ben Doolittle

Zombies and Flying the Flag of Positivity

“What do zombies, CATCH grants, and remediation have in common?  MPPDA meeting 2016!  We weaved the theme of Wellness with practical “nuts and bolts” of running our programs in our first ever two day national meeting.   Our meeting also featured nationally recognized keynote speakers not directly related to med peds program.  Dr. Kerri Palamara, the Program Director of the Primary Care Medicine program from MGH, shared the details of their coaching program.  She summed up her program by saying, “Fly the flag of positivity.”  Words to live by.  Dr. Michael Bennick, the Associate Chair from Yale’s Department of Medicine, has become an important thought leader in the patient experience.  His presentation combined video, data, and personal vignette to inspire us to think carefully about the messages patients receive from us.  As he lay on the gurney, soon to enter the operating room, he overheard the anesthesiology resident vent to his colleague, “Did you see how packed the schedule is?  Someone is going to die today….”  A chilling message about the words we choose in public spaces.

Perhaps most fruitful were our small group breakout sessions that fostered meaningful conversation – leadership programs, financial education for residents, leveraging small grands, x+y scheduling, and excelling as second in command, and of course our “speed mentoring” wrap up session.  Great stuff all around.

While we have largely adapted to Milestones and X+Y scheduling, there are still challenges for us.  The Med Peds Program from Christiana Care shared the story of recent challenges to their program and the importance of strengthening the standing and value of Med-Peds at your institutions.  Controversy continues also around the emerging pediatric hospitalist program that is working its way through the accreditation process.

Many thanks to all who made the meeting a success – the poster presenters, the workshop leaders, and especially the ongoing enthusiasm of all who came.  Onwards to Anaheim in 2017!” ~ Ben

In closing,

As always, please let us know if there are other topics , tools, or issues you would like to see either on the MPPDA website or discussed in the bulletin, or any other ways the MPPDA executive committee could serve you or your program’s needs.

All Best,

Sandi Moutsios, Russ Kolarik

On behalf of the executive committee

May 2016