It’s a busy time of year for graduate medical education at the University of Florida College of Medicine – Jacksonville. Recruitment for incoming fellows and resident physicians took place over several months. The fellowship match occurred in December, and we have a great group joining our subspecialty fellowship programs.

In March, we learned 88 new residents will soon begin training here. The news came during Match Day, when graduating medical students around the country and abroad find out where they will head for residency. Our incoming class — who will train across the college’s 13 core residency programs — includes 46 men and 42 women and represents 18 states and three countries. It’s an exciting time for all involved.

ACCREDITATION

Since the last graduate medical education update in Academic Matters, we received notification of the accreditation of three new programs: hematology and medical oncology, ophthalmology and urology. All of our accredited programs submitted updates to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education’s Accreditation Data System, or ADS. The council’s review committees evaluate programs annually based on our electronic submission of data through ADS, as well as data from the council’s annual resident and faculty surveys. This process was implemented as part of the Next Accreditation System that began several years ago.

Our programs have recently received notification from their review committees of continued accreditation, which is great news. One of our programs, radiology, recently had its 10-year self-study accreditation site visit. We will receive notification of the results later this year. This is the first 10-year visit our institution has had.

We also received notification of continued accreditation for the institution. We continue to review our ACGME-accredited programs annually, having completed this year’s review in the fall. These robust reviews are conducted by a subcommittee of the Graduate Medical Education Committee, which includes seasoned program directors, hospital staff and resident representatives.

Over the past year, we appointed Firas Madbak, M.D., as director of the surgical critical care fellowship program. With new leadership in the departments of ophthalmology and urology, applications for new programs in these two disciplines were submitted to their review committees in December. The ACGME conducted initial accreditation site visits in February and has since approved both programs, whose directors are preparing to welcome new residents in July.

EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND SCHOLARSHIP

Colleen Kalynych, Ed.D., joined the Office of Educational Affairs in July 2018. She has been actively assessing the needs of our residency and fellowship programs — and our institution, as a whole — to develop a robust strategic plan to facilitate educational scholarship and faculty development. Also, Kalynych; Carol Diachun, M.D., M.S.Ed.; and David Chesire, Ph.D., received a Martin Smith Quality and Safety Award to develop a peer support program.

ACGME CONFERENCE

Many of our faculty and program coordinators recently attended the ACGME’s 2019 Annual Educational Conference in Orlando. The theme was Engaging Each Other: Rediscovering Meaning in Medicine. More than 4,000 people attended.

Ayesha Mirza, M.D., director of the pediatric residency program, presented a poster titled “100% Faculty Development Compliance-Impossible: No It Can Be Done, Miracles Do Happen!!” Before the conference began, Leslie Caulder and Denise West from the Office of Educational Affairs facilitated roundtable discussions on institutional accreditation and site visit preparation at the program coordinators meeting.

OUTSTANDING RESIDENT TEACHERS

A number of our residents were recognized March 13 as outstanding teachers during Medical Education Week in Gainesville. Please offer your congratulations when you see them. They are:

• Michael Ibrahim, M.D., anesthesiology
• Marsela Hyska Campbell, D.O., diagnostic radiology
• Robert Jiang, M.D., emergency medicine
• Ashley Thomas, M.D., internal medicine
• Samuel Giles, M.D., neurology
• Stevie Bennett, M.D., obstetrics and gynecology
• Robert Palmer, M.D., orthopaedic surgery
• Noor Marji, M.D., pathology
• Veronica Diaz Vidal, M.D., pediatrics
• Daniel Lewis, M.D., psychiatry
• Brent Richardson, M.D., surgery

In addition, 107 College of Medicine – Jacksonville faculty have been named Exemplary Teachers and will be recognized at the Celebration of Education festivities in June.

PHYSICIAN WELLNESS

Last, but no less important than recruitment and accreditation, are the ongoing efforts to address physician wellness. Well-being was a prominent theme at the ACGME’s educational conference and continues to be a focus for our institution. The ACGME now requires institutions, in partnership with their programs, to address well-being of residents, fellows and faculty. This includes education in symptoms of burnout and depression, as well as tools for self-screening and access to confidential, affordable mental health services.

Chesire has been appointed director of our campus’ Center for Healthy Minds and Practice. This is an important step to address burnout and wellness. Many of our programs have innovative ways to address the challenge of an appropriate work-life balance. This helps ensure healthier physicians who have greater job satisfaction and provide safe, high-quality patient care.