SHARE - Department of Medicine
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8/4/2020 DOM Update 07/29/20 https://myemail.constantcontact.com/DOM-Update-07-29-20.html?soid=1134260919417&aid=kCYpBzjL60I 1/11 SHARE: Join Our Email List Dear Colleagues, Can I tell you how proud I am of Nashville? Like the rest of the South (now I know we are called the Sun Belt, even though it has been raining), we saw a steep rise in cases with the peak of summer holidays, but with increased public awareness and smart applicaon of social distancing, we are seeing a definite trend back at least to the baseline we were operang with in May and June and an R-0 dipping below 1.0. That trend is in no small part due to the diligence of people like you…carrying the torch by wearing masks, teaching your kids and family members how to get by in a socially distant world, washing your hands visibly and with intenon, and handing out pumps of hand sanizer to everyone you see. I hope that in the new world, when any bug is coming around or we see spikes in seasonal bugs, that we connue to be able to reduce transmission risks. It takes pracce to change habits. There is a lot of commentary on the internet about how long it takes to change a habit. Some say 2 weeks or 21 days, but most experts seem to agree that it takes 90 days or more to make a habit become a roune. We’re there. Does it seem normal now to wear a mask in public? I forgot mine the other day, and I felt like I was missing some key arcle of clothing. We are already accustomed to hand sanize walking into and out of a paent room, but consider how your hand hygiene has changed in the last 90 days. Let’s hope these changes are also becoming habits for the rest of Nashville and the world. We will be praccing this for a while, and no joke, this is hard. There are a million silver linings in a shared experience like this, however. These habits, along with others about visibly demonstrang our service in the community, opening up our doors to paents and being available via telehealth, shiing our protocols toward efficient service,
Transcript of SHARE - Department of Medicine
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SHARE:
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Dear Colleagues,
Can I tell you how proud I am of Nashville? Like the rest of the South (now I know we arecalled the Sun Belt, even though it has been raining), we saw a steep rise in cases withthe peak of summer holidays, but with increased public awareness and smart applica�onof social distancing, we are seeing a definite trend back at least to the baseline we wereopera�ng with in May and June and an R-0 dipping below 1.0. That trend is in no smallpart due to the diligence of people like you…carrying the torch by wearing masks,teaching your kids and family members how to get by in a socially distant world, washingyour hands visibly and with inten�on, and handing out pumps of hand sani�zer toeveryone you see.
I hope that in the new world, when any bug is coming around or we see spikes inseasonal bugs, that we con�nue to be able to reduce transmission risks. It takes prac�ceto change habits. There is a lot of commentary on the internet about how long it takes tochange a habit. Some say 2 weeks or 21 days, but most experts seem to agree that ittakes 90 days or more to make a habit become a rou�ne. We’re there. Does it seemnormal now to wear a mask in public? I forgot mine the other day, and I felt like I wasmissing some key ar�cle of clothing. We are already accustomed to hand sani�ze walkinginto and out of a pa�ent room, but consider how your hand hygiene has changed in thelast 90 days. Let’s hope these changes are also becoming habits for the rest of Nashvilleand the world.
We will be prac�cing this for a while, and no joke, this is hard. There are a million silverlinings in a shared experience like this, however. These habits, along with others aboutvisibly demonstra�ng our service in the community, opening up our doors to pa�entsand being available via telehealth, shi�ing our protocols toward efficient service,
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problem solving with our unit staff, providing professional content knowledge to ourreferring and partnering providers, sharing responsibility with our colleagues inside andoutside the department, adap�ng to more rapid and open lines of communica�on, andinten�onally approaching problems with mul�disciplinary and diverse teams will becri�cal to our long-term sustainability and success as a top-�er department andins�tu�on.
Yesterday the US News and World rankings came out, and we saw gains in our rankingsfor Diabetes/Endocrinology, Cardiovascular Medicine, and Allergy/Pulmonary.Nephrology stayed strong at #10 this year. The ins�tu�on as a whole made a strongshowing as well, and while the website only reports the top 20, our score would rank usat #22, and based on reputa�on we placed among the top in the country. Congratula�ons , and a pause to thank the team that works to keep up with thesemetrics. It is important to remember that rankings this year are based on data largelyfrom circa 2018. I look forward to seeing how we compare when 2020 is the year tomatch. I’m not a believer in doing things for purely the sake of this ranking, unless thework is aligned with what we need to do for our stakeholders—pa�ents in the case ofhospital rankings and trainees in the case of school of medicine rankings. One of the bestways we can con�nue to rise is by making people aware of and able to access ourofferings as specialists.
Access to care will be a priority for 2020, to learn from our COVID-19 prac�ce to be evenmore pa�ent-focused, to find ways to meet their needs when and where they areneeded, and to be recognized as a hospital that provides the excep�onal level ofexper�se in ways that are moving the field forward and responsive to our pa�ent base—in Nashville, in our surrounding region, and na�onally. This will be another team effort,from the people who answer the phone or book the appointment, to the clinic teamsmapping out the templates and room u�liza�on to accommodate seeing pa�ents inperson and virtually, and possibly around a whole na�on of home-schoolers. We canmake an impact here, and we have shown that when we have one mission we can moveci�es and mountains.
My deepest thanks for all that you do.
Kim
Follow us on Twitter!@KimrynRathmell@VUMC_Medicine
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MEDICINE GRAND ROUNDS LIVESTREAM LINK
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A new podcast— Vanderbilt Health DNA: Discoveries in Ac�on —will be launching in the comingweeks. Click here to see the trailer and subscribe!
DNA is a 10-episode show that dives into vaccines; technologies and visions shaping how and whenpeople get care; unconscious bias; health equity; imposter syndrome; neurosurgery; COVID-19; thevanguard of imagining the future of inclusive and diverse care and health systems; REDCap, andmore.
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Summary of Major Literature Related to COVID-19(July 13-July 27)
Department of Medicine Website
Mission StatementOur Mission is to inspire interest in the prevention of disease and the promotion of human health, to cultivatebiomedical discovery, and educate tomorrow's leaders for internal medicine. We especially seek thosephysicians who provide compassionate care while translating new knowledge into meaningful improvementsin health outcome.
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This application of science to medicine is enhanced by interdisciplinary collaboration, fiscal responsibility,advancement of social and intellectual diversity, commitment to self-learning, and a professionalismdedicated to teamwork and collegiality. These values promote the best interests of internal medicine atVanderbilt and further strengthen our social contract with the community we serve.
Additional links:
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center
Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute (VHVI) Newsletter
DISCOVER Newsletter
