letter to our applicants

So… what about Hurricane Ike?!

This is a very good question you might ask yourself and us in relation to residency training at UTMB – Galveston!

What I can tell you at this point is that the Family Medicine Residency Program in Galveston is continuing. We have for many years been fortunate to have available to us community hospitals in the area for several of our core rotations, as well as electives. Thanks to our off-campus sites and community preceptors, the FMRP experienced the least disruption in training probably of all the UTMB GME programs. Our residents were back on clinical rotations within one week of landfall, although many chose to rotate out of the immediate Houston-Galveston area for one or two rotation blocks, due to housing and personal family needs. No delays in graduation related to the storm are anticipated.

We don’t yet know exactly what the future of the clinical enterprise on campus will look like. Possibilities range from the establishment of essentially a 200 – 250 bed community hospital to as much as full recovery (650+ beds) although I think what eventually will come to pass probably lies somewhere in the middle. Campus-based rotations continue to come back online as time passes and various departments make progress in the recovery effort.

The future location of our Family Medicine Center (outpatient clinic) remains under negotiation. The two most likely contenders seem to be 1) in the University Health Clinics building near the ER or 2) that our Primary Care Pavilion clinic will be refurbished. If the long-term decision is option #2, we may temporarily be housed in the UHC until the PCP is ready for our return. At present, we are temporarily located in the Fast Track area adjacent to the ER. The only thing I can tell you for sure is that we won’t be staying there!

Now, why should you come here? If you enjoy building things, consider yourself a pioneer or adventurer, have a strong sense of personal responsibility and professionalism and are flexible and innovative in making the most of a wide variety of learning experiences, this may be the program for you! While many of our core rotation experiences remain stable, we intend to take this opportunity to reevaluate our curriculum as a whole and reinvent ourselves to our best potential in the coming few years. Sometimes change occurs slowly and incrementally and sometimes it occurs quickly in big ways. It would be a shame not to capitalize on this opportunity for amazing progress and we don’t intend to miss it. Come join us and be a part of reinventing our future!

Lisa R. Nash, DO, FAAFP
Program Director

interviews

5 brave souls who are not afraid of a challenge have signed up for interviews since we started inviting applicants last week! We are so excited to begin looking FORWARD and planning for the future, beyond our immediate recovery timeframe.

In further news, OB and Adult ER rotations at UTMB return to our schedule in block 6 (November 17) and we're excited about that too. This is "hot off the press" news, just learned today.

News about the FM Clinic and HOS service

This morning’s update from Dr. Thompson included the news that the UHC building is currently targeted to be restored to service first, before the PCP. Most likely this means that our clinic will move to the UHC at least temporarily but possibly “permanently” (whatever “permanently” means…). Currently, the belief is that faculty offices, conference room space, etc. will remain in the 2nd floor of the PCP. Timeframe undetermined. I have sent an email to the powers that be requesting to be included in the decisions regarding our clinical space and also informing them of our RRC requirements. I will be looking forward to the opportunity to be involved in those ongoing negotiations.

The better news is that the first med/surg unit at JOHN SEALY is scheduled to open November 10, in time for us to resume our hospital service in block 6!! We have been promised beds, although I don’t have an exact number yet. As you know, L&D and NBN are already functional. I’m told no decisions have been made yet regarding pedi beds.

Last week we saw about 370 outpatient visits in our various locations, but mostly at Stewart Road. This is excellent, with steady increases in demand occurring every day. It is possible that I may put some R3s back into continuity clinics in this block even, so stay tuned! FYI, 370 would be about 50% of our normal volume for this time of year and is excellent under the circumstances. The key question is where will the demand level out? I’ve been saying all along that one of my indicators would be school enrollment. Last week while I was at Ball High for prenatal clinic, I learned that about 60% of GISD students have returned.

Today when I drove in, I noticed that almost all of the trash and debris has been removed from Holiday Drive between Seawall and Harborside. I got phone service at my house late yesterday afternoon. No DSL, but I do have telephone. And somebody (FEMA, the city?) picked up my stinky freezer full of rotten food from the alley. You may have seen that the curfew was lifted for all but part of the Strand and downtown areas a little over a week ago. The last Red Cross shelter on the island is closing today.

Slow but steady improvement all over the island is evident. We continue to await news from Dr. Callendar about the future of UTMB as a whole but at least I can say all things considered, FM is in about the best position we can be. Our programs are all functioning and we are serving our patients. Our students and residents are completing their educational experiences and we are going about our business.

Updated recruiting information

Please see the link to the right regarding Info for Applicants 2009, as the information has been updated to reflect our current status related to recovery from hurricane Ike.

Also, our new website has launched and the link to the right has been updated, so check out our new look and available information!

Relocating

We will close down our temporary office in Fort Worth tomorrow afternoon. Effective Monday, you can reach us at our usual telephone numbers in Galveston.

progress!

Wow, finally some exciting news to report!

There is a preliminary prediction (unconfirmed as of yet) that the PCP 2nd floor (NOT the clinics) will reopen next week, which would allow the Residency Program faculty and staff to be all located in one place. Our usual place. It's so hard to believe.

I read on the UTMB updates today that MS1 and MS2 return to classes has been delayed to 10/20.

There are still tremendous difficulties with lack of housing. Dr. Triana is on the island now and will be actively seeking out opportunities for our residents, so watch for email from her. I've asked Becky to contact various island daycares and check on their status and openings, so if you have childcare needs, watch for emails from her too.

Our SRFH location is still expected to reopen this week (mobile units there now, faculty seeing patients) and we hope to have two residents there in block 5 for FM outpatient rotations.

Various favorite restaurants and businesses are starting to reopen... I've heard Casey's, Fishtails, Chili's and NY Pizza have all reopened for lunch service.

Program faculty have begun preliminary discussions about recruiting for the 2009 Match and we will have definitive plans in the next couple of weeks. At this point, we're thinking about recruiting for a smaller class, somewhere in the 4 to 6 range with the option to pick up some PGY2 residents in the following cycle. We may be able to locate hotel rooms for the applicants in Houston, which will make the process simpler. Most likely we will not begin interview until at the earliest the first week in November.

That's all for now, but watch the UTMB website, this blog and email for further updates! Things are beginning to happen faster now.