I read in this morning's paper that 125 faculty were laid off on Monday. The newspaper staff has filed an open records act request for the list of names. If they are able to obtain that and publish it, I'll post the link here. I know of a few individuals because I've needed to contact them since Monday, but will defer listing them for now in hopes that we can have a complete list and not just the ones I've stumbled across.
Curriculum update: our Cardiology rotation has been worked out. We'll be working on the Cardiology service at TDCJ. Procedure rotation is coming along. I'm waiting on word back from a few individuals before we can finalize a new template for that. Surgical Subspecialties is resolved. Gyn is back. Adult Med is 50% worked out, still trying to establish a faculty contact for the other half. Geri rotation progressing well but I still need to meet with one faculty about a few pieces of that. Pedi ER is resolved.
ER should be available in January. The latest projection on the hospital reopening date is December 9. Today I started working on a backup plan for the R3s in the event we have further delays with that.
Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
faculty RIF
Today has been very painful as we've said goodbye to more of our colleagues and friends.
The impact to the Dept. of FM of the faculty RIF is as follows:
Two faculty who had been recruited or were in the process of being recruited for December and January start dates will not be hired.
Dr. Weaver, Dr. Irwin and Dr. King will be leaving us. Although not official, I heard that Dr. Weaver may be staying on in some volunteer capacity with her POM groups. Dr. King has volunteered to continue to do some attending with the residents. As I hear anything official related to those two items, I will post here.
Also, my friend and right hand man (Assistant Program Director) Ron Williams will have his time reduced to 50%. He and I are in the process of figuring out exactly how we can arrange that to work best for all concerned.
Barbara Ferrell's time will also be reduced to 50%.
Many of our faculty are in dual-career families, and some who were able to retain their jobs in FM were still faced with the loss of their spouse's job.
We all, residents and faculty alike, are clearly saddened by these changes brought to us by Ike. Family Medicine was hit hard and rumor is, other departments took even harder hits. I won't go into details here because it would only be rumor at this point. Most likely you will be able to read about it on the local newspaper website before long.
In other news, the hospital opened briefly this morning, only to close again after a few hours due to air quality concerns as I understand it. I believe the next potential opening date is a week from today.
I am typically a silver-lining kind of person, but I'm having a hard time finding it today. I know I will find it and that I'm just feeling sad about today's events. But I'm going to allow myself to feel sad today and leave it at that. Check back later and I'll let you know about that silver lining. Or lemonade from lemons, or however you want to put it...
The impact to the Dept. of FM of the faculty RIF is as follows:
Two faculty who had been recruited or were in the process of being recruited for December and January start dates will not be hired.
Dr. Weaver, Dr. Irwin and Dr. King will be leaving us. Although not official, I heard that Dr. Weaver may be staying on in some volunteer capacity with her POM groups. Dr. King has volunteered to continue to do some attending with the residents. As I hear anything official related to those two items, I will post here.
Also, my friend and right hand man (Assistant Program Director) Ron Williams will have his time reduced to 50%. He and I are in the process of figuring out exactly how we can arrange that to work best for all concerned.
Barbara Ferrell's time will also be reduced to 50%.
Many of our faculty are in dual-career families, and some who were able to retain their jobs in FM were still faced with the loss of their spouse's job.
We all, residents and faculty alike, are clearly saddened by these changes brought to us by Ike. Family Medicine was hit hard and rumor is, other departments took even harder hits. I won't go into details here because it would only be rumor at this point. Most likely you will be able to read about it on the local newspaper website before long.
In other news, the hospital opened briefly this morning, only to close again after a few hours due to air quality concerns as I understand it. I believe the next potential opening date is a week from today.
I am typically a silver-lining kind of person, but I'm having a hard time finding it today. I know I will find it and that I'm just feeling sad about today's events. But I'm going to allow myself to feel sad today and leave it at that. Check back later and I'll let you know about that silver lining. Or lemonade from lemons, or however you want to put it...
Thursday, November 20, 2008
RIF
Yesterday we lost 7 of our administrative staff in the first wave of the RIF. Some who have been particularly instrumental in Residency Program activities - Dee Ann F., Susan R., Rosie V. and Cassie B. Fortunately, we lost none of our core Residency Admin staff and for that I am extremely grateful.
It is too soon to know the outcome of the clinical services RIF. All clinic employees were pink-slipped today and asked to reapply for a reduced number of jobs over the next two weeks. I still don't know exactly the number of positions that will be listed for FM. Some employees elected not to return to their jobs this morning after they were notified of the decision and process.
Faculty RIF is to occur on next Monday.
It is painful to be here right now and I'm looking forward to the recovery beginning in earnest because enough is enough. Some hopeful signs are that the next potential date for the hospital to reopen is 11/24, pending negative culture results due out tomorrow. We are still scheduled to move from the Fast Track/ER into clinic space in the UHC on 12/3.
And let me lay a rumor to rest... from somewhere there is coming a rumor that we will need to reduce our current residents by 4. NOT TRUE. We have no plans to let any of our current residents go.
We will only be matching for 4 residents for our INCOMING class in the Match this year. We hope to pick up 2 more residents for that class as PGY2 when the time comes. Perhaps this got miscommunicated to become the source of the rumor? I anticipate that we will match for either 6 or 8 in the 2010 Match. We plan to rebuild as quickly as our clinical volume allows.
It is too soon to know the outcome of the clinical services RIF. All clinic employees were pink-slipped today and asked to reapply for a reduced number of jobs over the next two weeks. I still don't know exactly the number of positions that will be listed for FM. Some employees elected not to return to their jobs this morning after they were notified of the decision and process.
Faculty RIF is to occur on next Monday.
It is painful to be here right now and I'm looking forward to the recovery beginning in earnest because enough is enough. Some hopeful signs are that the next potential date for the hospital to reopen is 11/24, pending negative culture results due out tomorrow. We are still scheduled to move from the Fast Track/ER into clinic space in the UHC on 12/3.
And let me lay a rumor to rest... from somewhere there is coming a rumor that we will need to reduce our current residents by 4. NOT TRUE. We have no plans to let any of our current residents go.
We will only be matching for 4 residents for our INCOMING class in the Match this year. We hope to pick up 2 more residents for that class as PGY2 when the time comes. Perhaps this got miscommunicated to become the source of the rumor? I anticipate that we will match for either 6 or 8 in the 2010 Match. We plan to rebuild as quickly as our clinical volume allows.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Ghost Town
Sorry about the disappearing right side bar. It's located way at the bottom of the page. Formatting problem with the links in the previous post that I don't have the time or energy to fix at the moment. And I want those links to stay there, so we'll deal with the format issue until that post rolls off the page.
The layoffs have begun in earnest today. Yesterday 450 employees across campus were notified they were affected. Today it has started in my building. Every employee is being called one by one into the Chairman's office and being told whether they are staying or going. Those who will return are being instructed to leave the building and return at 1:00. Those who are laid off are clearing out their offices and then leaving. The silence is deafening.
The nurses and other clinic staff will officially learn their fate tomorrow, although leaks are numerous and many have already heard through the grapevine. I honestly do not know how we are going to staff our clinics the rest of the week. My first task of the morning was to write letters of recommendation for nurses I can't believe we may not have with us next week.
Faculty will learn how the decision affects us on Friday. There is no question that this will be a different workplace on Monday.
Some decisions about how to handle the situation have been made at high levels that leave me apalled. Everyone knows that the layoff is necessary. But it should have been possible to work through this painful process with dignity and respect.
My Chairman has chosen to handle things much more professionally than what I've seen happening all around me in other areas. Although we don't always see eye-to-eye on things, my respect for my Chairman's professionalism, humanitarianism, and leadership have reached a new high. At least in Family Medicine, for the things we can control, we have continued to act like family, respect one another and act with integrity.
I hold out hope that this is the bottom and from here things improve as we start to rebuild.
The layoffs have begun in earnest today. Yesterday 450 employees across campus were notified they were affected. Today it has started in my building. Every employee is being called one by one into the Chairman's office and being told whether they are staying or going. Those who will return are being instructed to leave the building and return at 1:00. Those who are laid off are clearing out their offices and then leaving. The silence is deafening.
The nurses and other clinic staff will officially learn their fate tomorrow, although leaks are numerous and many have already heard through the grapevine. I honestly do not know how we are going to staff our clinics the rest of the week. My first task of the morning was to write letters of recommendation for nurses I can't believe we may not have with us next week.
Faculty will learn how the decision affects us on Friday. There is no question that this will be a different workplace on Monday.
Some decisions about how to handle the situation have been made at high levels that leave me apalled. Everyone knows that the layoff is necessary. But it should have been possible to work through this painful process with dignity and respect.
My Chairman has chosen to handle things much more professionally than what I've seen happening all around me in other areas. Although we don't always see eye-to-eye on things, my respect for my Chairman's professionalism, humanitarianism, and leadership have reached a new high. At least in Family Medicine, for the things we can control, we have continued to act like family, respect one another and act with integrity.
I hold out hope that this is the bottom and from here things improve as we start to rebuild.
Monday, November 17, 2008
ups and downs
It is SO NICE to have most of the residents back to Galveston, as of today! It's been such a great day having the residents trickle by my office one by one and welcome them home.
Some ongoing challenges... I'm sure many have read by now that UTMB plans to downsize the campus workforce by 3800 FTE sometime this week. There will be impacts to the FM department both in faculty and staff, but to a much lesser extent than many other departments across campus. This is in large part thanks to Dr. Thompson's leadership and the dedicated efforts of our faculty, staff and residents to get back to business as usual, as quickly as possible.
Also, the opening of the hospital has been delayed, probably until the first week or so of December, although no proposed dates have been released as of yet. The last rumor I heard the end of last week was that a medical floor might reopen first, in advance of surgical capability, as the latest delay was caused by poor results on mold/fungal cultures in the ORs.
UTMB has been in the news quite a lot since the announcement of the proposed layoffs. Below are links to some of the recent stories.
Word on the Street
Galveston County Daily News, Nov. 17, 2008
Numerous Letters to the Editor concerning UTMB and its recovery were published calling for restoration of its Level 1 trauma center, establishment of a hospital district and urging state and local officials to support the university. http://galvestondailynews.com/letters.lasso
Docshop says so long, Mary Ann
Galveston County Daily News, Nov. 17, 2008
In her Scenes column, Frances Powell wrote: “Many ’grats to Divafave Mary Ann Ross, who’s retiring from UTMB. Her swansong party at Salsa’s was organized by Pat Reazin and Anna Perez.” http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=92729a3d5b72b60e
Hankins again named a national top doctor
Galveston County Daily News, Nov. 17, 2008
Dr. Gary Hankins, chairman of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at UTMB, was named one of the nation’s best doctors for women for the fourth straight year. The ranking was published in the November issue of Women’s Health. (Link unavailable.)
Galveston biodefense lab was fortress during Ike
Dallas Morning News, Nov. 16, 2008
This article surveys the safety and security measures of the Galveston National Laboratory at UTMB. Reporter Emily Ramshaw wrote, “The nation’s newest mammoth biodefense lab towers like a fortress over this hurricane-battered ghost town, a rare unscathed sight among uprooted palm trees, shattered shop windows and beach homes teetering perilously on warped stilts.”
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-ikeside_16tex.ART.State.Edition1.4a63bc5.html
For health’s sake, take action now
Galveston County Daily News, Nov. 16, 2008
In this editorial, publisher Dolph Tillotson urges Galveston officials to create a countywide health care taxing district to help the county’s health care providers, including UTMB. http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=3184d927c43952e8
Smaller UTMB causes worries
Galveston County Daily News, Nov. 16, 2008
State health care leaders said a plan to downsize UTMB poses vexing questions about the future of Galveston County’s poorest and most traumatically injured patients. David Lopez, CEO of the Harris County Hospital District, said the plan will cause a ripple effect across the Texas health care system, a patchwork of overburdened providers that treat the 30 percent of Texans without insurance.
http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=e5d65e052f4890e6c8545f57966c90b3
UTMB hires Atlanta firm to assist in downsizing
Galveston County Daily News, Nov. 16, 2008
UTMB has hired Kurt Salmon Associates of Atlanta to advise about reshaping UTMB as it cuts as many as 3,800 jobs and downsizes its 550-bed hospital to a 200-bed operation. The company will conduct market, facility and financial analyses of the medical branch.
http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=e6a15dd01f373482
Hospitals jammed since UTMB’s down
Galveston County Daily News, Nov. 15, 2008
Admissions are up 40 percent, emergency room visits have increased by a third and operating rooms are running around the clock at Mainland Medical Center. Since Hurricane Ike ravaged UTMB’s John Sealy Hospital on Sept. 13, admissions at Mainland Medical have jumped, as has demand for other medical services it provides. Likewise, Clear Lake Regional Medical Center in Webster reported a 30 percent increase in hospital admissions while emergency room visits doubled. http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=cfdd17e4506f95c5c8545f57966c90b3
Waco representative fights for isle
Galveston County Daily News, Nov. 15, 2008
During a tour of Galveston Island, U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards said he would encourage FEMA to expedite funding for projects throughout the city to help officials prepare for next year’s tourist season. He also is pushing the agency to fast-track damage reimbursements for UTMB.
http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=cc9665b3336d78ee
UTMB woes back on county agenda
Port Arthur News, Nov. 15, 2008
BEAUMONT – Damage to UTMB continues to reverberate throughout Southeast Texas as counties reconsider medical treatment for uninsured residents. “This is something that is affecting not only Jefferson County, but much of the state in a critical way,” Bo Alfred, Precinct 4 County Commissioner, said. http://www.panews.com/local/local_story_320165336.html
Hospital flooded in storm to cut its staff by a third
New York Times, Nov. 14, 2008
This article summarizes the effect of Hurricane Ike on UTMB and includes comments from a number of UTMB employees, including Karen Sexton, executive vice president and CEO of the UTMB Health System. “We can’t make any promises,” she said, “because we don’t know what’s going to happen. We are committed to getting back into the health care business. We know we have to be a lot smaller right now.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/15/us/15hospital.html?scp=1&sq=%22medical+branch%22&st=nyt
UTMB layoffs may have major ripple effect in Houston hospitals
KTRK-TV (Ch. 13) Houston, Nov. 14, 2008
This report focuses on the effect that UTMB’s layoffs are having on hospitals in the Houston area.
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/video?id=6506299
Some ongoing challenges... I'm sure many have read by now that UTMB plans to downsize the campus workforce by 3800 FTE sometime this week. There will be impacts to the FM department both in faculty and staff, but to a much lesser extent than many other departments across campus. This is in large part thanks to Dr. Thompson's leadership and the dedicated efforts of our faculty, staff and residents to get back to business as usual, as quickly as possible.
Also, the opening of the hospital has been delayed, probably until the first week or so of December, although no proposed dates have been released as of yet. The last rumor I heard the end of last week was that a medical floor might reopen first, in advance of surgical capability, as the latest delay was caused by poor results on mold/fungal cultures in the ORs.
UTMB has been in the news quite a lot since the announcement of the proposed layoffs. Below are links to some of the recent stories.
Word on the Street
Galveston County Daily News, Nov. 17, 2008
Numerous Letters to the Editor concerning UTMB and its recovery were published calling for restoration of its Level 1 trauma center, establishment of a hospital district and urging state and local officials to support the university. http://galvestondailynews.com/letters.lasso
Docshop says so long, Mary Ann
Galveston County Daily News, Nov. 17, 2008
In her Scenes column, Frances Powell wrote: “Many ’grats to Divafave Mary Ann Ross, who’s retiring from UTMB. Her swansong party at Salsa’s was organized by Pat Reazin and Anna Perez.” http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=92729a3d5b72b60e
Hankins again named a national top doctor
Galveston County Daily News, Nov. 17, 2008
Dr. Gary Hankins, chairman of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at UTMB, was named one of the nation’s best doctors for women for the fourth straight year. The ranking was published in the November issue of Women’s Health. (Link unavailable.)
Galveston biodefense lab was fortress during Ike
Dallas Morning News, Nov. 16, 2008
This article surveys the safety and security measures of the Galveston National Laboratory at UTMB. Reporter Emily Ramshaw wrote, “The nation’s newest mammoth biodefense lab towers like a fortress over this hurricane-battered ghost town, a rare unscathed sight among uprooted palm trees, shattered shop windows and beach homes teetering perilously on warped stilts.”
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-ikeside_16tex.ART.State.Edition1.4a63bc5.html
For health’s sake, take action now
Galveston County Daily News, Nov. 16, 2008
In this editorial, publisher Dolph Tillotson urges Galveston officials to create a countywide health care taxing district to help the county’s health care providers, including UTMB. http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=3184d927c43952e8
Smaller UTMB causes worries
Galveston County Daily News, Nov. 16, 2008
State health care leaders said a plan to downsize UTMB poses vexing questions about the future of Galveston County’s poorest and most traumatically injured patients. David Lopez, CEO of the Harris County Hospital District, said the plan will cause a ripple effect across the Texas health care system, a patchwork of overburdened providers that treat the 30 percent of Texans without insurance.
http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=e5d65e052f4890e6c8545f57966c90b3
UTMB hires Atlanta firm to assist in downsizing
Galveston County Daily News, Nov. 16, 2008
UTMB has hired Kurt Salmon Associates of Atlanta to advise about reshaping UTMB as it cuts as many as 3,800 jobs and downsizes its 550-bed hospital to a 200-bed operation. The company will conduct market, facility and financial analyses of the medical branch.
http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=e6a15dd01f373482
Hospitals jammed since UTMB’s down
Galveston County Daily News, Nov. 15, 2008
Admissions are up 40 percent, emergency room visits have increased by a third and operating rooms are running around the clock at Mainland Medical Center. Since Hurricane Ike ravaged UTMB’s John Sealy Hospital on Sept. 13, admissions at Mainland Medical have jumped, as has demand for other medical services it provides. Likewise, Clear Lake Regional Medical Center in Webster reported a 30 percent increase in hospital admissions while emergency room visits doubled. http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=cfdd17e4506f95c5c8545f57966c90b3
Waco representative fights for isle
Galveston County Daily News, Nov. 15, 2008
During a tour of Galveston Island, U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards said he would encourage FEMA to expedite funding for projects throughout the city to help officials prepare for next year’s tourist season. He also is pushing the agency to fast-track damage reimbursements for UTMB.
http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=cc9665b3336d78ee
UTMB woes back on county agenda
Port Arthur News, Nov. 15, 2008
BEAUMONT – Damage to UTMB continues to reverberate throughout Southeast Texas as counties reconsider medical treatment for uninsured residents. “This is something that is affecting not only Jefferson County, but much of the state in a critical way,” Bo Alfred, Precinct 4 County Commissioner, said. http://www.panews.com/local/local_story_320165336.html
Hospital flooded in storm to cut its staff by a third
New York Times, Nov. 14, 2008
This article summarizes the effect of Hurricane Ike on UTMB and includes comments from a number of UTMB employees, including Karen Sexton, executive vice president and CEO of the UTMB Health System. “We can’t make any promises,” she said, “because we don’t know what’s going to happen. We are committed to getting back into the health care business. We know we have to be a lot smaller right now.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/15/us/15hospital.html?scp=1&sq=%22medical+branch%22&st=nyt
UTMB layoffs may have major ripple effect in Houston hospitals
KTRK-TV (Ch. 13) Houston, Nov. 14, 2008
This report focuses on the effect that UTMB’s layoffs are having on hospitals in the Houston area.
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/video?id=6506299
Friday, November 07, 2008
checking out new space
Today I got to go look at our proposed new clinic space. I was less than enthusiastic. We are so spoiled, having been in such a nice clinic up until hurricane Ike. The new space will work. I think. It's just not great.
We are to have 15 exam rooms and the two team rooms (precepting rooms) are each about half as big as in our previous space, which already felt pretty cramped. There is no room for medical students and very little room for faculty.
As we're walking the space, the clinic director says to the group that we need to look on the bright side. It took about half an hour for anybody to figure out what that was. And this is what we came up with:
It's better than the Fast Track in the ER, which is where we are currently seeing patients.
It's closer to the hospital than our previous clinic space, so more convenient in that way.
The waiting area is much nicer than in our old clinic.
And there is a beautiful view of Old Red from the registration area.
At least there's something good about it.
We are to have 15 exam rooms and the two team rooms (precepting rooms) are each about half as big as in our previous space, which already felt pretty cramped. There is no room for medical students and very little room for faculty.
As we're walking the space, the clinic director says to the group that we need to look on the bright side. It took about half an hour for anybody to figure out what that was. And this is what we came up with:
It's better than the Fast Track in the ER, which is where we are currently seeing patients.
It's closer to the hospital than our previous clinic space, so more convenient in that way.
The waiting area is much nicer than in our old clinic.
And there is a beautiful view of Old Red from the registration area.
At least there's something good about it.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
faculty presentations
For STFM Annual Spring Conference 2009 in Denver CO:
Outcomes of a Texas Family Medicine Residency Rural Training Track: 2000 – 2008
Nash LR, Olson MM, Caskey JW, Thompson BL (scholastic poster)
Osteopathic Medicine: Contributions for The Future of Family Medicine
Nash LR, et. al. (1 day pre-conference session) (also includes Sierpina VS, Curka PA)
Portfolio Smorgasbord: Exploring Portfolio Experiences From Across The Country
Kulie T, et. al. (includes Williams RE) (3 hour theme session)
Integrative Medicine In Residency Curriculum: First Year Implementation And Evaluation
Lebensohn P, et. al. (includes Sierpina VS) (90 minute seminar)
Contributions of Community-based Preceptors to The Family Medicine Clerkship Curriculum
Bulik RJ, Wright DP (scholastic poster)
Supplementing Student Experiential Learning At Community-Based Training Sites
Bulik RJ (special topic breakfast)
Outcomes of a Texas Family Medicine Residency Rural Training Track: 2000 – 2008
Nash LR, Olson MM, Caskey JW, Thompson BL (scholastic poster)
Osteopathic Medicine: Contributions for The Future of Family Medicine
Nash LR, et. al. (1 day pre-conference session) (also includes Sierpina VS, Curka PA)
Portfolio Smorgasbord: Exploring Portfolio Experiences From Across The Country
Kulie T, et. al. (includes Williams RE) (3 hour theme session)
Integrative Medicine In Residency Curriculum: First Year Implementation And Evaluation
Lebensohn P, et. al. (includes Sierpina VS) (90 minute seminar)
Contributions of Community-based Preceptors to The Family Medicine Clerkship Curriculum
Bulik RJ, Wright DP (scholastic poster)
Supplementing Student Experiential Learning At Community-Based Training Sites
Bulik RJ (special topic breakfast)
national conference presentations accepted!
Congratulations to the Drs. Melendez on the acceptance of their scholastic poster for presentation at the STFM Annual Conference next spring! The title of their poster is "Community Medicine Program In Co-occurring Substance Abuse, Psychiatry Disorders And Primary Care, a Tri-service Model".
Good work!
Monday, November 03, 2008
opportunities to help
The Texas Medical Association is hosting a fund drive for UTMB medical students. Click here to review the call and donation instructions.
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