DEPARTMENT OF FAMILY MEDICINE NEWSLETTER
April 23, 2008
************ TOPICS IN THIS ISSUE ************

1. Notes from the Chair

2. 2008 Residency Match

3. Research Section
Family Medicine at the 21st Annual Northwest
Regional Rural Health Conference

4. Network Section
Network Digital Resource Library

5. Sports Medicine Fellowship
Current Fellow Staying on; New Fellow Matched

6. Awards

7. Publications and Presentations

8. Calendar of Events

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1. NOTES FROM THE CHAIR

Whenever I read about all the presentations and activities going on in the Department I am truly amazed. The programs and achievements in this Newsletter are no exception. The Department has much to celebrate in the last couple of months. In addition to the excellent Match results, we learned that the Department had been awarded the #1 status in Family Medicine by U.S. News and World Report for the 17th consecutive year. The University of Washington School of Medicine was rated #1 in Family Medicine, #1 in Rural Health for the 17th consecutive year, and #1 in Primary Care for the 15th consecutive year. The School is also unique in being ranked in the top 10 in all specialties and #6 in research, with NIH funding second only to Harvard.

While these kinds of rankings always need to be taken with some skepticism and perspective, it is likewise true that they bring considerable attention to the Department and the UW School of Medicine. People all over the world notice the rankings and are curious about what is going on here in the Pacific Northwest. No one can deny that one of the major factors that contributes to the success of the Department is its five-state regional impact. This ranges from the efforts of folks involved in the Departmental efforts of teaching and research here in Seattle to the efforts of 773 clinical faculty and others who are involved in teaching medical students and residents in the five WWAMI states. In just a few days, I will be speaking at a conference on the Characteristics of Highly Successful Departments of Family Medicine at an STFM pre-conference in Baltimore, Md. I’ll be sharing how the UW’s affiliated Network of 18 Family Medicine residencies is one program that is contributing to the success of our Department. Sometimes in our day-to-day struggles with work it is difficult to see the forest for the trees. However, I want to thank each and every person associated with the Department for helping us to grow such a great forest and achieve this honor.

David P. Losh, MD
Professor and Acting Chair

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2. 2008 RESIDENCY MATCH

The Residency Match took place this year on March 20. Twenty-four students from the UW graduating class of 2008 matched in family medicine, or 14% of graduating students. Two students from previous graduating classes also matched in family medicine, and one student has matched in family medicine on a contingency basis.

The UW Family Medicine Residency Network filled 98% of its positions through the match. Fifteen graduating and two previous-year students matched at positions offered within the Network. The Network programs that matched UW students are Swedish First Hill (2), Montana Family Practice Residency (1), Providence St. Peter’s Residency (2), Family Medicine Spokane (2), Family Practice Residency of Idaho, Boise (4), Alaska Family Medicine Residency (3), Central Washington Family Medicine (1), and Valley Medical Center (2).

According to the AAFP, 2008 marks the first time in over a decade that the number of US seniors participating and matching in family medicine shows an increase over the previous year. Across the nation, 2,387 positions in family medicine residencies were filled successfully. This is an increase of 88 positions compared to 2007. US seniors filled 43.9% of these slots, compared to 42.1% last year. The number of positions available in family medicine residencies increased by 33 compared to last year. The overall percentage of US seniors matching in family medicine increased 0.4% to 8.1%.

Additional information and analysis of this year’s national match trends can be found at the AAFP web site (www.aafp.org/match) and at the NRMP web site (www.nrmp.org).

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3. RESEARCH SECTION
FAMILY MEDICINE AT THE 21ST ANNUAL NORTHWEST
REGIONAL RURAL HEALTH CONFERENCE

Four presentations from the Rural Health Research Center (RHRC) and Center for Health Workforce Studies (CHWS) were delivered in March at the 21st Annual Northwest Regional Rural Health Conference in Spokane. Roger Rosenblatt gave an assessment of the future of rural health care, with an overview of the more than 20 years of history of the RHRC. Laura-Mae Baldwin described findings from the RHRC study entitled "Improvement in the quality of care for acute myocardial infarction: Have rural hospitals followed national trends?" Freddy Chen described changes in the amount and distribution of rural family medicine residency training since 2000, based on an RHRC survey of all the family medicine residencies in the country. Sue Skillman presented findings from a CHWS study projecting supply and demand of registered nurses in Washington State from 2006 through 2025. Mark Doescher served as emcee for the Centers’ presentations. For more information about any of these studies, contact Sue Skillman, Deputy Director of the Centers, at 206 543-3557 or skillman@u.washington.edu.

In addition to the presentations, Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire gave an inspirational noontime address on the state’s health care accomplishments and agenda, honoring both Roger Rosenblatt, Professor of Family Medicine and Vice Chair of the Department, and John Anderson, Family Medicine clinical faculty member in Cle Elum, Wash., for their career-long commitments to rural health. Another Family Medicine clinical faculty member, Walter Henze, was presented with the Outstanding Rural Health Practitioner Award for the significant impact he has made to the health of the Tonasket, Wash., community.

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4. NETWORK SECTION
NETWORK DIGITAL RESCOURCE LIBRARY

The Network Digital Resource Library (NDRL) (www.uwndrl.org) is a versatile web-based system that has a Library that will allow faculty and residents in the Network to share teaching tools--presentations on clinical topics, evaluations tools, references--and a Network Groups area to facilitate group networking on projects for curriculum, administration, and research. Network members can go to the library and upload resources, search for and download materials that others have posted to share, and give feedback. If they are part of a Network Group, they will be able to post materials to a working group site (public to all or limited to the group), work on shared revisions and chat with other group members to facilitate project development. All users must register on their first visit to the site where their Network membership will be confirmed so as to maintain a closed "intranet," which allows us to share materials solely for educational use, thus limiting the copyright issues. Try uploading a resource to share. Please use the feedback buttons at the bottom of the page to let us know your reactions, suggestions, and problems.

In the Library you will find three types of resources: Administrative, Curricular, and Research. Once you have looked at/used the resource, you can post comments and feedback to the author. You can also upload resources that you have developed to share and get feedback from your colleagues across the Network. Soon you will also be able to choose to be part of the chat groups for certain resource topic groups. In the Network Groups area you can upload resources such as "Works in Progress" to collaborate on and use the chat system to communicate with the rest of the members of your group.

The NDRL Team is Paul Ford, NDRL Administrator; Jennifer Hoock, Project Director; Ardis Davis, Project Manager; Chris Vincent, Project Team Member; and Indranie Sanichar, Project Developer. Paul is the “go-to” person for most things and can be reached at pford@fammed.washington.edu. Any feedback can be sent directly to Paul or for technical issues to Indranie at NDRLTek@fammed.washington.edu.

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5. SPORTS MEDICINE FELLOWSHIP
CURRENT FELLOW STAYING ON; NEW FELLOW MATCHED

Hall Health Sports Medicine and the Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship is pleased to announce the hiring of current sports medicine fellow Ashwin Rao, M.D., to the Sports Medicine faculty effective July upon the completion of Dr. Rao’s fellowship. Dr. Rao will see sports medicine and primary care patients at Hall Health and have roles in precepting family medicine residents and the sports medicine fellow on the Hall Health rotations.

Chad Palmer, M.D., who will be finishing his residency in Chattanooga, Tenn., and did his medical and undergraduate training at the University of Georgia, has matched as our next primary care sports medicine fellow. He has a special interest in young people with diabetes remaining active and physically fit, and his research will focus in this area.

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6. AWARDS

Kristin Kelly, M.D., a second-year resident at the UW Family Medicine Residency in Seattle, has been awarded the prestigious Dr. Roy Virak Scholarship Award by the Washington Academy of Family Physicians. Named after the founder and first residency director of the Tacoma Family Medicine Residency, the award honors a second-year Family Medicine resident in training. Recipients are chosen on the basis of physician skills, leadership, and service.

Jon Drezner, M.D., Associate Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Washington, won the top research award at the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine meeting. He was honored for "Adequacy and effectiveness of emergency response planning for sudden cardiac arrest in U.S. high schools with automated external defibrillators." Jon was also reelected to the AMSSM Board of Directors.

Ashwin Rao, M.D., the current Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellow at the University of Washington and future member of the Sports Medicine faculty at Hall Health, won the Harry Gallanty Young Investigator Award at the same meeting. He was honored for "Details and outcomes of resuscitation following sudden cardiac arrest in high school student athletes," which he presented at the meeting.

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7. RECENT PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS
(Department authors in bold)

Publications

Two new reports have just been released from the Rural Health Research Center:
"Changes in the rural registered nurse workforce from 1980 to 2004." (Final Report #115) by Sue Skillman, Lorella Palazzo, Gary Hart and Patricia Butterfield.
"Poor birth outcome in the rural United States: 1985-1987 to 1995-1997." (Final Report #119) by Eric Larson, Elise Murowchick, and Gary Hart.
These two reports can be downloaded from the RHRC website http://depts.washington.edu/uwrhrc/rhrc_new.html

Dresden G., Baldwin L., Andrilla, C., Skillman, S., Benedetti, T. Influence of obstetric practice on workload and practice patterns of family physicians and obstetrician-gynecologists. Ann Fam Med 2008 6: S5-S11. http://www.annfammed.org/cgi/content/full/6/suppl_1/S5

Epstein, R., Mauksch, L, Carrol, J., Jaen, C. Have you really addressed the patient's concerns? Family Practice Management, 2008, March, 35-40.

Halperin A. Getting away with murder. http://thedaily.washington.edu/2008/2/15/free-spech-friday/

Bill Phillips, Senior Associate Editor of the Annals of Family Medicine, edited the Resident Research Supplement, which includes reports from an international call for resident research in family medicine and primary care. Annals of Family Medicine. 2008; 6(Suppl 1).
http://www.annfammed.org/content/vol6/suppl_1/

Presentations

Abigail Halperin presented the first population-based study of Varenicline use at the March 2008 annual meeting of the Society for Research on Nicotine & Tobacco (SRNT): Occurrence of Symptoms Experienced by Varenicline Users and Impact on Treatment in a Real-World Setting. Halperin, A., McAfee, T., Jack, L., Catz, S., McClure, J., Deprey, M., Richards, J., Zbikowski, S., Swan, G.

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8. CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Through June 2008

April 24-25 North Sound ALSO course, UW campus

April 20-May 4 STFM Spring Conference, Baltimore

May 9-10 Chief Resident Conference, Watertown Hotel

May 15-17 Network Directors meeting / IAFP meeting,
Coeur d'Alene

May 17 6th Annual Latina Health Fair, North Seattle
Community College, 10 AM—3 PM

May 19-23 Network Fellowship week 5

June 8-10 Workshop for Directors of Family Medicine
Residencies, Overland Park, Kans.

June 13-14 ALSO course, Tacoma

June 18-19 ALSO course, Pray, Mont. (in conj. w/MAFP)

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For questions, subscription information, or to unsubscribe, contact
Jacob Freeman at fmnews@fammed.washington.edu
or by phone at 206-685-2757.
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