Dermatologist receives Q Award; anesthesiology residents earn national distinction

A dermatology professor is selected for this quarter's top quality award, while future anesthesiologists rise to the challenge of global safe surgery.

Quality leaders tap dermatologist for Q Award

Dr. Stephen E. Helms, center, professor of dermatology, receives the Q Award from Dr. Robert Brodell, professor and chair of dermatology, and Dr. Phyllis Bishop, professor of pediatric gastroenterology and chief quality officer, during a September presentation by Quality Administration.

Helms was nominated for the award by Dr. Robert Brodell, professor and chair of dermatology, who cited several ways Helms has championed quality in his department.

According to Brodell, Helms has engaged individuals to discuss the prevention of errors through peer-reviewed journals and textbook chapters and has promoted a culture of error prevention among medical students.

"Every Friday night at the Adult and Children's Hospitals, Steve Helms has been a great team player, agreeing to be one of three dermatologists who perform inpatient consultations," Brodell wrote. "Always putting patients first, he is a shining example of the 'hidden curriculum' that teaches our residents to behave in an ethical fashion."

Brodell also lauded Helms for inspiring the QA/QI Moment as a resident-centered program.

"The residents identify a quality problem each month, discuss solutions with a faculty member and present a 5-8-minute presentation at the beginning of each faculty meeting with specific proposals to 'close the loop' and ensure that the solution is incorporated effectively to improve quality of patient care."

The Q Award is presented quarterly by Quality Administration to a Medical Center physician who promotes quality and improves patient safety. To nominate a physician for the award, select the "Q Award" link under the UMMC Yellow Pages on the UMMC Intranet.

Anesthesiology residents meet Lifebox challenge

Residents in the Department of Anesthesiology at UMMC bested nine other anesthesiology residency program participants nationwide to win the first Resident Lifebox Challenge.

An initiative of the ASA Resident Component to support the global safe surgery program of the Lifebox Foundation, the challenge was awarded to the institution with the highest contributions raised per participating resident. Although the University of Miami's 88 anesthesiology residents raised the largest sum with contributions totaling $4,327, UMMC's 24 anesthesiology residents raised $4.190 - just a whisker behind Miami's total.

"Considering we are among the poorest-paid residents in the nation, for our program to have the largest contribution per resident in the U.S. speaks volumes about their personal commitment to safe patient care," said Dr. Shirley Schlessinger, professor of medicine.

The 10 residency programs combined raised more than $20,000 in aggregate support of the ASA Campaign for Lifebox. Matching gifts from a group of anonymous donors will push that total toward $25,000, sufficient to cover 100 Lifebox oximeters, which will safeguard thousands of patients and allow health-care providers in low-resource settings to raise their monitoring practices to a higher standard.