The Pivot
By: Dr. Doug Bacon
As cursor hits keyboard, it’s late August. Often, it is a time of the academic year where we begin to settle in and the ebb and flow of clinical work becomes more routine. The interns are beginning to learn their new roles as physicians. In the operating room, the first-year residents have developed a comfort level with their new responsibilities. Attendings slowly add more and more responsibility to these new anesthesiologists.
In a normal year, this would be what would be happening—but 2021 is turning out to be a new challenge in the COVID pandemic. It seemed this spring that we had reached a new normal with a background of infections that could be easily handled within the available resources. But Delta came along, and now we are once again overrun. We have to pivot, and reapply the lessons from last year. Clinically, we are short of staff, accentuated by a number of the team being out for testing or quarantine.
The news is however not all doom and gloom. We have a vaccine, one that has been approved by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) and that is safe. A mandatory vaccine policy is in place at UMMC, one that is sensible and helps protect both patients and staff. It helps with confidence in caring for our patients, both those known COVID cases and those that may be asymptomatic.
From August forward, residents think about applying for fellowships. We have filled our Pain Medicine, Pediatric and Cardiovascular fellowships over the past years. Virtual interviews have greatly increased our candidate pools and we look forward to having another round of successful interviews and matches.
Our residency program remains strong. Our new interns have adjusted and are thriving. The residents are in full learning mode, absorbing their new responsibilities and gaining knowledge and skills to be great anesthesiologists. In the fall we will begin the quest for the next group: eight interns and two clinical anesthesia year one residents. Our CRNAs continue to support all missions of the department, and we are poised to begin a post pandemic chapter—whenever we are allowed!
So, we have pivoted! The good news is that we have added a second position to our pediatric fellowship. New programs on the horizon include a new neurosurgical anesthesia fellowship, obstetrical and critical care medicine fellowships in the coming years. We are about to open a pediatric pain clinic in association with the complex care group in pediatrics. In short—we are working on making the department the very best it can be.
This August I celebrated seven years as the chairman. It has been an honor to serve you and to help build the department. But, the best is yet to come!
And finally please welcome Drs. Sarah Adams, Veronica Carullo, Jenna Lane, Morgan Nelson, Gloria Rodriguez, George Semien, and Tim Ziethen—all who joined the department within the last year. Also welcome, Todd Adcock, Dale Brewer, Donnie Carver, Will Freeman, Matt Knight, Lauren Little, Karen Nelms, Brian Nobles, Derrick McLeod, and Steven Wier—all CRNAs added to our department within the last year as well!