BMC Named a 2012 Leapfrog Top Hospital and Achieves "A" Hospital Safety Score
December 2012
Boston Medical Center has received the elite distinction of being named a 2012 Top Hospital by the Leapfrog Group, an independent national nonprofit that works to improve the safety, quality and affordability of health care for Americans. BMC's exemplary performance across all areas of quality and patient safety on Leapfrog's annual hospital survey led us to be selected as a Top Hospital out of nearly 1,200 hospitals that participated. This is a first-time accolade for us and is among the most competitive awards a hospital can receive.
BMC was also recently honored with an "A" Hospital Safety Score, the highest achievable grade, by the Leapfrog Group. This is the second consecutive year BMC has received the A score. The Leapfrog Group measured BMC, and more than 2,600 other U.S. hospitals, using publicly reported data on patient injuries, medical and medication errors, and infections. We achieved full compliance on preventing medication errors, appropriate intensive care unit (ICU) staffing, taking steps to avoid harm, and managing serious errors.
These national recognitions for excellence in patient safety and quality reflect our ongoing commitment to deliver high-quality care in a safe environment for our patients. It also is a testament to the work we have done, and continue to do, on our Be Exceptional Strategic Plan.
Dr. Brian Jack, Dr. Thomas Hines and Dr. Carol O'Neil included in 2012 Boston Top Doctors list
December 2012
Family Medicine physicians Brian Jack, Thomas Hines, and Carol O'Neil are listed in Boston Magazine’s annual compilation of Boston’s Top Doctors. The December issue showcases more than 300 physicians in 55 specialties who have been chosen by their peers as representing the best in Hub health care.
The Program for Integrative Medicine and Health Care Disparities will begin an exciting new project in Spring 2012
Eligible patients will be able to participate in an innovative Integrative Medicine Group Visits program. Led by Dr. Katherine Gergen Barnett, Director of Clinical Services for the program, group visits combine patient education, mindfulness practice, individual patient care, and various complementary therapies, all in a group setting. The group visits are intended for patients in the Family Medicine Clinic at BMC who suffer from common chronic conditions like back pain, hypertension, and diabetes. To learn more, call 617-414-6795.
Virtual Worlds, Real gains
Research at Boston University 2011
Medicine at the Margins
The Program for Integrative Medicine and Health Care Disparities has launched the Yoga for Low Back Pain 2 (YLBP2) research study
The Program for Integrative Medicine and Health Care Disparities has launched the Yoga for Low Back Pain 2 (YLBP2) research study. The aim of the study is to compare the effectiveness of two different doses of yoga (once vs. twice per week yoga classes, both for 12 weeks) for 96 adults with chronic low back pain. Recent studies suggest yoga may be effective for chronic low back pain, but the optimum class frequency has yet to be determined. Patients will receive 12 weeks of yoga classes at no cost. For more information, call 617-414-6211 or email YLBP2@bmc.org
A CME module featuring Carol Mostow and colleagues is now available on the Society of General Internal Medicine website
A CME module featuring Carol Mostow and colleagues is now available on the Society of General Internal Medicine website. The module is excerpted from an interactive workshop presenting the RESPECT model at a national AAMC conference and SGIM Forum on Health Disparities Education. The RESPECT Model: Precepting for Cross-racial/cultural Care is based on work that appears in the May 2010 JGIM Special Supplement and was excerpted from the 2009 interactive workshop presented at the conference. The module is also available to be viewed at no charge if the viewer registers.
Note: Module is currently unavailable. Please check back later.
Carol Mostow LICSW was also interviewed and extensively quoted in the September/ October 2010 issue of Physician Executive Journal on “Cultural Competence: Why and How?"
pp 18-22 by Dianne Shannon, MD excerpted below.
Given the strong rationale for fostering cultural competency in health care organizations, what can a physician leader do to promote this capacity in his or her organization? According to Mostow, the first step is effective communication of respect and empathy for others’ perspectives. Inspired by the needs of a demoralized and frustrated intern, Mostow, along with a racially and culturally diverse group of providers at Boston Medical Center, created a framework for more effective cross-cultural communication with patients. The model uses the mnemonic RESPECT to remind providers of specific behaviors they can use during interactions with patients.
Mostow suggests that leaders extend the empathy component of the RESPECT model to providers as well. "We need to remember that all practitioners entered their field to do the best they could for patients. We need to empathize with practitioners to support their efforts to face challenges and improve outcomes; we need to support strengths, build on skills, and make it safe to try new approaches and improve care for all patients." To support these priorities, Mostow recommends that leaders review and adapt their organization’s systems, including electronic medical records, the configuration of office staff and clinical teams, provision of ancillary services, and staff rewards or incentives, further protecting and promoting relationship- and patient-centered care.
Mostow recommends that health care leaders recruit, hire, and strive to retain a culturally and ethnically diverse workforce. According to Mostow, leaders should elicit and value the input of these staff members. "Leaders should promote practitioners from all backgrounds who excel at connecting effectively with the patients they serve and help these practitioners share best practices and mentor others." By bringing varied perspectives into the organization, a diverse workforce helps the organization become more responsive to the needs of a diverse patient population. Diversity of the workforce also may signal to the community that the organization embraces cultural and ethnic diversity.
Dr. Wilkinson selected for 2011 Early Career Award
March 2011
The American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities has selected Dr. Joanne Wilkinson to be one of the recipients for the 2011 Early Career Award in recognition of her significant achievements and many contributions to the field of developmental disabilities.
This award will be presented at the upcoming 135th AAIDD Annual Meeting, which is being held on June 6-9, 2011 in The Twin Cities, MN.
Dr. May Nguyen Selected as awardee for UCSF Geriatrics Scholarship Award
March 2011
Dr. May Nguyen was recently selected as one of 8 awardees for the UCSF Geriatrics Scholarship Award. The eight interns and residents selected come from programs at UC Irvine, UCLA, UCLA Olive View, Emory, Stanford, University of Colorado, University of Rochester and BU.
May was selected based on her COPC project, which involved working with multicultural elders in a local adult day health program. She demonstrated a remarkable disparity in the elders' familiarity and experience with advance care planning based on their cultural and language backgrounds.
May will be flown to San Francisco for the summit. She will meet the other awardees and UCSF faculty and give a presentation of her project. She will also receive a $500 award.
Health care for to Hell's Refugees
Reaching Out: Clinic offers non-Western therapies to torture survivors
State Will Stop Paying for Some Hospital Readmissions
Story by Martha Bebinger for WBUR.org featuring an interview with Dr. Brian Jack. February 8, 2011.
Dr. Brian Jack and Dr. Thomas Hines included in Boston Top Doctors list
January 6, 2011
Family Medicine physicians Brian Jack and Thomas Hines are listed in Boston Magazine’s annual compilation of Boston’s Top Doctors. The December issue showcases more than 300 physicians in 55 specialties who have been chosen by their peers as representing the best in Hub health care.
MMS and Alliance Foundation Awards International Health Studies Grants
January 2011
The board of the MMS and Alliance Charitable Foundation selected Oluwatoyin Ajayi, M.D., a second-year resident in Boston University's Department of Family Medicine, as a recipient of a 2010 International Health Studies grants. Dr. Ajayi will support doctors and nurses at health
centers in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Additionally, she will conduct
surveys and focus groups among parents of young children to better
understand health-seeking behavior and barriers to health care.
A Boston University researcher stumbles upon a remarkable Holocaust artifact--and discovers that one of its creators lives just a few blocks away from him in Brookline.
The Boston Globe Magazine
By Susanne Althoff
December 12, 2010
STFM
Best Research Paper and Honorable mention Award
BU Department of Family Medicine Vice Chair for Academic Affairs, Brian
Jack, MD, received the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine 2010 STFM
Best Research Paper Award for his Project RED team's seminal publication
on a method to reduce hospital readmissions. This research has been
incorporated into a major initiative of the United States legislation
reforming health care. For more information visit the Project RED
website.
Dr. Robert Saper, our Director of Integrative Medicine, received one of
two Honorable mention awards for his paper, "Lead, mercury, and arsenic
in U.S. and Indian manufactured Ayurvedic medicines sold over the
internet" published in the August 28, 2008 Journal of the American
Medical Association.
Dr. Suzanne Mitchell is featured on npr's Morning Edition.
Avra Goldman, MD, Named Finalist for Schwartz Center Compassionate Caregiver Award
(BOSTON) Avra Goldman, MD, the medical director of Boston Medical Center’s Family Medicine Clinic, was named a finalist for the prestigious Schwartz Center Compassionate Caregiver Award, given by the Boston-based Kenneth B. Schwartz Center. Read more.
Dr. Michael Grodin received the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Diversity council Justice award.
Michael Grodin was awarded the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Diversity Council Justice Award in recognition of his "dedication to peace, justice, public health and human rights."
Codman Square Health Center received a $20k grant last week to support the development of a family/pediatric obesity clinic. The support comes from the CAVU foundation, a small private non-profit,as part of the inception of a state-wide coallition effort to address the childhood obesity epidemic. Dr. Suki Tepperberg is the PI of this project for Codman Square and she will be running this clinic and the corresponding evaluation component.
Posted April 16, 2008
Family Medicine Welcomes New Faculty and staff
Posted March 2008
Brandy Ault, NP
Brandy joins our newly expanding geriatric service. As a nurse practitioner, Brandy will be working in several of our nursing home practices. She joins us from Mass General Hospital where she completed her NP studies and worked as an ICU nurse in the cardiac care unit.
Josh Berman Josh joins our Global Health team as a program manager in the Lesotho Boston University Health Alliance. Last year Josh spent time in Lesotho and now he will spend time arranging for other providers to work in South Africa.
Philip Ian Elkin,MD, MPH
Dr. Phil Elkin joins our faculty as the first Residency Director of the BU Lesotho Family Medicine Residency Program. He is on his way to South Africa where he will setup, run and manage the training of future family physicians in Lesotho. Dr. Elkin graduated from Harvard Medical School and completed his Family Medicine Residency at San Francisco General Hospital. He also served as a Chief Resident. Most recently, Phil has been working in Blue Hill, Maine, at the Peninsula Primary Care Group.
Paula Gardiner, MD, MPH
Dr. Paula Gardiner joins us after completing a Faculty Development and Fellowship Program in Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) at Harvard Medical School. Along with her clinical work, she will be pursuing her research interests in the fields of online education, dietary supplements, adverse event reporting and C.A.M. Paula will being doing her clinical work in the Yawkey Ambulatory Care Center Family Medicine Clinic.
Caroline Hesko Caroline is a familiar face in the Project Red Team having worked with us for the past year. She now comes aboard as a research assistant to compile the data and finish up the current phase of the study. There is much more work to be done as the team utilizes technology to re-engineer the perfect discharge.
Heather Miselis, MD, MPH
Dr. Heather Miselis is also a familiar face around the department having graduated from both medical school and residency here at Boston University. Heather is enrolled in the Geriatrics Scholars Program and she will also be doing her clinical work at Dorchester House.
Anne Molloy Anne is the new Residency Assistant who is responsible for assisting Katie, the residents and the residency faculty in running the training program. Anne is a graduate of Boston University where she managed the BU Running Club and performed several administrative jobs on the main campus. This Terrier hails from Avon, Ct.
Eileen Pierce, MD
Dr. Eileen Pierce is well-known around the department having graduated from medical school at Boston University. Eileen also completed her family medicine residency with us so it is great to keep her “in the family”….. Eileen has joined our practice at the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center. In addition to her clinical duties she will also be spending a lot of time working with B.U. medical students telling them about all the virtues of family medicine.
James Schellenger, MD Dr. Jim Schellenger joins our group from Roundup, Montana where he worked for a small community hospital/clinic doing everything…. Dr. Schellenger provided emergency care, pediatric, geriatric and inpatient medicine. Jim will be covering the Mother-Baby Service, inpatient rounding and filling in at Dorchester House.
Madhavi Shah, MD
Dr. Madhavi Shah joins us from the Brown University Family Medicine Residency Program. Having completed her medical school education at Tufts University School of Medicine, she is moving back over the Rhode Island border. Madhavi was a Chief Resident at Brown and she is excited about starting her first job with us. Her clinical practice will be at the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center.
Department of Family Medicine 10th Year Anniversary Celebration
