Summer 2009 Edition of The Resident’s Report

The Summer 2009 Edition of The Resident’s Report is now available and copies are being sent to each department. Topics covered in this issue include:

• UCSF Resident and Fellow’s Council
• 10 Questions: Neil Gupta, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine, Adrienne Green, MD, Associate Chief Medical Officer, Ronni Cline, RN, Assistant Director, Case Management
• 2008-2009 Housestaff Awards
• Health Benefits – “Open Enrollment” & Health Care Options
• GME, Medical Education and Legal Affairs Conduct Workshop

The report is available at http://www.medschool.ucsf.edu/gme/ResReport/ResReport_Summer2009.pdf

Confluence Wiki Has Changed How We Do Business!

A wiki is a website that multiple users can edit with ease. It lets people share information and collaborate quickly from any computer with an Internet connection.

The basic unit of the wiki is a page, and a collection of pages is called a space. The Confluence Wiki hosted by the UCSF Library is the result of a pilot project between the School of Medicine Office of Educational Technology and the Library. The pilot proved successful and the Wiki was implemented as a service offered by the Library. Confluence Wiki has transformed the way Medical Education does business with over 25 medical-education-related Wikis in operation today.

One of the original Wikis, The Office of Educational Technology and Medical Education Wiki tracks all of the daily operations of OET and OME and contains thousands of pages of content and attachments. The Wiki has replaced many of the functions of our shared file server because it provides context and history to the files stored there.

The OET/OME Wiki receives as many as 150 hits a day and up to 40 page edits. It has become the repository of institutional knowledge of central medical education and educational technology support.

The Medical Education Ad Hoc Committee on Communications is preparing a report on the use of Wikis in medical education and will be making recommendations on their future use. We will share that report and other parts of the communications report with all of you this fall.

If you are interested in learning more about Wikis you can start at the Library's Confluence Support site at http://www.library.ucsf.edu/services/wiki and below is an introductory video on Confluence. If you want to by-pass the technical implementation part of the demo, jump to 11:30 seconds into the video.

UCSF Announces Voluntary Separation Program

With the recent news about the University’s budget, many options to reduce costs are being considered. One option that may be appropriate in some situations is a newly approved Voluntary Separation Program.

The UCSF Voluntary Separation Program (VSP) provides an opportunity for non-probationary career staff to apply for consideration. Under the guidelines of the program, if your application is accepted, you will receive a severance payment based on your classification and length of your service at UC.

If you separate from UCSF under this program, you will agree not to seek re-employment at any University of California location for at least three years. If you return to any University location within the three year period, you will be required to repay some portion of the severance payment.

The Executive Vice Chancellor/Provost, Dean or Vice Chancellor will make the final decision about whether to accept an application, based on the business needs of the school or department.

You will probably have a number of questions as you consider this opportunity. The program guidelines and Frequently Asked Questions are available on the VPS website and include detailed information to answer those questions, including which positions are eligible to apply.

The application period begins on July 1 and ends on September 30, 2009, and the effective date of separation under the program will be no later than October 31, 2009.

It is important to understand that department managers MUST agree to voluntary separation based on the understanding that the department no longer needs that job function. The position cannot be replaced within the unit for at least three years.

Essential Core Academic Calendar Available

The academic calendars for Essential Core (medical student programs years 1 and 2) are now available online at http://medschool.ucsf.edu/curriculum/calendars/index.aspx.

Class of 2012 Essential Core Teaching Awards (ECTA)

Every year students from the first two years of medical school submit nominations for instructors and faculty who have made significant contributions to their education. Only students from each class can nominate someone and a committee of students from each class reviews and selects a winner in each of several categories. This year the class of 2012 reviewed 250 nominations to determine the eleven recipients listed below.

Awards and nominations are not just a personal honor for these dedicated individuals, but are also taken into consideration for tenure and promotion decisions. This is a great opportunity for students to acknowledge, thank, and even help those teachers who make such a difference in their medical education.

A special reception and ceremony honoring the award recipients and returning students from the class of 2012 will commence Monday, August 24, 2009 from 3:30 – 5 PM in HSW-301. We hope that you will be able to attend.

The winners of the 2009 Essential Core Teaching Awards as selected by the class of 2012 are:

Commitment to Teaching:
Marieke Kruidering, Ph.D.
Prologue, Organs, M&N, BMB Lectures & Small Groups
Associate Adjunct Professor
Cellular & Molecular Pharmacology

Inspirational Teacher:
Scott Andy Josephson, M.D.
BMB Lectures & Anatomy/Neurology Small Groups
Assistant Clinical Professor
Neurology

Innovative Teaching:
Nripendra Dhillon, M.B.B.S., M.S.
Prologue & BMB Lectures & Anatomy Labs
Lecturer
Anatomy

Outstanding Lecture:
Kenneth R. McQuaid, M.D.
M&N Gastroenterology Lectures, esp. “Master Clinician Wrap-Up”
Professor
Medicine-VAMC

Outstanding Lecture Series:
Tracey B. Fulton, Ph.D.
Ongoing Biochemistry Lectures & Chalk Talks
Adjunct Professor
Biochemistry & Biophysics

Outstanding Contribution to an Elective:
Eisha Zaid, MS3
Prologue MSP
Medical Scholar Tutor
SOM, Class of 2011

Outstanding Foundations of Patient Care Preceptor:
Steven K. Polevoi, M.D.
FPC Yr1 Adult Preceptorship
Associate Clinical Professor
Emergency Medicine
Box 0208

Excellence in Small Group Teaching (4 Awards):

Joey D. English, M.D., Ph.D.
BMB Anatomy/Neurology Small Group
Assistant Clinical Professor
Neurology

Tamsin H. Levy, M.D.
Organs: Cardio/Medicine, Physio/Pharm Small Group
UCSF Alumni
SOM, Class of 2009

Fernando S. Velayos, M.D.
M&N Gastroenterology Small Group
Assistant Clinical Professor
Gastroenterology

Isaac Yang, M.D.
Prologue Biochem/Pharm Small Group
Resident
Neurosurgery Academic

submitted by Joseph Crawford

Stress Management: Successful Coping Strategies

Managing stress is vital to successfully meeting the challenges brought by uncertainty and change. There are many healthy ways to manage and cope with stress, but they all require understanding and identifying the causes of stress in your life and how you deal with those stressors and learning strategies that will be helpful to you. Using these strategies will give you the ability to help reduce and relieve tension due to stressful situations, which is the foundation of stress management. In this way, you become more resilient and create a more balanced and healthy lifestyle overall.

The following article will strengthen your physical and emotional well-being and empower you in handling life’s stressors when they inevitably arise.

UCSF HR recommends How to Reduce, prevent, and Cope with Stress at http://www.helpguide.org/mental/stress_management_relief_coping.htm

New Temporary Employment Program Website Launches with Savvy, Time-Saving Features

The Temporary Employment Program (TEP) has launched a new Information Management System (IMS), which will enable TEP to provide faster, more efficient services to campus and Medical Center Departments. Features include email notifications for job order requests, direct resume forwarding, timesheet approval, and invoice review. The new IMS will also allow inter-department resume sharing. Most importantly, the IMS is user friendly with intuitive screens and processes. Check out the training modules with step-by-step instructions to assist with any user questions that may arise. Visit the new TEP website at http://tep.ucsf.edu/

Questions about Furloughs/Salary Reductions Being Answered Online

The Office of the President is posting answers to some of the early questions coming in about the three options for reducing salaries and/or implementing furloughs.

Sample Q and A include:

Will furloughs/salary cuts apply to all employees, including faculty and represented employees?

Yes. In order to ensure equity across the University, whichever option is chosen would apply to all faculty and staff, except student employees. The Chair of the Academic Senate has been closely involved in considering these options. Implementation of the final plan is subject to collective bargaining for represented employees. The President may recommend a hybrid Plan that achieves the eight percent reduction in slightly different ways for the various employee groups.

If my salary is not supported by state funds, will I still have to take a furlough or salary cut?

Yes – participation is not based on the source of salary funds. Each of the options would apply to
UC employees whose salaries are funded by contracts and grants, clinical income and other auxiliary activity, and general funds.

Follow these at: http://atyourservice.ucop.edu/

Request for Comments on 3 Proposals for Furloughs and/or Salary Reductions

Comments and questions are being accepted for the following three proposals for UC Systemwide furloughs and/or salary reductions. You are encouraged to send your comments to Mark Gottas, the UCSF Labor Relations Coordinator.

The UC Office of the President has proposed that one of the following suggested options for salary reductions and/or furloughs plans (or a modified version of any of these Plans) be submitted for approval by the Regents at their July 2009 meeting. A brief description of each of the options is being provided to facilitate consultation with faculty and staff prior to the submission of a final Plan to the Regents in July. The UC senior personnel who agreed to have their salaries reduced by 5% for FY 2009-10 will have their salaries reduced by a total of at least 8% under these plans.

OPTION I: 8 Percent Salary Reduction Plan:

Salaries for all faculty and staff be reduced by 8%. Salaries for faculty and staff earning less than $46,000 per year be reduced by 4%.

Duration: August 1, 2009 through July 31, 2010 unless extended by subsequent Regental action. Extension will require submission and review of a plan in a manner similar to the plan currently under review.

Projected UC General Fund Savings: It is anticipated that this Option would generate $193.5 million in UC General fund savings.

Considerations:

• This Option would not result in an interruption of teaching, research, medical centers operations and essential services.
• This Option would easily be administered in the payroll system.
• This Option would impact employee retirement plan benefits unless addressed through Regental action similar to the provisions of the START program. Measures would need to be implemented to protect benefits and leave accrual levels for faculty and staff.
• Under this Option, faculty and staff would not benefit from a reduction in time worked.
• The Option does not present Fair Labor Standard Act concerns.

OPTION II: 21 Unpaid Days Plan:

Through a combination of certain unpaid holidays and scheduled furlough days totaling 21 days (14 days for academic year faculty and 19 days for fiscal year faculty), staff and faculty salaries would be reduced by 8%. For staff and faculty earning less than $46,000 per year, the Plan would include 11 unpaid holidays and scheduled furlough days (7 days for academic year faculty and 10 days for fiscal year faculty). Accrued vacation and/or sick leave could not be applied to unpaid days.

Duration: August 1, 2009 through July 31, 2010 unless extended by subsequent Regental action. Extension will require submission and review of a plan in a manner similar to the plan currently under review.

Projected UC General Fund Savings: It is estimated that this Option would generate $195.4 million in UC General Fund savings.

Considerations:

• This Option would present significant operational challenges to the campuses and, in particular to the UC Medical Centers.
• This Option presents some challenges for implementation in the payroll systems.
• The Option would impact employee service credit for UCRP unless addressed though Regental action similar to the provisions of the START program. Measures would need to be implemented to protect benefits and leave accrual levels for faculty and staff.
• This Option, while reducing the earnings of faculty and staff by 8%, would provide some reduction in time worked.
• This Option presents Fair Labor Standard Act issues that would need to be addressed.

OPTION III. 12 Unpaid Days Plus A 3.4% Salary Reduction Plan:

Through a combination of unpaid holidays and scheduled furlough days totaling 12 days (8 days for academic year faculty and 11 days for fiscal year faculty), and imposing a 4 3.4% salary reduction resulting in an overall reduction in salaries of 8%. Faculty and staff earning less than $46,000 per year would have their salaries reduced by 4 percent though a combination of 6 unpaid holiday and scheduled furlough days (4 days for academic year faculty and 5 days for fiscal year faculty) and a 1.7 percent salary reduction. Accrued vacation and/or sick leave could not be applied to unpaid days.

Duration: August 1, 2009 through July 31, 2010 unless extended by subsequent Regental action. Extension will require submission and review of a plan in a manner similar to the plan currently under review.

Projected UC General Fund Savings: It is anticipated that this Option would generate $194.1 million in UC General Fund savings.

Considerations:

• Under this Option, Campus and Medical Center operations would be affected although less than that anticipated under Option II.
• This Option presents some challenges for implementation in the payroll systems.
• This Option would impact employee UCRP service credit and retirement plan benefits unless addressed by Regental action similar to the provisions of the START program. Measures would need to be implemented to protect benefits and leave accrual levels for faculty and staff.
• Under this Option, faculty and staff earnings reduction is partially mitigated by time away from work.
• This Option presents Fair Labor Standard Act issues that would need to be addressed.

Green Tip of the Week: Print Double-Sided

Setting your computer to double-sided printing reduced paper usage by...you guessed it...half!

If your printer has a duplex printing feature, you can adjust your printing preferences to default to duplex printing: Go to Printers and Faxes and right click on the printer you use. Select Printing Preferences, and under Printing Shortcuts, select Two-sided (Duplex Printing).

You can also ask ISU to set up all the printers in your office to default to duplex printing.

Check Out UC Learning Center’s New Online Technology Classes

The UC Learning Center now has many online technology classes you can take right from your desk at affordable prices. We have also made improvements to the UC Learning Center to make it easier to find classes.

Our technology “e-Courses” allow you to take training on the Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe Products, and many programming languages. These courses have Online Course listed after the title and range in cost from $8 - $175. To see a full list of these classes, log in to the UC Learning Center and type the word “online” in the search box on the left. Visit the Learning Center at https://learningcenter.ucsfmedicalcenter.org/

Academy Launches New Website

The Academy of Medical Educators is pleased to announce the launch of its new website! Kudos to Academy staff members Kathleen Land, who successfully juggled the daily demands of the Academy while developing new web programming skills, streamlining the site’s navigation, and reorganizing, editing and transferring the content; and to Christine Khuu, who provided expert guidance and project management throughout the process. Many thanks also the Academy’s Communications working group, led by Susan Masters, and to the ISU web team – Beth Berrean, Cynthia Milionis, Marc Cepeda and Jonathan Prugh -- for their work on the design and their invaluable technical support.

We hope you will visit the site at http://medschool.ucsf.edu/academy and send us your feedback!

Admissions Website Gets New Look

The Admissions website gets a new look! The Office of Admissions website has been redesigned. The new site was a group effort among Admissions, Communications and ISU. New features were added to help make the site easier to navigate and more personal. Among the new features is the “In their own words” section, where students were asked to comment on life in San Francisco and at UCSF. Athough the design is deliberately independent from the main School of Medicine site, the structure of the pages is in-sync with the School's new home page design that will be launched later in the year. Visit their new website at http://medschool.ucsf.edu/admissions and send along your feedback.

Donate Your Unused Books at the Kalmanovitz Library

Collection Management has placed a book drive box in the main lobby in front of Circulation of the Kalmanovitz Library at 530 Parnassus.

The books that we donate will be shipped to Better World Books on Monday, June 22 (after finals week). The books will either be sent to African schools or sold, with proceeds benefiting the National Center for Family Literacy.

All types of books are accepted but text books are preferred.

Pat, Kevin and Chandler adapt ePIC Portfolio Recommendations for Distribution

During the 2006-2007 academic year the ePIC committee was tasked with creating educational, technical and strategic recommendations on the implementation of electronic portfolios in the UCSF School of Medicine undergraduate medical student curriculum. While the charge was specific to undergraduate medical education, every effort was made to consider graduate and continuing medical education needs. The resulting ePIC report created the foundation upon which the current portfolio initiatives and the oversight committee has been based.

To share these recommendations, Pat, Kevin and Chandler reformulated the ePIC recommendations for medical educators outside UCSF. This new document provides a rationale, vision, definition, key findings and a series of educational and technical standards for electronic portfolios at UCSF. Seventy-seven educational standards originally identified by ePIC have been incorporated throughout this document.

Check out the Recommendation for the Implementation of Electronic Portfolios in Medical Education report.

Ilios Redevelopment Project

The redesign and redevelopment of Ilios, the School of Medicine Curriculum Management tool is underway. Ilios 2.0 will replace the current curriculum management system used by UCSF’s School of Medicine and extend its functionality to the Schools of Dentistry, Nursing, Pharmacy, and the Graduate Division. While the project’s primary goal is to address the educational needs of UCSF, a longer-term goal is to create a solution that can be adopted by other health professions schools and institutions.

The Ilios 2.0 project is a partnership between the UCSF Library & Center for Knowledge Management and the UCSF School of Medicine’s Office of Educational Technology. Project development is guided by a campus stakeholder group representing the faculty, staff and students of UCSF’s professional schools and graduate division.

The key project objectives are to:

• To create a Web-based health sciences curriculum management tool that can evolve over time.
• To deliver the system within a 24 month time frame.
• To collaborate with stakeholders on defining key features to be developed.

Learn more about Ilios 2.0

AAMC and HHMI release report on science education

The AAMC and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) issued a report last week titled “Scientific Foundations for Future Physicians.” The report defines science competencies for future medical school graduates and undergraduates and recommends that the science component of medical and premedical education evolve from a static listing of courses to a more dynamic set of scientific competencies. AAMC Executive Vice President Carol Aschenbrener, M.D., said “the AAMC hopes this report will be the beginning of a broad dialogue within the undergraduate and medical education communities to reinvigorate the scientific preparation of physicians.”

Grab the report!

2009 Medical Education Curriculum Retreat

On Thursday June 4th, 90 faculty and staff joined for the 2009 Medical Education Curriculum Retreat. The theme of the retreat was Homer's "The Odyssey." The group was divided into 6 "islands" where they discussed the curriculum redesign.

The workgroups were broken out into the following areas to develop key recommendations on redesigning the curriculum:

1. Corfu: Clinical experience
2. Paxos: Modular design of curriculum
3. Lefkas: Focus and locale of learning
4. Cephalonia: Elective opportunities
5. Zante: Assessment
6. Kytheria: Fourth Year

Medical Education staff will be invited to discuss the redesign of the curriculum at our November 4th Medical Education Staff Meeting.