Quarter two: Enjoy the fall
Well, you’ve completed the first quarter of the academic year. Pretty much all of you have tested yourself and you have been observed in your new role as a first, second or third year resident. So now we’re going to get into the fall. We’re still in masks, of course, and we’re still figuring out how to learn on Zoom. But essentially this is when we are all going to start hitting our stride. For those of you who run this is like that second half mile. Your breathing has adjusted. Your cardiovascular system has shifted into high output mode. You’ve got a ways to go but something feels like you’re going to go the distance.
You’ve completed the ITE. Most of you have completed our first set of Socrative questions. Many of you have received some feedback from your supervisors or at your OSCE about what you do well and what you need to practice more. This coming quarter will be for self improvement.
In addition, I know that you are all anticipating our new QI program and seniors are starting to schedule their fellowship interviews. You will now start working on your future.
The key here is that your future looks bright. Our health system is doing well, recovering from the frenzy of last Spring. Our hospital is doing well. We are returning to pre COVID volume and we have been recognized for the high quality of the care we provide (by US News and World Report which places our hospital in the top tier of New York hospitals and in the top 50 nationally in several areas. Furthermore we are only weeks away from our being named a nursing Magnet hospital which will help our overall CMS star rating as well as our ability to recruit high quality nurses. I have even been told that the building of the new hospital building has been accelerated to meet the needs of the new normal and the expectations of our patients for a modern attractive health care facility.
Speaking of recruiting, I am super excited about our forthcoming “virtual recruitment” season. We have spectacular plans for online hospital tours, a slick video overview of our training program and a high tech video interviewing platform designed by a physician. Many of you will be helping that effort by chatting online with applicants.
So yes - the future looks bright.
Sadly, we are always stalked by the specter of severe, self defeating doubt and desperation. By now you might have heard about the loss to suicide of a medicine resident at Lincoln Hospital. This is a tragedy. But this is not a herald of further tragedy. We are fortunate to work for a health system and hospital that cares deeply about your well being. We have done everything we could to make your work humane and to balance work, learning and your health. We have increased mental health resources by another 50% for a total of 1/3 of a psychiatrist and 1/3 of a psychologist reserved for struggling residents (a model, by the way, being replicated across the health system). I am now recruiting new Mentors for our Lenox Hill Academy for Mentorship in Medicine (LHAMM). We will soon pair protégés who have applied with mentors. This is in addition to our Adviser system to which all of you are assigned. And in a couple of weeks the annual walking challenge “Walk to the Parks” will begin (follow the progress of my team “Heroes on the Hill”).
So you must see that there is no reason for anyone at Lenox Hill to feel desperate. We are here for you. I am here for you. You have but to whisper to anyone that you would like help and help will be given. No one need suffer alone at Lenox Hill.
You get to live the bright future we are viewing from the high ridge of this long cross country run. And I get to see how the exciting story of our program and your career turns out.
COVID, race relations, health inequity, economic stress, a vacuum of leadership in Washington, global climate change? They all fade into the bright sunrise of our future. Ready to put on those Ray-Bans and keep walking? I am.
Ethan D Fried, MD, MACP
Associate Chair for Education
Residency Program Director, Dep’t of Internal Medicine
Associate DIO, Lenox Hill Hospital
VP Academic Affairs for GME Quality and Patient Safety
NorthWell Health System
Professor of Medicine, Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell
O: 212-434-4833, F: 212-434-2246, C: 516-680-7570