Direct Patient Care PGY-2 and PGY-3
- Identify, work up, treat, and follow-up common outpatient adult and pediatric problems, such as hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, obesity, CAD, acute and chronic musculoskeletal injuries, headache, dizziness, abdominal pain, UTI’s, rashes, viral illnesses, asthma, and tobacco abuse.
- Perform adult health maintenance exams and implement important preventive measures.
- Perform common minimally invasive procedures done in primary care practices, such as EKG interpretation, spirometry, IM/SC injection, phlebotomy on adults, toenail removal, cast or splint application, and foreign body removal.
- Access various sources of information to fill primary care knowledge gaps.
- Identify clinically important knowledge gaps and demonstrate the ability to fill gaps in real time using quick reference material.
- Clearly and succinctly present patient information to communicate and coordinate patient care with hospitals and specialists through phone calls, consult letters, and reports.
- Delegate responsibility as it applies to a Patient Aligned Care team (PACTs)—the VA’s Medical Home.
- Teach, negotiate with, and communicate with patients around issues of self-monitoring and self-managing acute and chronic diseases.
- Communicate clearly and compassionately with patients and their families about difficult issues, such as medical decision making and delivering bad news.
- Demonstrate sensitivity and responsiveness to the unique personal and cultural situation of each patient, and provide care respecting each patient’s personal values and goals.
- Appropriately assign E/M codes and complete billing/encounter forms, demonstrating an understanding of outpatient primary care office finances and documentation as it relates to insurance billing, collection rates, managed care organizations, and physician organizations.
Quality Improvement PGY-3
- Apply knowledge about hospital/health system policy development, adoption, implementation and evaluation, regarding quality assurance and improvement.
- Apply knowledge about the development, implementation and evaluation of activities/programs to ensure patient safety and prevent medical complications in the population treated at the VA, such as nosocomial infections
- Synthesize progress on above by communicating on a regular basis with staff and leadership on progress designing, implementing and evaluating quality improvement initiatives in order to inform and engender support for such efforts.