Poster1 - 04: TAKING ADVANTAGE OF NEW EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOLLOWING A HEALTH CARE MERGER
Nicole T Christian, MD, MSCS1, Daniel Valentino, MD2, Abid Khan, MD2, Tiffany Willard2, Claire Travis1, Mark Nehler, MD1; 1University of Colorado, 2Memorial Hospital, UCHealth
Background: Competing pressures at large academic health systems are often divergent: Attain regional dominance clinically, which can involve mergers and acquisitions (MA) of other health care centers, while maintaining the integrity of training programs. MAs occurring in modern healthcare can involve remote sites, often 50 or more miles away from the primary training institution. Some examples of systems with remote sites include Yale, Wisconsin, and UCDenver. These sites can provide clinical volume but are rarely incorporated into education.
Methods: We incorporated a remote regional medical center following MA by our academic health care system into our surgery training. This site provided a robust volume of general surgery case and major robotic training opportunities. Schedules were made to accommodate residents with families and local housing was provided to residents.
Data: The 500 bed Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs is approximately 70 miles from UCDenver main campus. 17 surgical faculty educate five residents (three senior and two R1s – fourth largest site by resident number in program). 10 advanced practice providers (APPs) provide 24 hour clinical care daily. Resident rotations are Monday through Friday living in housing in Colorado Springs with weekends free to return home to Denver. Residents take 1 night of call per week where APPs staff consults with residents who then communicate with the attendings. Residents attend clinic with assigned faculty once a week and operate with the same faculty group at other times. Residents performed a high volume of cases at this site. Chiefs performed an average of 72.3 +/- 33.7 cases (including Teaching Assistant cases) per rotation. Interns performed an average of 45.3 +/- 27.4 cases (including First Assistant cases). There was no difference between intern case volume when comparing categorical to preliminary interns (48.9 cases v. 40.4 cases, p=0.47).
Conclusion: It is feasible to establish a rotation site at a remote regional medical center. Major advantages include a high educational case volume and maintaining more control of the educational curriculum/mission as the site is part of the parent academic health care system. Other academic healthcare systems should consider taking advantage of similar remote regional educational opportunities.