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Methodist Hospitals Partnership with Northwestern University
Methodist Hospitals partners with Northwestern University to
become a clinical training site for their emergency medicine
residency program.
Methodist Hospitals has partnered with Northwestern University’s
McGaw Medical Center in new program that offers unique training to
post-graduate emergency medical residents.
Methodist Hospitals and the McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern
University have entered into an exciting new partnership.
Post-graduate resident physicians receiving specialty training in
emergency medicine from Northwestern will now be a staple in the
Methodist Hospitals Northlake campus’ (Gary) emergency department.
The partnership will bring three new post-graduate resident
physicians to the Northlake campus’ emergency department in Gary
each month. A total of 33 residents are expected to participate in
this program each year, and will work within the emergency
department for four weeks. More importantly, all residents reporting
to the emergency department will experience treating patients in an
underserved community, who often have complex medical conditions and
social circumstances. The partnership is planned for at least the
next five years.
The new partnership brings many benefits to the patients of
Methodist Hospitals, as well as to the Northwestern residents
themselves. Medical Director of Emergency Services at Methodist,
Michael McGee M.D., is excited about the partnership and the
benefits it will bring to the patients. “One of the most significant
benefits that our partnership with Northwestern will bring is the
increased amount of services that are offered to our patients.
Rather than being seen by just one doctor, our patients will now be
seen by two. The residents which are part of the program, as well as
our staff emergency department physicians, will now see each patient
and treat them as a team.” The increased amount of doctors in the
emergency department will also inevitably lead to shorter wait times
for patients. In the previous years the national average for
emergency department wait times has become increasingly longer.
Waiting periods are longer due, in part, to an increase in uninsured
patients as well as a decrease in number of emergency physicians
available to provide care. According to Dr. McGee, “Overcrowding is
always an issue in every ED. By increasing the amount of doctors on
the floor available to see our patients, throughput (the rate at
which patients are seen and treated) is greatly increased. This
means that we encounter fewer backups in the ED, which in turn leads
to quicker responses to patients’ treatment needs.” Although
patients are seen by a resident, this does not mean that they will
not be seen by one of Methodist’s regular staff emergency
physicians. All patients being cared for by one of the residents
will also be evaluated and treated by one of Methodist’s staff
emergency physicians as well. According to Dr. McGee this means
that, “patients are seen by twice as many doctors which means twice
as much time, attention and feedback for the patients.”
The resident doctors from Northwestern will receive excellent
benefits from the partnership as well. The emergency department at
Methodist’s Northlake campus offers a unique training experience to
the resident doctors. The uniqueness comes from the fact that there
is a more severe degree of illness including many more instances of
patients with penetrating trauma than in a typical emergency
department. Penetrating trauma is easily defined as injuries
involving some sort of foreign object piercing and entering the
body. Examples of penetrating trauma are gunshot and knife wounds.
By being exposed to these sorts of unique trauma as a resident, the
doctors expand their skill sets and practice procedures that would,
in other situations, be considered rare. These experiences can later
prove to be invaluable from a training perspective. Katrina Leone,
MD is one of the first residents to finish her stay at Methodist.
Dr. Leone stated that, “I have really enjoyed my time at Methodist.
The staff is extremely friendly and I have been able to experience
some really exciting trauma cases. While working on these cases I
was also able to experience some new procedures. It has really been
a great experience working here.” Another resident from
Northwestern, Shana Kusin, MD is also nearing the end of her stay at
Methodist. “I really value my time here at Methodist. I have been
able to work with many excellent doctors and some really interesting
cases. Experiencing a different patient population is also always
very important.”
The partnership between Methodist and Northwestern was determined
to be a natural fit when reviewed by both parties. Our Associate
Director of Emergency Services, Geoffrey Bauer, M.D. is a graduate
of Northwestern and initiated discussions to develop this
partnership. As a former graduate of the training program, he knows
that “Methodist offers a unique learning experience to the resident
doctors due to the medical complexity of the cases we treat at
Methodist as well as the challenges of providing high quality
medical care to an underserved, urban community. The socioeconomic
characteristics of our patient population and type of illness and
injury we treat here at Methodist complement the training the
residents receive at their home institution, Northwestern Memorial
Hospital.”
Partnering with an academic institution is also consistent with
Methodists’ long-term goal of becoming a teaching hospital (training
all major medical specialties) in partnership with Indiana
University Northwest. Pat Bankston, PhD Assistant Dean, Director and
Professor of Anatomy and Cell Biology at Indiana University School
of Medicine was quoted as saying, "Our expansion and development of
third and fourth year programs for medical students at IU School of
Medicine Northwest will directly benefit from Methodist’s new
partnership. The presence of Northwestern residents at Methodist's
Northlake Campus emergency room presents a great value to our
medical students who will be completing their required Emergency
Medicine course there. The team of attending physician, resident and
medical student is standard in teaching hospitals and enhances the
ER experience of our students. It is an exciting new development in
our IUSM-NW/Methodist partnership."
Ian McFadden, CEO of Methodist Hospitals, stated that, “I am
excited about our partnership with Northwestern, a top ten academic
center, and feel that it is a strong reflection of the quality of
services that we provide at Methodist Hospitals. Northwestern sets
high standards of care for itself and its partners. This partnership
reinforces our commitment to being a leader in sub-specialty care
and raises the quality of care received at our emergency department.
The partnership works out to be a win-win situation for both
parties. In addition, this partnership with Northwestern further
strengthens our commitment to excellence and medical education in
our pursuit to become a medical teaching hospital/facility.”
These sentiments were echoed by Michael Davenport, M.D., Chief
Medical Officer and Vice President of Medical Affairs. “As a
provider of medical education, our focus will also be that of
facilitating a strong emergency centered academic partnership
between Methodist and the McGraw Medical Center of Northwestern
University. We anticipate a very unique richness in this partnership
as the resident’s training will be enhanced by the diverse
educational expertise of our emergency department faculty and
staff.”
For more information or to interview/photograph Methodist
Hospital employees, please contact me, my contact information is
located below.
Amber Raza
Marketing and Corporate Communications
P: 219.886.4474
F: 219.886.4592
E:
araza@methodisthospitals.org
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