Primary Care Residency Program

Housestaff Scholarly Activity

Dr. Patrick O'Connor.
Dr. Patrick O'Connor, Professor and Chief, Section of General Internal Medicine

Resident Research and Scholarship
The Yale School of Medicine is one of the preeminent centers for biomedical, technological, and behavioral research. The School of Medicine is organized into thirty-one research intensive departments and sections in both the clinical and basic sciences and occupies approximately 1.5 million square feet adjacent to Yale-New Haven Hospital. There is an extensive faculty and research staff including more than 4,000 individuals with some 819 full-time faculty members and over 1,000 trainees involved in clinical care, research, and medical education. The principal sponsor of research in the School of Medicine is the federal government through the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Support from the NIH is the fourth highest among US. medical schools, with the Department of Medicine as the largest single recipient.

All residents in the three-year categorical program are required to complete a scholarly activity project during residency. These projects can consist of case reports, literature reviews, or hypothesis driven research. The resident research program is supervised by Dr Patrick O’Connor, Professor of Medicine, Chief, Section of General Internal Medicine.

Aims of the Resident Scholarship Requirement
The primary goals of the resident scholarship requirement are to enhance the critical thinking skills of the residents as bedside clinicians, to facilitate scholarly thinking, creativity, and appreciation of the excitement in creating new knowledge in medicine at an early stage in clinical training, and to broaden the scholarly sophistication of all elements of the residency program (i.e., morning report, peer teaching, work rounds, attending rounds, etc.).

Residency.

Structure of the Resident Scholarship Opportunities
There are didactic and experiential components of the Residency Scholarship Curriculum that occur during each year of training. The didactic components include a five-part clinical statistics course, a seven-part evidence-based medicine seminar series, and a structured journal club that residents participate in each year. In addition, all categorical interns participate in a two-week course that includes seminars designed to help develop an understanding of academic medicine as a possible career niche, how to write a clinical vignette abstract, how to prepare a clinical vignette poster, and how to identify a potential research mentor for those residents interested in pursuing a more in-depth project during the PGY 2 and PGY 3 years. Interns will write a clinical vignette abstract that they will submit to the Connecticut Chapter of the American College of Physicians annual meeting in their PGY 2 year and they will prepare the poster during this two week rotation in the PGY 1 year. Residents with the highest quality posters will also submit these to the National American College of Physicians Meeting or to the National Society of General Internal Medicine meeting and residents whose abstracts are accepted will be financially supported to attend the meeting. Residents are also encouraged to develop a more in-depth project during their PGY 2 and 3 years. These can be hypothesis-driven research projects, curriculum development projects, or community service projects. Residents pursuing hypothesis driven research or those developing an educational curriculum can spend one half-day per week during their PGY 2 and PGY 3 twelve-week ambulatory block rotations to work on their projects. In addition, residents can also designate up to three months of elective time for research.

Presentation of Results
All PGY 3 residents present their work either as oral presentations or as posters at our annual Primary Care and Medicine/Pediatrics Residency Research Day each May. Those who have completed hypothesis driven research projects also present their work at the Department’s “Annual Research in Residency Day Symposium” also held each May. Residents are encouraged to submit their research to regional and national scientific meetings (e.g., Society of General Internal Medicine, American College of Physicians, etc.) and funding is available to support residents to attend these meetings in order to present their work. Examples of resident presentations over the last two years are listed below.

Housestaff Publications and Presentations—2006-2007

Baran, Kevin M.
Should I Stay or Should I Go? Discharges Against Medical Advice at a Community Hospital

Belcher, Vernee N.
Wegener’s Granulomatosis – A Diagnosis Not To Miss

Blackburn, Tamika
CADASIL – A Genetic Cause of Stroke

Blackburn, Tamika
Asymmetric Descending Paralysis Parading as Guillain Barre Syndrome

Casulo, Carla
Hepatocellular Carcinoma Due to Aflatoxin Exposure in an 18-Year Old Man

Das, Rituparna
West Nile Virus Disease in Connecticut, 2006 – A Review of New Haven Cases

Dauphinais, Karl M.
Establishing a Web-based Obesity Counseling CME/Accreditation Program for Clinicians Coupled with a Reimbursement Mechanism

Eftekhari, Parham
A Case of Acute Oliguric Renal Failure and Life-threatening Hypokalemia in an HIV Patient: Potential Role of Tenofivir-Induced Nephrotoxicity

Galvez, Jorge A.
59-Year-old Woman with Suicidal Ideation and Shortness of Breath: Unfogging Pleural Effusions

Garcia, Rina
Race, Drugs and Heart Failure: Exploring Treatment Choices in the Age of Evidence-Based Medicine

Harma, Michael
Cerebral Aspergillosis in an Immunocompetent Host

Holt, Stephen
The Yale Med-Law Project: Developing a Forum for Discussion Between the Medical and Legal Professions

Joshi, Samit
Got Lactobacillus? A Unique Report of Septic Shock Secondary to Late Stage Prosthetic Hip Infection

Lee, Lana
A Case of an Infected Iliac Aneurysm caused by Candida Parapsilosis – A “True” Mycotic Aneurysm.

Mosovich, Jonathan
A Case of Secondary Hyperparathyroidsm Mimicking Primary Hyperparathyroidism in a 70-Year Old Woman with Chronic Kidney Disease

Rusher, Robert
Examining the Utilization of a Rapid Response Team at a Community Hospital: First Six Months Experience

Sico, Jason J.
Scleroderma Renal Crisis Presenting as Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome

Simone, Mark
Establishment of a Home Visit Program for Primary Care Internal Medicine Residents

Smith, Adam
The Yale Med-Law Project: Promoting Conversation Between the Medical and Legal Professions

Taylor, Steve M.
Incidence of Common Non-opportunistic Infections Requiring Hospitalization in HIV-Positive Patients in the Era of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy

Triano, Laura R.
Using Computer-based, Self-directed Modules and Collaboration with a certified Laboratory Technician to Teach First-Year Residents how to Interpret Peripheral Blood Smears and Evaluate Patients with Common Hematological Conditions

Ulku, Aylin S.
Abdominal Pain in SLE: A Spectrum of Gastrointestinal Disease

Unaeze, Jane
CNS Aspergillosis in an HIV-Positive Patient Does Not Have To Be Fatal

Vasa, Parita
A Case of Acute Meningococcemia, Myopericarditis, and Cardiac Tamponade

Ward, Charisse
A Treatment Dilemma: Persistent Prosthetic Valve Bacterial Endocarditis in an HIV-Positive Intravenous Drug User

Housestaff Publications and Presentations—2005-2006

Ariyabuddhiphongs, Kim, Zawahir, P
Medical Care of Breast Cancer Survivors: An Update for the Women’s Health Provider

Ariyabuddhiphongs, Kim, Zawahir, P
Pneumocystis Jirovechii Pneumonia in a Non-HIV Patient: Should we Measure CD4 Counts in At-Risk Patients?

Baran, Kevin
Positive Deviance: A New Process for Improving Professional Performance in the Health Care Setting

Koprowska, Izabela
Aspirin Use Among Adults with Diabetes Attending Family Health Center

Louis, Coeurlida
Late Presentation for HIV Care in Central Haiti: Factors Limiting Access to Care

Machado, Duarte
Multiple Central Nervous System Hemorrhages in Polycythemia Vera with Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Montague, Brian
A Systematic Review of Curricula for Relationships Between Residents and the Pharmaceutical Industry

Rahimi, Ali
Financial Barriers to Health Care and Recovery After Acute Myocardial Infarction. A Prospective Registry Evaluating Myocardial Infarction: Event and Recovery (PREMIER) Study

Saharia, Kapil
Infiltrative Neurosarcoidosis or Tuberculous Meningitis: An Unusual Case of Amenorrhea and Galactorrhea

Sargeant, Ulin
A Fatal Case of Coryneform Bacterium Multivalvular Endocarditis in a 32 Year Old ESRD Patient

Shin, Byol
Abdominal Pain as the Initial Clinical Presenting Feature of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Wang, Roger, Joshi, S
Restless Leg Syndrome and Iron Deficiency Anemia