Departments of Internal Medicine & Surgery Team Up to Provide Education Day for Advanced Practice Clinicians
The third annual Advanced Practice Clinician (APC) Education Day took place on March 21, 2019. In the previous two years, this event was attended solely by clinicians in the Department of Surgery. This year, an effort to include APCs within Department of Internal Medicine led to an exciting day of collaborative education between the two largest departments in the School of Medicine.
The idea behind this year’s event was to provide a more collaborative, interdepartmental education opportunity for speakers in various subspecialties to share their expertise with their colleagues. Forty-five-minute lectures packed with well-researched data were presented by a variety of internal medicine and surgery APCs, as well as a few faculty colleagues. Lectures included discussions on palliative care, the “quick and dirty” of EKGs, an acute pain update, and many other topics relevant to both departments.
Julie O’Brien, APC Director of Education and Recruitment for the Department of Surgery believes joining forces with the Department of Internal Medicine was a natural step for the two largest departments in the School of Medicine. “Our departments frequently share ideas and have committed to joining forces when appropriate as we comprise almost a third of the institution’s APCs,” she says. “We asked clinicians from Internal Medicine to join us this year to expand on topics as well as to integrate our departments.”
APCs play integral roles in both the Department of Internal Medicine and the Department of Surgery. These physician assistants or nurse practitioners provide excellent inpatient or outpatient care, and sometimes “free” up faculty providers so that the provider can focus on research and CME efforts.
Internal Medicine Inpatient APC Director, David Kendrick, says that career mindsets are changing. While APCs still strive to provide care in the absence of a faculty provider, many are now expressing interest in their own research and educational interests outside of clinical work. “Many of our clinicians are experts in their field, and have interest in educating their colleagues,” he says. “This event allows them this opportunity and helps them develop their presentation skills.” 
APC Education Day provided the opportunity for APCs in both departments to gain updated information about a variety of clinical topics and to ask questions about best practices with regard to diagnostic work ups and how to make difficult treatment decisions. “It’s nice to get a refresher on certain topics, especially the ones you see so rarely," says Kathleen Ewanowski, an attendee and a physician assistant in the Department of Surgery. “The re-exposure of certain topics keeps my knowledge up to date. It’s like flexing your ‘APC muscles;’ If you don’t work out your muscles, you’re likely to forget something important in a critical moment.”
In previous years, APC Education Day struggled to find its footing due to a lack of leadership support; APCs also were also hesitant to ask for time off to attend. This year, APC leadership in both departments made strides toward improving educational opportunities and making sure APCs have dedicated time to attend CME events. The result of these improved efforts was evident with over 70 APCs in attendance. APC Directors in both Internal Medicine and Surgery are confident the success of this year’s event will spread by word of mouth, and be an even larger event in 2020.
“I only have positive things to say about the event this year,” says Mary Ding, a nurse practitioner in Internal Medicine. “I wasn’t sure if it would be worth it, but I ended up having so much fun! I advise any APC who did not attend this year to make next year’s event a priority – even if you think the topics don’t relate to you, it’s still good to be prepared for anything your patient can experience.”
APC leadership is also looking forward to next year. “It’s an honor to be a part of this incredible group of clinicians who are clearly subject matter experts in their field,” Kendrick commends. “There is no doubt that the level of topics presented at this year’s event were scholarly, and that the overwhelming message was one of gratitude for bringing the two largest departments in the School of Medicine together to learn and network. We hope to continue our collaboration with the Department of Surgery and achieve the same success for APC Education Day 2020.”
APC leadership would like to thank its presenters this year for their time and expertise: Will Cho, PA; Meredith Columb, PA; Holli Martinez, NP; Crystal Webb, PA; Rebecca Kim, MD; Vicki Jackman, NP; Alex Gouttsoul, PA; and Jeanmarie Mayer, MD.