Presenting research at medical conferences is an important milestone during residency programs, and for residents in the IU School of Medicine Department of Neurological Surgery, the recent 5th Annual Resident Quality and Patient Safety Day proved a banner day for sharing their hard work.
The June 11 conference was organized by the resident-run IU GME Patient Safety and Quality Council, and was billed as a “a day dedicated to advancing quality improvement and patient safety efforts by facilitation a collaboration between clinical leaders, providers, educators, trainees and students across multiple healthcare disciplines.”
Postponed last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s Patient Safety Day was conducted virtually by Zoom for the first time. The agenda included a keynote address as well as 14 oral presentations of accepted research abstracts.
“I was particularly proud of my department's participation in the conference this year,” said Mohamed Zaazoue, MBBch, a PGY-4 resident in the Department of Neurological Surgery and vice chair of the Patient Safety and Quality Council. “Our department had five accepted abstracts to be presented in the oral presentations, the highest participation from any single department this year.”
Presenting abstracts from the Department of Neurological Surgery this year were: Viren Desai, MD, Fellow; Josue Ordaz, MD, PGY3; Ajay Patel, MD, PGY2; Dianne Seibold, RN; and Christopher Wilson, MD, PGY5.
“Our speakers actually varied from residents, fellows, and also an operating room nurse, which reflects our department's dedication towards excellence in patient care, patient safety and maintaining utmost quality standards in the services we provide to our patients in different clinical settings,” added Zaazoue.
Experts in the field of patient safety and quality served as judges for the oral presentations and recognized the top three abstracts for their work. Derryl Miller, MD, PGY 6 Neurology-Clinical Neurophysiology Fellow, won 3rd place for his presentation, “Coordinating Care for Intracranial Electrode Safety,” which he co-authored with Viren Desai and Jeffrey Raskin, MD, assistant professor of Neurological Surgery.
Zaazoue has served as the council’s vice chair since starting his residency in 2017 and was chosen to assume the role as chair for the 2021-2022 school year.
“I look forward to continue the hard work and dedication of the previous chairs, and to bring forward new and innovative ideas that would help popularize the culture of patient safety and quality improvement amongst IU trainees,” he said. “I also encourage any residents or fellows who are passionate about the topic to join our Council for the coming year.”
