Two new Education Innovation Fund grants have been awarded to the department from the University of Iowa’s Graduate Medical Education office. The first went to Manish Suneja, MD, Vice Chair for Education, and Jane Rowat, MS, Educational Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program. The second will go to a team led by Nicholas Arnold, MD, Chief Resident of Internal Medicine.

Suneja and Rowat’s project, “A longitudinal faculty development program: supporting a culture of teaching,” is modeled after the teaching skills curriculum developed for the internal medicine residents. After an initial assessment to determine which skills areas are most important, modules will be designed and implemented. These modules will be delivered through a new in-house-developed mobile app called qUIkCoach, which faculty will find familiar, having used it to deliver real-time feedback to their trainees.

In addition to the asynchronous learning, faculty will also attend skills-development workshops. Suneja and Rowat will also implement Objective Structured Teaching Evaluations (OSTEs) similar to those begun last year for second-year residents. As in the resident-focused OSTEs, simulated learners will aid in a skills practice and assessment for the faculty participants.

Arnold’s project, “Advancement and Integration of Point-of-care Ultrasound (POCUS) in an Internal Medicine Residency,” will expand on the residency program’s growing ultrasound curriculum. Training in this diagnostic method is growing at institutions, not only for use in ICUs but also in general inpatient wards. Most directly, the funds supplied by the GME grant will go toward the purchase of three handheld ultrasound devices, which can link with mobile phones and tablets.

These devices will increase the opportunity for bedside education and provide greater accessibility for residents to practice their growing skills. Other members of Arnold’s project include three of the 2021-22 Chief Residents, which should provide continuity of this expanded curriculum into the next academic year.

The GME Education Innovation Fund supports innovative projects and fosters shared scholarship within and outside the walls of the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Proposals are funded on the basis of clarity, feasibility, and potential impact.