A major component of residency training in Internal Medicine at Iowa is an emphasis from day one on research and scholarship in practical ways. One of the ways this happens is through active involvement in a quality improvement project each year. We interviewed Matthew Soltys, MD, last year’s Chief Resident of Quality and Safety and now clinical assistant professor in General Internal Medicine, and Krista Johnson, MD, MME, then-Educational Director for Quality & Safety in our residency program. They each described the strengths of the quality improvement curriculum in the program and the opportunities it presents.

Under Johnson’s leadership and in collaboration with each year’s Chief Resident of Quality and Safety, the program has produced significant results every year. Particularly when it comes to demonstrating their QI projects’ successes to a broader audience.

For the past few years, multiple teams of residents have been invited to present their work at the annual meeting of the Midwest Chapter of the Society of General Internal Medicine. Every year, a cohort of residents not only present at Midwest SGIM, but they are often award-winning and almost always the largest complement from any one regional institution.

This year was no different. Guided by the curriculum’s new leaders–Carly Kuehn, MD, clinical assistant professor in General Internal Medicine and now Educational Director for Quality and Safety, and this year’s Chief Resident for Quality and Safety Derek Hupp, MD–three resident teams’ posters were accepted for presentations this year.

“A Quality-Improvement Project to Improve SGLT-2 Inhibitors Utilization in a Primary Care Clinic”
–Zandvakili A, Hines M, Anderson R, Bowmaster S, Day J, De La Serna S, Meyer M, Peltier S, Prathivadhi-Bhayankaram S, Vather-Wu N, Zeithamel M, Hupp D, Brettell L, Johnson K.
–Presented by PGY-2 Arya Zandvakili, MD, PhD

“Increasing pneumococcal vaccination rates for at-risk veterans between ages 19-64: A quality improvement initiative”
–Abdelhamid A, Mester P, Becker M, Evans A, Prakash S, Beck E, Sieg A, Morrey L, Shlossman M, Yu T, Smock J.
–Presented by PGY-3 Ahmed Abdelhamid, MD

“Increasing hepatitis C screening in an outpatient clinic: Pilot data form a resident-led quality improvement project”
–Dimachkie D, Genova R, Becker T, Stone S, Change H, Hassan A, Kidder I, Wiblin T, Beck G.
–Presented by PGY-2 Dave Dimachkie, MD

In addition, Kuehn pointed out, there were also accepted poster presentations invited from Soltys on his innovative goals of care project, called “Life Sustaining Treatment,” and from Christina Charis-Donelson, MD, clinical assistant professor in General Internal Medicine, on her educational initiative to improve outpatient documentation. This means, Kuehn said, “of the top 20 selections for Midwest SGIM, a full quarter of the innovations presentations were from the University of Iowa.”

Because this year’s meeting, like last year’s, was virtual, a small group of supporters gathered last Thursday afternoon to watch and cheer on their colleagues as they delivered their presentations and fielded questions. Way to represent, Hawkeyes!