UMC Health System - Physician Notes

POWER POWER The WHAT DO YOU get when you combine an experienced, specialized faculty with a crop of young residents who bring fresh education and cutting-edge ideas to the table? At UMC Health System, our teaching hospital trains medical professionals, while at the same time, creating a work environment where everyone collaborates to consistently improve care for our patients and community. Teaching hospitals train medical professionals while also providing specialized care. Because UMC is the primary teaching hospital for Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, members of the community are able to stay close to home to receive their care, rather than driving to hospitals in larger cities. IMPROVING OUR CARE "Currently, we have 254 residents working with our patients, which is a great learning opportunity for everyone," said Adrian Dennington, D.O., house staff president, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. "In addition to the experience they can absorb from faculty teaching them, residents and medical students bring energy and fresh ideas to their work." e teaching hospital setting allows for many learning opportunities, including holding a research day. Medical students, residents, fellows and faculty alike participate in research projects they can present in poster form to their peers. Residents also do quality improvement projects annually, working to streamline processes and have better patient outcomes in the clinic setting. "We also do a lot of clinical research, including trials of new medications and protocols," said Allan Louis Haynes Jr., M.D., F.A.C.S., vice president, Medical Staff Affairs at UMC and professor of urology at Texas Tech Physicians. "Some are even multi-institution trials. Bringing multiple teaching hospitals together allows us to more quickly evaluate the effectiveness of medications in large populations of patients and get them into use." WORKING IN CONCERT UMC's mission is to train physicians to serve West Texas and Eastern New Mexico, while Texas Tech aims to further medical education and research. For this reason, the partnership between the two was created more than 40 years ago, with the goal of developing top-quality patient care, providing residents with a strong hands-on education and broadening the ability of medical professionals to conduct research. of a TEACHING HOSPITAL 4 PHYSICIAN NOTES /// WINTER 2017

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