Dear Colleagues and Future Residents,
As we enter the resident interview season, I am excited to share the second quarter edition of Connections. This newsletter is filled with relevant updates that will be especially beneficial to our future trainees, focusing on efforts by our faculty and residents to advance knowledge, practice, patient experience and patient outcomes.
We are proud to introduce stigma measurement tools aimed at transforming patient care. These tools help healthcare providers recognize and mitigate the impact of stigma on patients. Dr. Jessica West emphasizes that this could be particularly beneficial for individuals from diverse backgrounds or those with limited access to healthcare.
Training and mentorship remain at the core of our mission. At Duke, hands-on experience in the operating room and temporal bone lab equips trainees with the skills needed to manage surgical issues confidently. Dr. Eileen Raynor notes that this experience is directly translatable to the office or clinic setting.
To meet the increasing demand for facial plastic and reconstructive surgery (FPRS), we are expanding our services at Duke Raleigh Hospital and Wake County. This expansion not only addresses patients' desires for more services but also provides additional training opportunities for our residents and fellows. We are delighted to welcome back Duke University alumnus Alexa Franco, MD, who will lead these expanded services.
Since 2014, our department has offered a comprehensive sinus and skull base dissection course for residents and fellows. This course, created by Dr. David Jang, is critical for learning both basic and complex anatomy as well as the fundamentals of endoscopic techniques.
Lastly, we are proud of the Leadership Lived Out program, in which Dr. Jared Keeler, a Duke alumnus, was one of the first participants. This program focuses on improving patient care by examining our interactions with patients and each other as a healthcare team. Dr. Keeler has adopted this training program at Specialty Physician Associates in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where he practices today.
I hope you find this edition of Connections both informative and inspiring. Thank you for your continued dedication to excellence in patient care and education.
Sincerely,
Howard W. Francis, MD, MBA, FACS
Richard Hall Chaney, Sr. Distinguished Professor of Otolaryngology
Chair, Department of Head and Neck Surgery & Communication Sciences