Cincinnati Team to Play Key Role in Academic Plastic Surgeons Retreat

A strategic focus on improving residency training, patient safety and quality improvement will be the centerpiece of presentations at the upcoming spring retreat of the American Council of Academic Plastic Surgeons (ACAPS). Representatives from the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine, UC Health and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) will play significant roles in the retreat.

John Kitzmiller, MD, chief of plastic, reconstructive and hand surgery/burn surgery at the UC College of Medicine, and outgoing president of ACAPS, says the organization is committed to improving residency training, patient safety and quality improvement to make sure their activities are best aligned with the overall health system. 

Kitzmiller says this initiative grew from recent recognition by the American Council of Graduate Medical Education of the importance of training residents to learn and then ultimately practice in health care systems committed to patient safety and quality improvement. 

"We as program directors have an opportunity to really impact American health care by how we train our future physicians and how we establish our standards and how the residents are doing," Kitzmiller says. "The traditional focus has been on taking care of the patient as an individual, but this direction is to recognize that patients are taken care of in systems and to have the physicians participate and help shape systems to promote best and most efficient care."

The core content of the retreat is a session on "Plastic Surgery Resident Engagement in Patient Safety and Quality Improvement." Jeff Norton, MS, vice president and chief performance office for UC Health will speak on the alignment of resident patient safety and quality improvement education with health system goals. Ann Schwentker, MD, associate professor of pediatric plastic surgery at CCHMC, will speak on curriculum development.

Kitzmiller and a team led by Binh Nguyen, MD, resident from the UC College of Medicine, will present a paper on how a nurse practitioner breast reduction education and screening program improves the plastic surgery resident ambulatory care experience.

"I want to shine a light at a national forum on what's going on at Children's and UC Health," says Kitzmiller. "We have people from Children's Hospital Medical Center working with UC Health and I think that's another way Cincinnati can shine."

Kitzmiller's one-year term as ACAPS president concludes at the end of the conference. He will continue to be involved in the organization as a past president focusing on faculty development programs.

The ACAPS Spring Retreat will be held on Thursday, May 19, 2016 at the Sheraton Times Square Hotel in New York City.