From Dr. Ben Alman

Over the past several months, we’ve engaged in a dialogue about how to best coordinate the clinical, educational, and research missions related to hand surgery, given that activity in these three missions is provided by faculty in two separate departments: orthopedics and surgery.  We are delighted to announce the establishment of a  new “interdepartmental division of hand surgery” whose goal is to coordinate these activities over the entire Duke health system and faculty.  David Ruch will be the inaugural head of the division, and he will have joint reporting responsibilities to both Orthopaedics and Surgery. Over the next months, he will work with the hand faculty to develop the details of the new division, but it is anticipated that this unit will coordinate care and manpower needs for hand surgery in collaboration our health system leadership, and the chairs of orthopedics and surgery; as well as be an integrated unit for education and research activities. This is an exciting new model for providing coordinated clinical and academic activities crossing multiple departments.  Please join me in congratulating Dave on his leadership role in this new endeavor.

Congratulations to John Tyrrell on his retirement after 5 years of dedication and service to the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.  John has always been a person of trust and integrity as well as demonstrating a prolific work ethic.  His work and impact will continue on in this department through the efforts of others whom he mentored.  History will forever reflect John’s critical role in founding the department of Orthopaedics.

Best wishes, John, on your next adventure – you will be missed!

From Dr. Ben Alman:

As many of you know, Bob Zura will be leaving Duke the end of the year to become the chair of orthopaedics at the Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans.  We are currently searching for a head of our trauma section, and a few candidates have already come through looking at the position.

Rachel M. Reilly, MD

I delighted that Rachel Reilly  has agree to serve as the interim chief of the trauma section until we recruit a more permanent head. Rachel graduated from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, and was a resident at UNC before undertaking fellowship training at the Shock Trauma Center in Maryland.  Most of us know Rachel quite well, as she has been on staff at Duke since she completed her training.  Rachel will take on the responsibilities for coordinating clinical care and education on the trauma service, staffing our trauma room, and overseeing general trauma call starting this week.  David Attarian and I will continue to help out as needed with these activities, especially until the end of this calendar year.  

Please join me in thanking Rachel for taking on these important activities for our department;  in supporting her in this interim role; and in congratulating Bob in his new position!

Mark your calendars and join the fun at this years Department of Orthopaedic Surgery Holiday Party at AMF Durham Lanes, Wednesday, December 2 at 5:00 p.m.  Questions regarding the event, contact Melanie Frank at 919-613-9186.

Ortho Page Road administrative and clinical staff celebrated teamwork and work culture with a Thanksgiving luncheon on Thursday, 11/19.  This is an annual tradition shared with the Page Road clinic staff, staff assistants, appointment hub, APP’s, and faculty.

Congratulations to authors: Brian T. Nickel, MD; Mitchell Robert Klement, MD; Colin Thomas Penrose, BA, BS; Cynthia L. Green, PhD; Abiram Bala, BA; Michael P. Bolognesi, MD; Thorsten M. Seyler, MD, PhD for winning the best poster award at the AAHKS (American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons) meeting in Dallas, November 5-8th, 2015.

Title: Lingering Risk: Bariatric Surgery Prior to Total Knee Arthroplasty

http://www.aahks.org/poster-awards-presented-at-annual-meeting/

As a follow up to last week’s blog update on the departmental web site, we had a ‘call to action’ for all interested faculty to provide feedback on content as well as look and feel.  Thanks to everyone that provided input and suggestions.  The feedback has been compiled and shared with the faculty leads to decide which enhancements will be incorporated into the overall design.

The project team is now working with Duke DHTS on a go-live date and once confirmed we will share with the broader team.

As a reminder, the test environment can be found at http://ortho.innovah.com.  Continued feedback is appreciated.

Congratulations to the following Orthopaedic Surgery Faculty for his recent promotion:

Selene Gunvant Parekh, Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery – Track IV to Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery – Track IV, effective November 1, 2015

L to R: Dr. Benjamin Alman, Michele De Smet, Shilpa Shelton

Congratulations to Orthopaedics clinical nurse Michele De Smet for receiving the Nursing Excellence Award at the Friends of Nursing Gala Event.  Michele was recognized for her efforts in helping her unit come back from a Tier 3 on the Work Culture survey.  They ended up with a 99% participation in a second pulse survey which helped them identify areas that needed improvement and this year they went back to a Tier 2.  As Michele describes, “this was a true group project, of which she was a part.”  She also volunteered to go to her sister unit when they were incredibly understaffed for a 3 month period while they hired and trained new staff.

Originally from Chicago, Michele moved to the Durham area with her family for a teaching job.  That did not work out so she went back to school to be a nurse.  With a Biology background from the University of South Carolina, she originally wanted to be a veterinarian.  Michele used her Biology degree to become a math/science teacher; earning her Masters in Teaching at National-Louis University in Chicago.

Michele has been with Duke for about 3 years and recently completed her BSN at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.  She received her orthopedic certification in June and has been accepted to the Duke University School of Nursing for her MSN in Informatics.

Her Volunteering activities include diabetes champion for her unit and active in helping with the diabetes management and education of her patients.

The Friends of Nursing program exists to recognize and reward nurses for all the valuable roles they play, including: caregiver, educator, researcher, colleague, patient advocate and friend. The program also supports career development initiatives for nurses, in the hopes of helping them provide even better patient care.

Since its inception in 1998, Friends of Nursing has supported the careers and professional development of more than 1,000 Duke nurses, in several key ways, including:

• Recognizing Accomplishments
• Advancing Professional Development
• Furthering Education

Submitted by Dr. Amy McNulty, PhD:

For the past eight years, a number of people from the research lab have participated in the Jingle Bell Run to raise money for the Arthritis Foundation.  The Arthritis Foundation has been really financially supportive of our lab over the years.  This is a fun way for us to show our appreciation (and we can hope that some of the money raised might find its way back to the lab as well). This year’s Jingle Bell Run is on Dec. 5 in downtown Raleigh. There is a 5k run/walk at 10:30AM, a 1mi fun run/walk at 10AM, and a short race for the kiddos at 11:15.  You don’t need to actually run, walkers are encouraged.

If you are interested, please sign up for our team, the Arthritis Avengers!  Friends and family are welcome to join our team as well.  This year’s costume theme has yet to be fully elucidated, but is likely to involve tutus.

You can join our team or donate here:

http://www.jbr.org/faf/search/searchTeamPart.asp?ievent=1138420&lis=1&kntae1138420=14BFC113B3554DE49C40041C01E99BBC&supId=0&team=6545642&cj=Y