Chief’s message: ESC Cardiology Meeting
This week the European Society of Cardiology meeting was held in Barcelona with several presentations from Duke Faculty. There were several presentations on late breaking trials and science including the presentation of the PACIFIC AMI study by John Alexander. Renato Lopes was the discussant of the INVICTUS study showing warfarin was superior in rhematic heart disease patients with atrial fibrillation. There were also several investigator and study meetings by Duke Heart Faculty and fellows. Below you will find a photo of Kelly Arps presenting some data on bleeding risk in patients with Atrial Fibrillation on DOACs. Additionally, Joey Harrington also had a presentation around the underdosing of these therapies, and Vishal Rao also had a poster presentation.
Also a photo of several of the faculty and fellows out with some past Duke residents and fellows who were at the meeting.
Highlights of the week:
Kudos to Flores Rosario, Decker and Gohman
We received a note this week from Anna Lisa Chamis regarding some outstanding care members of our team provided recently to a patient:
From Jeff Federspiel in Maternal-Fetal Medicine:
“I am so grateful to everyone who worked to coordinate keeping our patient safe. There are too many people to thank everyone individually, but I wanted to give a special thanks to the bedside team who stayed with our patient through delivery, monitoring and managing hemodynamics in real time and supporting her labor during what is always a difficult experience:
- Kelsey Decker and Natalie Gohman from the Duke Heart CTICU team
- Courtney Schultz from DBC
- Karen Flores Rosario from Duke Heart’s Advanced Heart Failure/Cardiology team
Richa Agarwal added the following comment: “Karen was involved in this emotionally challenging, complicated case. She was present bedside to help — really remarkable effort.”
We are proud of each of you — thank you for the teamwork and compassionate care you’re providing!
Kudos to Elliot
First-year cardiology fellow David Elliott was commended this week in a note to Anna Lisa Chamis. She shared the following message she received from Chris Holley:
“I just want to pass on this kudos about David Elliott: he is the first fellow I have ever seen do a personal review of a peripheral blood smear to check for schistocytes in working up hemolysis.”
Way to go the extra mile for your patient, David!
Shout-out to Shannon
Rick Shannon, MD, chief quality officer for DUHS, cardiologist and area chair of the 2022 Triangle Heart Walk, along with leaders from the Triangle American Heart Association affiliate, hosted an informative health-related Town Hall for employees with Lenovo. Shannon presented the latest information on key health measures and tips for preventing and managing cardiovascular disease. Lenovo employees were able to ask questions during a Q&A session. The virtual event was held on Thursday, Aug. 25. Lenovo is hosting a team at the upcoming Heart Walk — we’re looking forward to seeing them there.
Great job sharing important health tips to our community, Rick!
Be Aware: Extortion Scam Targeting DEA Registrants
An extortion scam continues to target healthcare providers across the US. Please note this reminder:
The U.S. Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is aware that registrants are receiving telephone calls and emails by criminals identifying themselves as DEA employees or other law enforcement personnel. In an attempt to create the illusion that these criminals are DEA employees, they have masked their telephone number on caller id with a phone number for a legitimate DEA office. For example, these criminals have used the phone numbers for DEA’s Office of Congressional and Public Affairs and DEA’s 800 number which is used to provide direct support to DEA registrants.
Impersonating a federal agent is a violation of federal law. Registrants should be aware that no DEA agent will ever contact members of the public by telephone to demand money or any other form of payment or threaten to suspend a registrant’s DEA registration.
If you are contacted by a person purporting to work for DEA and seeking money or threatening to suspend your DEA registration, submit the information through “Extortion Scam Online Reporting” posted on the DEA Diversion Control Division’s website. For more information, please visit https://www.dea.gov/scam-alert.
Contact PDC Legal with further questions.
Coming Up: Influenza Vaccine Campaign
PDC and Duke University Health System (DUHS) require all healthcare workers to comply with our Healthcare Worker Flu Vaccination policy by either being vaccinated annually against the flu or receiving an approved exemption. Annual policy compliance is a condition of employment for all PDC and DUHS team members. Annual vaccination or policy compliance is also a condition of access to Duke Health facilities, including information systems, for those holding clinical privileges in a Duke Health facility and learners who wish to train in our facilities.
The DUHS annual flu vaccination campaign will begin on Thursday, September 15. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, limited mass flu vaccination clinics will be available at each hospital and at select off-campus work locations.
Team members will have the opportunity to get vaccinated through any of the following means:
- Peer vaccination in clinical work areas will be available as in years past.
- West Campus of Duke University in Blue Devil Tower providing healthcare and university worker vaccinations by appointment on various dates throughout October.
- Entity-based vaccine clinics will be established; schedules will be posted and shared.
- Staff member’s primary care physician or at a local pharmacy.
Peer-to-Peer Vaccination
This year’s peer-to-peer initiative will be identical to last year. Although we will not be holding a vaccination drill, we do ask that you prepare to vaccinate your team members as early as possible. As always, we ask you to be thoughtful of any DUHS staff member who frequents your unit or work area. This may include EVS staff, patient transporters, or supply chain team members who will need to be vaccinated this year.
Please complete the following flu vaccination supply survey by close of business on Wednesday, August 31st if your work area will be participating in the peer vaccination program. https://duke.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cGCkAI3W8o8c8sK
Please note these key dates for this flu vaccination season:
Thursday, September 15: Launch of Flu Vaccination Season
Tuesday, November 1: Deadline for applications for Medical or Religious Exemption should be submitted before this date. This will allow sufficient time for review and for communication of the review decision. Please note: Due to the availability of an egg-free formulation of the flu vaccine, egg allergy is not a reason for a medical exemption.
Tuesday, November 15, at 10 a.m.: Deadline for policy compliance through vaccination or granted medical or religious exemption.
We will be using an updated Duke VaxTrax QR, a digitized flu vaccination consent and health screening platform. You and your vaccinator will complete documentation of vaccination using this digital platform or, if you are vaccinated by your primary care provider or at a local pharmacy, you must submit evidence of vaccination to https://duke.is/vxsfu
If you have questions about the flu vaccine or its availability, please contact StopTheFlu@dm.duke.edu or EOHWflu@dm.duke.edu.
Thank you for your commitment to keeping our patients, each other and our community safe and healthy.
Heart Walk: Sunday, Sept. 25
We are getting excited for the upcoming Triangle Heart Walk scheduled for Sunday, September 25 at PNC Arena. The annual Walk is a great opportunity to come together to celebrate one another, to represent Duke Health, and to reinvigorate the commitment we have for living a heart-healthy lifestyle. Incredibly, this event is only one month away!
We are in the final stretch and could use more help from across DUHS. Won’t you consider joining us? Let’s make sure we have plenty of Duke Blue visible at PNC Arena and that we outshine our friends from Carolina and Wake Med on September 25!
Registering is quick and easy.
- Visit TriangleHeartWalk.org
- Select the “Create new team” or the “Join a Team” button. Then complete the registration page.
- Personalize your page with a photo and send emails inviting others (colleagues, friends and family) to join the team and donate.
Contact Sangeetha Menon at sangeetha.menon@heart.org for help getting started or with any questions you might have about the Heart Walk.
Did you know?
As a part of the AHA’s Strategically Focused Research Network (SFRN), Duke principal investigator Svati Shah, MD received funding from the AHA from 2017-2021 to study microbiota related to molecular pathways in pediatric obesity. A subsequent publication highlighted novel metabolic pathways associated with heterogeneity in response to weight loss interventions, and related biomarkers which could be used in future studies of personalized approaches to weight loss interventions.
Our work to support the AHA Heart Walk comes back to us via grant funding for site PI’s.
Thank you to everyone who has already signed up to participate. If you can’t join us in person, please consider a contribution of any amount to one (or more!) of the nine teams representing Duke Heart.
Help us meet our overall DUHS fundraising goals! Duke Heart’s teams can be found here: https://duke.is/6jpdp
Photos of the Week
As noted – some of our faculty were in Barcelona this weekend for ESC Congress 2022. We’ve seen a number of posts on Twitter – (don’t forget to tag @DukeHeartCenter!) – we enjoyed this shot of Rob Mentz with Mike Felker, “looking like a celebrity that hates selfies with his fans.” Spot on!
COVID-19 Update
Please continue to practice safe COVID-19 protocols in your day-to-day interactions with others. Be particularly vigilant about masking, and avoid eating indoors in group settings. The health of our team members and our patients remains a priority as we continue to monitor the COVID-19 trends throughout our community.
Stay home if you are not feeling well. Employees who begin to experience any COVID-19 symptoms should report symptoms through the Duke SymMon app, which is available in both the Apple and Google app stores.
Donate blood if you’re able to. Click here for Duke-sponsored blood drives through the Red Cross.
All the latest Clinical Operations updates related to COVID can be found at https://covid-19.dukehealth.org. Patient-facing resources on DukeHealth.org can be found here: https://www.dukehealth.org/covid-19-update/resources. Duke University maintains a resource page as well, which can be accessed here: https://coronavirus.duke.edu/updates/for-staff.
Upcoming Events & Opportunities
Cardiology Grand Rounds
September 8: The Art and Science of Leadership with David Skorton, MD, President and CEO of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). 5 p.m. in Duke North Room 2002 and via WebEx.
CME & Other Events
September 12: Prostate Cancer & CVD Symposium. This is the third webinar of a four-part series. Collaboration between the International Cardio-Oncology Society & Duke Heart. Noon, Eastern. To learn more, please visit: https://duke.is/mbpte
September 25: Triangle Heart Walk. PNC Arena, Raleigh. Check-in and festivities start at 11 am. Walk begins at Noon. Join us!
October 14: Cardio-Oncology in the Era of Precision Medicine. Symposium to be held at the J.B. Duke Hotel, Durham, NC. Registration is open: https://bit.ly/CardioOnc22. Email Beth Tanner with questions: beth.tanner@duke.edu.
November 4: 14th Annual NC Research Triangle Pulmonary Hypertension Symposium. 7 a.m.-4 p.m. Save the date! This will be an in-person event at the Durham Convention Center. Registration required. To learn more and register, visit: https://duke.is/jag2b
Have news to share?
If you have news to share with the Pulse readership, please contact Tracey Koepke, director of communications for Duke Heart at tracey.koepke@duke.edu. We would love to hear about your latest accomplishments, professional news, cool happenings, and any events or opportunities that may be of interest to our Duke Heart family. Please call with any questions: 919-681-2868. Feedback on Pulse is welcome and encouraged. Submissions by Noon, Wednesdays, to be considered for weekend inclusion.
Duke Heart in the News:
August 19 — John Alexander and Manesh Patel
Geriatricarea
Bayer organiza un encuentro para mejorar el abordaje de los pacientes cardiovasculares complejos
https://duke.is/nwmkv
August 22 — Joe Turek and Louise Markert
RadioLab (NPR/PRI)
https://duke.is/547zd
August 23 — Jonathan Piccini
Medscape
Early AF Rhythm-Control Advantage Climbs With Comorbidity Burden: EAST-AFNET4
https://duke.is/b5735
August 24 — Michel Khouri and Stephen Greene
Practical Cardiology
https://duke.is/96ygs
Recent Comments