Chief
Suparna “Nina” Dutta, MD, MPH, FACP, FHM
Overview
The Academic Medicine service at Hartford Hospital continues to grow and evolve. However, the initial purpose of the program: to improve the quality and safety of inpatient care, to ensure access to high quality outpatient care to the community we serve, and to create a strong educational program for both medical students and residents still stands.
This service currently consists of four providers that predominantly manage the outpatient setting (Adult Primary Care clinic, 132 Jefferson), eight physicians who rotate predominantly in the inpatient setting, and two providers stationed to provide medical coverage at the IOL. We currently staff six inpatient teaching services, which consist of medicine inpatients and step down level care. We also provide step down consultative services for the entire institution, including the emergency department and respond to all hospital rapid responses and cardiac events. In the outpatient setting, we provide oversight of the Adult Primary Care Clinic and the 40+ UCONN residents that rotate through this site on a monthly basis.
Academic medicine has evolved tremendously over the past three decades. From predominantly primary care physicians providing inpatient care for the teaching services, most academic medicine programs have come to consist of separate outpatient and inpatient teaching entities. This is because the pace of inpatient care is such, that for optimal efficiency and coordination of care, an attending should be in house and on the floors with his/her residents for the entire day. Similarly, outpatient care, especially to underserved populations, needs providers who are dedicated to the clinic and their patient panels. Here at HH, for a long time the dual inpatient/outpatient model persisted, but this year, we began the transition to full inpatient or outpatient coverage for our attendings. This transition allowed for attending presence daily at progression rounds in the inpatient setting, and development of specialty clinics at APC, including musculoskeletal joint injections for pain, complex care, and acupuncture.
Looking to the future, we hope to create innovative models of care delivery that optimize inpatient quality/safety and transitions, especially for the community we serve, increase faculty participation in organizational and educational leadership, continue to improve the educational experience for UCONN residents at HH, invest in broadening our research footprint, and focus on ensuring a sustainable work environment and mentorship/faculty development to help our providers attain their career goals.