Scranton, Pa. (Nov. 3, 2021) – Resident physicians at The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education recently presented their scholarly research abstracts at the Society of Hospital Medicine’s Central Pennsylvania Virtual Conference.
The Society of Hospital Medicine’s regional conferences enable global hospitalists to present their research in the scientific abstract competition. Overall, the state conference accepted five abstracts for presentation from Wright Center of Graduate Medical Education student physicians in the internal medicine program. The abstracts are:
Dr. Brihant Sharma presented, “Lemierre’s Syndrome: The Forgotten Disease.”
“A Case of COVID-19 Pneumonia Superimposed by Stubborn Burkholderia” was presented by Dr. Viren Raheja.
Dr. Mohammed Musa Najmuddin offered his work, “Recurrent Venous Thromboembolism Following Paper Wasp Bite in an Adult Male.”
Dr. Omar Syed presented, “Internal Jugular Vein Thrombus in the Setting of Prothrombin Deficiency.”
“Myasthenia Gravis Masquerading Cranial Nerve Deficits: A Diagnostic Challenge” was presented by Dr. Peter Iskander.
Overall, resident physicians in The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education have had 71 scholarly abstracts, written on a wide array of topics in medicine, accepted for presentation at professional conferences since the beginning of the 2021-22 academic year.
The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) recently announced The Wright Center for Community Health’s Kingston and Scranton practices have received NCQA Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) recognition for using evidence-based, patient-centered processes that focus on highly coordinated, team-based care within a network with long-term, participative relationships.
The Kingston and Scranton practices join The Wright Center for Community Health’s Mid Valley, 5 S. Washington St., Jermyn, and Clarks Summit, 1145 Northern Blvd., South Abington Township, practices in earning the recognition seal. The Mid Valley and Clarks Summit practices continue with annual formal review to meet the highest standards of the designation.
“Through the hard work of our employees and especially Catie Nealon, The Wright Center has received two important patient-centered medical home achievements for the Scranton and Kingston practices,” said Tiffany Jaskulski, chief operating officer of The Wright Center. “This distinction lets the community know these sites will be open to accommodate their primary care needs outside normal hours of operation; that they will be treated by an empaneled care team, and all of their clinical care coordination needs will be handled by highly-qualified clinical staff.
“As our clinical compliance and population health manager, Catie deserves to be recognized for her hard work on this project and for demonstrating The Wright Center’s core values through her daily work,” Jaskulski added.
The NCQA’s PCMH is a model of primary health care that combines teamwork and information technology to improve delivery and coordination of care; experience of care by patients, families and care teams, and enhances affordability with reduced cost of care and waste. The program was developed in 2008 to identify medical practices that have invested in a care model that empowers patients at the forefront, while nurturing continuous improvement. The NCQA’s recognition program is the most widely adopted PCMH evaluation program in the country.
Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak
Catie Nealon
In order to be considered for PCMH recognition, health care practices must meet key standards in six important areas: Team based care and practice organization, care management and support, know and manage patients, care coordination and care transitions, patient-centered access and continuity, and continued performance measurement and quality improvement. Since its inception, more than 10,000 practice sites and 50,000 clinicians have earned the NCQA PCMH recognition seal.
“We are extremely proud that a national organization has affirmed The Wright Center for Community Health’s commitment to improving the health and welfare of the communities we serve through a patient-centered medical home model approach,” said Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, president and chief executive officer of The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education. “This model of care allows us to honor and keep patients at the forefront of everything we do and makes continuous quality improvement our priority.”
The Wright Center for Community Health’s Kingston Practice at 2 Sharpe St., is located in First Hospital. A full-service primary and pediatric care office, family doctors, pediatricians and advanced practitioners provide checkups, physicals, screenings, treatment of common illnesses and injuries, as well as behavioral health, addiction and recovery services, sports medicine and hepatitis C and infectious disease services. Please go to TheWrightCenter.org or call 570-491-0126 to make an appointment.
The Wright Center for Community Health’s Scranton Practice at 501 S. Washington Ave., is a full-service primary and pediatric care office that also offers dental services as well as rheumatology, sports medicine and infectious disease specialists, including the Ryan White HIV Clinic. Family doctors and advanced practitioners provide checkups, physicals, screenings, treatment of common illnesses and injuries as well as behavioral health and recovery services. To make an appointment, go to TheWrightCenter.org or call 570-941-0630.
Scranton, Pa. (Nov. 2, 2021) – Maria Kolcharno, L.S.W., director of addiction services for The Wright Center for Community Health, recently participated in a panel discussion at the Pennsylvania Perinatal Quality Collaborative Learning Session that addressed working relationships between Opioid Use Disorder Centers of Excellence and maternity care providers in the commonwealth.
Kolcharno addressed numerous collaborative relationships The Wright Center for Community Health’s Healthy Maternal Opiate Medical Support program (Healthy MOMS) has formed with regional Children & Youth Service agencies, OB-GYN providers and hospital maternity units since it was founded in 2018 to better deliver services.
During the program’s breakout sessions, she outlined workflow charts to assist others in replicating the collaborative relationships and processes the Healthy MOMS program has established with Centers of Excellence and maternity care teams. Topics discussed included best practices in connecting patients with opiate use disorder to local Centers of Excellence.
Established in 2016, The Wright Center for Community Health’s Opioid Use Disorder Center of Excellence is one of 50 in the state. The program helps individuals in recovery reshape their lifestyles from the comfort of their own communities. Patients visit any of The Wright Center’s primary care practices in Lackawanna, Luzerne or Wayne counties to connect with supportive certified recovery specialists, case managers, social workers, and medical providers who collectively help them break the cycle of addiction through outpatient care.
Linked to The Wright Center’s Opioid Use Disorder Center of Excellence, the Healthy MOMS program was co-founded with multiple agencies to assist women who are pregnant and have a substance use disorder. Healthy MOMS provides prenatal, perinatal and postpartum care, including medication-assisted treatment to women coping with a substance use disorder, and strives to break the stigma associated with it while building their self-esteem during and after their pregnancies, ideally engaging them in recovery support services.
The Pennsylvania Perinatal Quality Collaborative includes 61 birthing hospitals and newborn intensive care units and 14 health plans in the state. Overall, the organization works to reduce maternal mortality and improve care for pregnant and postpartum women and newborns affected by opioids.
For more information about the Healthy MOMS program, call 570-995-7821 or text healthymoms to 555888. Information about the program and its partners is also available online at healthymoms.org. Go to thewrightcenter.org/services for information about the Opioid Use Disorder Center of Excellence.
Scranton, Pa. (Nov. 1, 2021) – The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s chief fellow of the Gastroenterology Fellowship Program had 18 research abstracts presented recently at the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) 2021 Annual Scientific Meeting & Postgraduate Course in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Hemant Goyal, M.D., wrote and presented five abstracts at the international conference. He presented: “Continued Aspirin Use and Bleeding Risk After Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection of Gastric Neoplasms: A Meta-Analysis,” “Don’t Blame the Duodenoscope Elevator, the Channels are Contaminated as Well: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis,” “How ‘Dirty’ are the Endoscope Channels: A Systematic Review and Mata-Analysis of Reprocessed Endoscopes,” “1-Day vs. 3-Day Low Residue Diet for Colonoscopy Bowel Cleansing: A Systematic Review,” and “Peptic Ulcer with Adherent Clot – Treat it or Leave It: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Trials.”
Dr. Goyal also co-authored 13 other scholarly posters with national and international co-authors that were presented at the conference.
The abstracts that were presented are based upon findings from The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Institutional Review Board-approved research studies, systematic reviews and meta-analyses. They will also appear in future editions of the American Journal of Gastroenterology.
ACG, a professional organization that champions the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of digestive disorders, features one of the largest annual gastroenterology conferences in the United States.
Resident physicians inThe Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s internal medicine program presented scholarly research posters at the American College of Physicians Pennsylvania Eastern Region Virtual Poster Day and Doctor’s Dilemma Competition in October.
Resident physicians in training who presented at the conference are:
Mohammad Asim Amjad, M.D., presented the case report poster, “Candida Empyema Thoracis: A Fungal Mystery.” Zamara Hamid, M.D., and Yamini Patel, M.D. co-authored the scholarly work.
Shams Tasnim, M.D., was the primary author of the scholarly case report poster, “Pulmonary Benign Metastasizing Leiomyoma from Uterine Leiomyoma a Decade after Hysterectomy,” with co-authors Nishant Sharma, M.D., and Pius Ochieng, M.D.
Viren Raheja, M.D., offered the case report presentation, “ECMO to the Rescue.” Co-authors included Andalib Hossain, M.D., and Dr. Patel.
Hamza Hanif, M.D., offered the case report, “Left Ventricular Apical Aneurysm in Absence of Coronary Artery Disease: A Case Report,” with co-authors Raza Naseer, M.D., Abdul Ahad Ehsan Sheikh, M.D., Muhammad Siddique Pir, M.D., and Dr. Amjad.
Sanskriti Shrivastava, M.D., presented the case report, “Recurrent Venous Thromboembolism Following Paper Wasp Bite in an Adult Male.” The reports co-authors included Hunain Aslam, M.D., and Anil K. Singh, M.D.
Chaitanya Rojulpote, M.D., was the primary author of the research poster, “Status and Trends in Hospitalization and All-Cause In-Hospital Mortality Amongst Patients Admitted with Atrial Fibrillation in the United States,” with co-authors Shivaraj Patil, Abdul Sheik, Anshul Patel, Kristina Tanovic, Erin McFadden, Nevena Barjaktarovic and Ivan Cvorovic.
Tripti Chopade, M.D., offered the scholarly case report, “An Interesting Case of Refractory Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura in an HIV Patient with Relapse: Failure to Triumph!”
Ali Akram, M.D., presented the case report poster, “Ovarian Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Masquerading as an Ovarian Cyst Following a Primary CNS Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma: A Diagnostic Dilemma,” with co-authors Sreekant Avula, M.D., Navharsh Sekhon, M.D., Qasim Zafar Iqbal, M.D., Numan Fateh, M.D., and Dr. Chopade.
Raza Naseer, M.D., presented the case report, “Amiodarone Induced Pulmonary Toxicity Versus COVID-19 Pneumonia: A Diagnostic Dilemma.” Usman Manzoor, M.D., and Sanya Badar, M.D., and Drs. Sheikh, Amjad and Hanif co-authored the scholarly work.
Overall, student physicians in The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education have had 71 scholarly abstracts, written on a wide array of topics in medicine, accepted for presentation at professional conferences since the beginning of the 2021-22 academic year.
The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education is the nation’s largest Health Resources and Services Administration-funded Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Consortium. It trains highly skilled physicians in community-immersed, clinical-learning networks that strive to address the nation’s physician shortage and improve access to whole-person primary health services. Resident doctors can choose from programs in internal medicine, family medicine, national family medicine, and psychiatry. Fellowships also are available in cardiovascular disease, gastroenterology, and geriatrics.
Scranton, Pa. (Oct 22, 2021) – The Wright Center for Community Health will begin scheduling and administering third-dose boosters of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine on Saturday, Oct. 23at regional community clinics in Lackawanna, Luzerne and Wayne counties after the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend third doses of the vaccine for additional groups of people, beyond those who are immunocompromised.
The CDC recommended a half-dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine as a third-dose booster at its Oct. 21 meeting. The booster is intended for anyone over the age of 65, those with underlying health conditions that place them at high risk and front-line workers who could be exposed to coronavirus at work. Those who meet the criteria are eligible for the third dose six months or more after receiving the two-dose regimen of Moderna.
The CDC’s latest recommendation follows the same guidelines from the Food and Drug Administration earlier in the month, and previous endorsements by the CDC in September for third-dose boosters of Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines for moderately to severely immunocompromised people at least 28 days after their second dose. The Wright Center for Community Health has been administering the Pfizer and Moderna booster vaccinations since the CDC’s decision last month.
The CDC’s latest recommendation for the Moderna third-dose booster shot includes:
65 years and older.
Age 18+ who live in long-term care settings.
Age 18+ who have underlying medical conditions.
Age 18+ who work in high-risk settings, such as health care workers, teachers, day care staff, grocery works and corrections staff.
Age 18+ who live in high-risk settings, such as shelters, correctional institutions and long-term care facilities.
Appointments to receive the third-dose booster of the Moderna vaccine may be made at the following Wright Center for Community Health practices: Scranton, 501 S. Washington Ave.; Mid Valley, 5 S. Washington Ave.; Clarks Summit, 1145 Northern Blvd.; Kingston, 2 Sharpe St.; Hawley, 103 Spruce St.; Wilkes-Barre, 335 S. Franklin St., and school-based health location, 1401 Fellows St., Scranton (West Scranton Intermediate School). To make an appointment, call 570-230-0019 or visit TheWrightCenter.org.
Although the CDC approved mixing and matching of Johnson & Johnson, Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccinations, The Wright Center for Community Health is NOT mixing vaccines.
COVID-19 vaccinations for children 5-11 years of age have not been approved by the CDC. A decision is expected in early November. Please check The Wright Center for Community Health’s website for the most current information.
People should talk to their health care provider about their medical condition and whether or not getting an additional dose is appropriate for them.
