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The 6th Annual MedStar Health Research Symposium featured for the first time in its history research posters and oral presentation from residents and fellows across the system. The residents brought a fresh outlook on an array of topics and a peaked passion for advancing the size and scope of health care.
The call for abstracts included an opportunity for residents and fellows to present their findings before an audience of their peers and executive leaders. After careful deliberation, 10 top residents and fellows were chosen from more than 150 resident submissions. First place for the PGY-1 to 3 was Travis Thompson, MD, a 3rd year Emergency Medicine resident at MedStar Washington Hospital Center (MWHC) and MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. His presented his abstract “Increasing Ultrasound Evaluation in Renal Colic”.
The research was a retrospective analysis of ultrasound use in the emergency department. The goal was to increase the number of ultrasounds being used to diagnose kidney stones as a supplement for computerized tomography (CT) scans in an effort to reduce the amount of radiation exposure to patients.
“This research allows us to reduce that exposure as well as time spent and hospital expenses. Being able to advance the practice of medicine to all modalities can benefit all patients coming in,” said Dr. Thompson. “Especially when people present themselves younger and younger with things like cancer or multiple kidney stones, using CT scans can really add on to the amount of radiation exposure using received over time.”
The strategy for this research was suggested by Jeffrey Dubin, MD, Chair of Emergency Medicine at MWHC, and tied to the “Choosing Wisely” campaign. “Choosing Wisely” is an American Board of Internal Medicine initiative to increase patient-provider conversations and reduce unnecessary medical tests, treatments, and procedures.
“There were a lot of different projects highlighted and it showed the variety of research that could be done in different health fields as well as how they approached it and found resolve,” said Dr. Thompson of the Symposium.
