A Letter from Charmaine Chan, DO

It is hard to believe that it has been seven years since we opened Nazareth Hospital to Graduate Medical Education (GME) and welcomed our first class of internal medicine, podiatry, and pharmacy residents! Since then, it seemed as if every year for the next five years, we have opened additional residencies: transitional year, emergency medicine, cardiology fellowship, ophthalmology, and general surgery.

Our team works hard to ensure all our programs meet accreditation requirements and pass accreditation site visits.

For a small community hospital in Northeast Philadelphia, which is committed to caring for the underserved, these training programs have infused our hospital with an enhanced commitment to scholarship and raised the standard of care with the presence of all these learners.

By hiring a research coordinator, our scholarly activity has skyrocketed exponentially. Many residents have presented at national organizations in their specialties. GME could not have accomplished this without the outstanding commitment of all our attending physicians, nursing staff, and other ancillary staff, who have worked hard to create a supportive learning and working environment throughout the hospital.

Recently, we were up for competition with Jefferson for an outpatient internal medicine faculty. They chose our program because of the environment and the collegiality between attending, residents, and staff.

In the last several years, we have enhanced our learning opportunities with the increased alignment with St. Mary Medical Center. This partnership has offered our residents and fellows more opportunities to care for a diverse population in different learning environments. Several St. Mary residents, after their rotation at Nazareth, commented positively on the high level of communication between residents/fellows, attendings, and staff.

Nazareth residents who have rotated at larger academic hospitals have reported their attendings and fellow residents being impressed at the ease with which they care for patients without excessive consults and the comfort with which they collaborate with other allied health professionals to pull together discharges. Podiatry residents remark on the excellent volume of patients, which prepares them more than adequately to become attendings when they graduate.

We will continue to keep you posted with changes in GME. We hope you keep us posted with your accomplishments as you progress in your career and life!

With fondness,

Charmaine Chan, DO
Designated Institutional Official