Musick named as new director for Penn GME

Health System administrators recently appointed David Musick as the new director of Graduate Medical Education for Penn Medicine.

Musick, who also serves as the vice-chair of Education and Development in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, will be replacing former director of GME Regina Sturgis.

As director, Musick will oversee 55 different residency programs at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and will make sure that each program maintains its accreditation status. Musick will also be responsible for the educational training and outcome of over 800 medical residents.

However daunting the position may seem, Musick is prepared for the challenge.

"[The appointment] gives me the opportunity to use my background and training in medical education in a very proactive way," Musick said.

Moreover, Musick plans to continue helping residents learn the importance of ethics, professionalism and cultural awareness in the medical field.

Associate Dean for GME Bernett Johnson is confident that the addition of Musick will be very beneficial for the system.

"He will strengthen the GME office, provide direction, provide staff support as well as direction and support for program directors," Johnson said. "I am sure he will improve all."

Chairman of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine Richard Salcido agreed, saying that Musick is the right person for the job.

"Dr. Musick has talent in terms of taking complex medical processes in medical education and turning them into realities," remarked Salcido, who has worked with Musick since 1993. "He's able to translate ideas into action."

While Musick is still new to his current position, he has already outlined a set of goals that he wants to accomplish on top of his other responsibilities.

Musick said that one of his primary objectives for GME would be to give support to the residents in the residential programs.

"We're trying to advocate for the residents," Musick said. "They have to have a certain amount of support to get through a rigorous educational process and still maintain an appropriate balance between their training and personal lives."

Moreover, Musick must find a way to comply with a revised set of standards pertaining to the quality of the U.S. health care system that the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education announced.

Recently, ACGME -- a national organization that works to improve the experiences of physicians in GME training programs -- set a limit on the amount of time a resident can work to 80 hours per week.

As the overseer of HUP's residents, Musick will be responsible for making sure that these guidelines are enforced.

"Perhaps we will need to modify our traditional approach to resident schedules, but the trick to that is to maintain continuity of patient care as well," Musick commented.

While Musick has no qualms with the updated ACGME standard, he hopes that the new change will not interfere with the residents' education.

"We have to make sure that the educational quality of the residency training programs is not compromised by this new rule," Musick said.

Still, there are even more pitfalls in the U.S. health care system that Musick must also address.

"The reason for people like Dr. Musick is that, in today's environment, academic health care providers face significant challenges regarding graduate medical education," Salcido said.

In addition to Musick's two appointments, he will also be a faculty member at Penn's Center for Bioethics and he will remain an adjunct professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine.

Overall, Musick is very pleased with his appointment at GME.

"I think this is a great system, a great place to work," Musick said. "I think we are leaders in the field now and will continue to be leaders."

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