Plan of the Week: Oct 12 - Oct 23
Play of the Week:
Play of the Week goes to Lianna Morales, who was stopped by a parent in the pedestrian connector to compliment her and her amazing discharge summary per the subspecialist seeing their baby outpatient! Fantastic work, Lianna!
Big congratulations to Leanne Perez and her husband, JB, on the birth of their baby, Amelia, on 10/1!
Kudos to Keenan Caswell on his fascinating CPC with mentor, Dr. Hiraldo!
Shoutout to Natalie Goggins who took the opportunity for some hands-on learning, placing an NG tube first on her ward senior, Brenda Zhang, and then on one of their ward patients. I was told she did it with the grace of a gazelle!
Additional shout outs to the NCC Peds Residents and Fellows who presented at this year's AAP National Conference & Exhibition.
MJ Spirnak took first place in the Howard Johnson Abstract Award for her work, "Trimming Timeframes: Lessons from Military-Affiliated Youth Urging Timeline Diagnosis and Intervention for Pediatric Obesity"
Camille Leoni took first place in the Leo Ceppert Case Abstract Award for her work, "Infectious Mononucleosis Presenting with Hoagland Sign: A Case Report"
Natalie Goggins took first place in the Val Hemming Abstract Award for her work, "Behavioral and Mental Health Specialty Care Usage for Injured and Ill Service Members and their Families"
Kirsten Wesolek took first place for best clinical research abstract for her work, "Operation PulseCheck: A Mission to Detect the Outcomes of Critical Congenital Heart Disease Screening in the Military Health System"
Daley Auvil also received a shout out for surviving a Bates Blowout (Air Force, you should know) and still winning an award at AAP! Talk about military bearing!
Last but not least - huge shout out to Kaitlyn Yeh and her husband, JP, for being two of the five soldiers to successfully complete the Expert Field Medical Badge from an original class size of 31 participants! The Expert Field Medical Badge (EFMB) is an elite U.S. Army special skill award earned through a grueling, multi-day testing process that evaluates advanced field medical care, tactical combat casualty skills, and grueling physical endurance. With an average historical pass rate between 7% and 20%, candidates must master a series of high-stakes challenges, including tactical combat testing lanes, night land navigation, a written exam, and a rigorous 12-mile timed ruck march. Very proud of Kaitlyn and her embodiment of the Warrior Ethos!
Schedule:
Event | Time and Location | Audience/Notes | |
Monday, 10/12 | No Morning Report | Indigenous Peoples' Day | |
Tuesday, 10/13 | Case & Sentinel Injuries Lecture by Dr. Brennan | 0745-0850 America 2525 | All Welcome |
Wednesday, 10/14 | Joint Resident-Fellow Didactics by Dr. Zanetti | 0745-0845 Heroes 3007/3008 | All Welcome See Small Group Activity below |
Thursday, 10/15 | Case & Peds GI Lecture by Dr. Hammon | 0745-0850 America 2525 | All Welcome |
Friday, 10/16 | Case & Antibiotics 101 Lecture by Dr. Helfrich | 0745-0850 America 2525 | All Welcome |
Monday, 10/19 | Case & Orient to Service | 0745-0850 America 2525 | All Welcome |
Tuesday, 10/20 | Case & PFT Lecture by Dr. Mulreany | 0745-0850 America 2525 | All Welcome |
Wednesday, 10/21 | Grand Rounds "Speaking and Acting Inside the Military According to One's Conscience: Academic Freedom and the First Amendment" by Prof. Tim Bakken | 0745-0845 USUHS, Bldg B, Rice Hall | All Welcome |
Thursday, 10/22 | Case & PGY-2 Lecture by Dr. Dullea | 0745-0850 America 2525 | All Welcome |
Friday, 10/23 | M&M | 0745-0850 America 2525 | All Welcome |
Save the Date 🗓 | Upcoming Birthdays 🎉 |
12 OCT: Indigenous Persons Day (Clinic Closed) | 12 OCT: Deborah Kolade |
16 OCT: Dr. Cole's Promotion Ceremony 1330 at Clark Auditorium - All Invited! | 18 OCT: Katy Crandall |
26 OCT: Transitioning to Adult Health Care Video Visit |
The Social Committee has put together a calendar for Residency Events this year. Click below to view.
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Meet our Rotating 4th Year Applicants!
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Resident Announcements
NEW Walter Reed Housestaff Council Needs Assessment
HSC Needs Assessment - The HSC Leadership team wants to ensure that we are accurately capturing and representing the needs of GME trainees here in the NCC, so we have put together a survey to hear concerns, needs and thoughts you all have. Having objective numbers behind requests or concerns can really help bring attention to issues. The more voices we have calling for changes, the more we are able to achieve. Please use the hyperlinked google form to submit your thoughts! If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to me at, kaitlyn.j.yeh.mil@health.mil.
Check your BLS/PALS Expiration Dates!
Reminder to check your BLS and PALS expiration dates and sign-up early for recertification courses
Classes fill quickly so sign-up early!
Follow the steps below to sign up for a recertification class
Click this link to access the Walter Reed Relias website
Click “Course Library”
Search “BLS” or "PALS"
BLS: You can sign up for for either Blended (requires pre-work) or Challenge Course
If challenge courses are full on Relias, reach out to POCs below to see if they will accept an add-on
PALS and BLS POC: PO2 Nguyen (uyen.l.nguyen4.mil@health.mil)
Rotation Supervisor Contact List for AY 26-27
The below attachment has the most up-to-date contact information for rotation supervisors
Remember to check MedHub and review updated goals & objectives for your rotations!
Intern/Resident Contact List for AY 26-27
The below attachment has the most up-to-date contact information for the interns and residents
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RSV Prevention in Infants for RSV Season 2026-2027
Beyfortus is now available! See the guidance below and reach out to Dr. Helfrich (alison.helfrich@usuhs.edu) with any questions.
Adolescent Resources
If you have a patient in the PCMH that you feel would be better suited to the Adolescent clinic, you may message Ms. Charlee (Charmoine Draughn) and as long as the patient's PCM is already someone at Walter Reed, she can make the switch to AYA. Otherwise, the patients will need to call Tricare East at 800-444-5445 or they can use the milConnect website to request a switch.
Adolescent Consult Guidelines
Next Transition to Adult Health Care Class scheduled for 26 OCT 2026.
This website is a new product of a year-long collaborative project between 50+ pediatric residencies including NCC Pediatrics. It is a great, quick snapshot of multiple general pediatrics topics that are outpatient focused. Since our program participated, we have full access to the modules by logging in under “Walter Reed National Capital Consortium.” It will ask for the last four numbers of your phone number for tracking participation. Please let Dr. Carr know if there seems to be a problem with recognition of phone numbers.
Continuity Clinic Assignments
See Continuity Clinic Assignments for AY 26-27 below.
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All Staff Updates
2026 Antibiograms Now Available Electronically
Resident Morning Report Sign In:
Faculty CME Sign In:
PI/QI Reminders
Upcoming Sessions/Due-Outs:
10/27: "Step 4 - Root Causes"; PGY-3 Update: Genesis
Educational/Teaching Opportunities
USU Teaching Opportunities
ICR Small Group Teaching Opportunities at USU
· RESIDENTS, FELLOWS, & FACULTY
· Introduction to Clinical Reasoning (ICR) is a longitudinal pre-clerkship course that teaches medical students how to collect and synthesize clinical data.
PEDIATRIC ISSUES- Introduction to Clinical Reasoning (ICR) 06 NOV 1230-1630
There are two upcoming Pediatrics sessions on Neonatal Respiratory Distress & Congenital Heart Disease.
· Upcoming sessions: 29 JAN 2027 1300-1700 at USU Facilitators Needed
· All teaching materials and PPTs are provided to instructor prior to events
· Please click on the following LINK to sign up
Please find all opportunities for AY26-27 below:
Faculty Development
Register for all courses at this website: http://fac-dev.usuhs.edu/
CAP-ECHO: Mental Health in Primary Care
A Multidisciplinary Learning Community for Residents and Trainees Supporting Military-Connected Families - Free Virtua Case-Based Learning Sessions
Research & Upcoming Conferences
COMPRA 2026
The 45th Conference on Military Perinatal Research (COMPRA) will be held from November 6-8, 2026 and located along the beautiful Riverwalk, in San Antonio, Texas at the Hotel Contessa. This year’s conference theme will be “Neonatology: A Changing Landscape.” We have an excellent guest speakers: Dr. Nicholas R. Carr, a former Air Force Neonatologist who is now a transport director for Intermountain Health and University of Utah, and Dr. Alvaro Moreira, expert in AI, informatics and associate professor at Johns Hopkins. The deadline for submission of all abstracts was August 14, 2026. Applicants will be notified of selection for attendance and presentation of abstracts by the end of August. Travel awards will be provided to all accepted fellows and additional abstracts as funding allows.
Please also reach out to Kayla if you have been accepted to any other upcoming conferences.
Community Pediatrics/Advocacy Updates:
2026 MDAAP Chapter Annual Meeting
This year’s theme will be “Tangible Tools for Child Health & Well-Being."
Location: Maritime Conference Center, 692 Maritime Blvd, Linthicum Heights, MD 21090
Date and time: Sat, Oct 24, 2026 8:30 AM - 2:00 PM
Organizer: Nellie Power, (410) 878-9702, executivedirector@mdaap.org
Reach out to Brenda Zhang (brenda.zhang.mil@health.mil) or Ellie Dullea (elizabeth.j.dullea.mil@health.mil) if you have any questions.
ARMY
Height/Weight Requirements
The Army is transitioning from the traditional height/weight tables to the waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) health risk assessment tool as the ABCP measurement standard. Please see the memo below. Stay tuned for updates from your company regarding roll-out - all must complete the WHtR before 15 SEP.
AFT Rodeo
The semi-annual Brigade AFT Rodeo will be held 26 - 31 OCT 2026.
Army Leave
Current leave process
Please send an email to your military advisor notifying of specific leave requests
Please use IPPS-A for all leave/absence requests; go to https://myaccess.dmdc.osd.mil/identitymanagement/app/login and login with your CAC
Make sure you change your email in order to receive email notifications -> My Profile -> My Current Profile -> down arrow next to name -> Personal Details -> Contact Details
Submit leave
Submit Leave to your specific Military Advisor (PGY2/3) or Dr. Stagliano (PGY1)
Click My Absences in the home page
Complete the appropriate information, an example of chargeable leave is below:
Absence Type: 1-Chargeable Absence
Absence Name: Absence
Absence Reason: 01- Annual (Ordinary) Absence and complete the remainder of the page
Enter Start and End Dates
For supervisor ID: direct it to your ARMY ADVISOR
Complete address information with the location of where you are going
Click submit
For OCONUS leave: Send to Dr. Stagliano
See the powerpoint below for instructions
AIR FORCE
Tentative Next Commander's Call: 11 DEC 2026 - Please reach out to Kayla to coordinate with schedule.
Leave:
Please complete, sign, and have Maj Kolasinski sign the attached checklist when submitting leave.
Put Maj Kolasinski as first approver and Maj Jean as second approver
For the checklist - Overdue items will need a plan for updating or else leave is at jeopardy of not being approved.
Here’s how you should answer Checklist:
1 – in JKO ensure that your annual cyberawareness, Hippa, level 1 antiterrorism training are done
2- Check your IMR and ensure all green https://asimsimr.health.mil/imr/myIMR.aspx if not use comment box to write what is not up to date and plan
3 – BCA tests are due at the end of your birth month
4 – PT test due date. You can check at myfss https://myfss.us.af.mil/USAFCommunity/s/usaf-fitness-management
5 – N/A for residents
For OCONUS leave: Submit to Maj Jean instead of Dr. K or Zanetti with Dr. Reynolds as back up approver
NAVY
See below from LCDR Paul Cusmano regarding Leave:
Updated Navy GME Leave Guidance:
o Trainees will submit e-Leave requests in NSIPS, as per usual, with comment specifically stating “I have obtained approval for this leave request by my Program Leadership” and to clearly state “I am Navy GME, with anticipated graduation date of […]” for purposes of ensuring that e-Leave requests are not recycled due to TCCC incompletion.
o I will be working with the Leave Office to modify all Navy GME e-Leave matrices to include only (1) enlisted reviewer for readiness/training verification purposes and (2) me as the final approver for all CONUS leave 14 days or less. Leave >14 days or OCONUS leave must still be routed to the XO per the NMRTC Bethesda official leave policy.
Leave & Liberty Divisional Readiness LPO: 4th Div LPO- HM2 Mariavicka Sanchez- Responsible for DMS, which includes Pediatricshttps://wrnmmc-intranet.health.mil/sites/TNT/NMSD/SitePages/4th%20Division.aspx
(hover over 4th Division tab)
Please reach out to Kayla at kayla.s.dahlquist.mil@health.mil or kaylasdahlquist@gmail.com with any questions or concerns.
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