Sara Armstrong was a physician who retired in 2000 after she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. At Kaiser, Armstrong was treated by a UC Davis resident. Although she died in 2001, Armstrong's children were so moved by the compassionate care provided by the resident that they funded an endowment in memory of their mother.
Each of the award recipients received $500. The recipients of the Armstrong Award and excerpts from their nominations are below:
Shannon Clark, Family Medicine/Psychiatry Residency Program
While in medical school, Clark helped launch The Willow Project, a student-run clinic that serves people who are homeless, have substance-abuse disorders and are assisted through the Salvation Army or other local shelters. When she became a resident, Clark's role with the clinic grew, and she now provides leadership, precepting and role modeling to medical students and undergraduates who volunteer at the clinic. Clark also started a collaboration with the Department of Obstetrics-Gynecology to provide mental health care to patients in the high-risk OB clinic.
Claudia Krispel, Ophthalmology Residency Program
The nomination for Krispel gathered comments from Ophthalmology Clinic staff, who said that Krispel makes her patients feel at ease, takes time to provide explanations that ensure her patients understand what is happening, demonstrates her caring for each individual patient, and always smiles, even under pressure.
Kamlesh Patel, Plastic Surgery Residency Program
The nomination for Patel describes his care for a 94-year-old woman who presented to the emergency department with an incarcerated rectal prolapse. Although the woman had a large number of co-morbidities that made an emergency surgery a very high risk, the patient and her family were told that an abdominal incision would be required because the prolapse was too large to reduce manually under anesthesia.
During the evening, Patel conducted a literature search and read a case report that described how the use of an osmotic substance, such as sugar, could drive water out of a prolapsed rectum, reduce swelling and possibly allow for manual reduction. Patel collected all of the sugar packets he could find and applied them hourly over the prolapsed rectum. As he did, the swelling decreased. When the time for the patient to go to the operating room arrived, the surgeon decided that the swelling had decreased sufficiently to attempt a manual reduction of the prolapse under general anesthesia, which was successful.
Demetra Stamm, Psychiatry Residency Program
Stamm was praised for "her consistently empathic approach to patient care" and her adept use of a holistic approach to treating the general-medicine and mental-health needs of the unserved, underserved and culturally diverse patients of the psychiatry clinics. An attending faculty physician praised Stamm's "strong work ethic, intelligence, problem-solving ability, empathy and effective communication skills." Another attending physician stated that Stamm is "completely hands-on with her patients, a great role model for students, and demonstrates an excellent bedside manner."
Aubrey Yao, Anesthesiology Residency Program
Yao initially came to UC Davis Medical Center as a surgical intern in July 2001 and eventually transferred to the Department of Anesthesiology. After completing his residency training, Yao spent a year as a fellow in cardiovascular and thoracic anesthesiology, graduating in June 2009. Yao's nominator said that Yao "serves as a shining example of professionalism and you just know it when you watch him work. It is his compassion in his delivery of patient care that provides the foundation for this reputation." A particularly noteworthy of Yao's commitment to patient care, his nominator said, was reflected in his decision to spend two weeks of his vacation time during his year as chief resident in anesthesiology to volunteer for Rotaplast International as part of a team that traveled to Peru to provide free cleft lip and palate repair for almost 90 patients.