Abel G. Joy, MD

Education

1994-1995       Wayne State University, Detroit ,MI

1995-1997       University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.  Graduate with Distinction.  B.S. in Microbiology.

1998-2002       Wayne State University School of Medicine, M.D.

Post Graduate Education and Training

2002-2003       Wayne State University Internal Medicine Residency – Categorical Intern

2003-2005       University of Maryland Internal Medicine Residency – Categorical Resident

As an associate chief of medicine and hospitalist for the University of Maryland Medical System, my goal is to provide our patients with quality, efficient care while maintaining a healthy, stimulating environment for our hosproviders to pursue their interests. I have the privilege of supervising and coordinating our teaching and non-teaching hospitalist services as well as working with hospital leadership to improve patient safety, patient flow, and engage in quality improvement projects. 

I am a co-chairperson of the medication error and adverse event committee. It is a multidiciplinary group of providers, pharmacists, nursing, and IT specialists reviewing cases and recommending changes to clinical practice, documentation, and policies to help reduce medication errors.

Our Medicine Transplant Service, med 5, focuses on the care of hospitalized patients with kidney, pancreas, lung, and liver transplants. We deal with a wide range of medical issues from rejection and infection unique to our patient population to more general medical complications occuring with these patients. Our team includes nephrologists, hepatologists, pulmonologists, transplant pharmacists, inpatient transplant coordinators, case managers, social workers, and to improve coordination of care both as an inpatient and outpatient.

Our direct care hospitalist service, med 6 was created to allow patients with medical issues ideally treated in a hospital setting but stable enough to avoid lengthy waiting times in an emergency department to have access to our inpatient facility. By communicating directly with the primary care physicians, patients receive more congruent care before, during, and after hospitalization. The service also admits emergency room patients and patients transferred from other facilities to improve patient access to our services.

Our medical intermediate care service, med 7, provides higher level of care for floor patients and down-grading medical icu patients. We are a closed unit, attending only service providing care for patients clinically unstable for the general medicine floors. The service helps provide a safe transition of care for  our general medicine floor teams and icu teams.

We have three teaching services. Each is staffed by a hospitalist, resident, and 3 interns. Our providers supervise, teach, and evaluate residents in the inpatient setting.  We pride ourselves on skillful didactic and bedside teaching, developing communication skills across services and specialties, as well as using the opportunity to learn and refine our skills as inpatient providers.

I enjoy working with my team, specialties, and hospital leadership to improve patient care.  Coordinating efforts with hospital, surgical, emergency department, outpatient providers, and general medicine leadership to improve access to patient care and patient flow is a fulfilling challnge. Using logistics, data, and experience to develop meaningful use of available resources is another rewarding aspect of my position.

My goal is to continue improving my clinical skills while adapting hospital medicine to better serve the changing landscape of patient care. 

Associate Chief of Medicine Director of Hospitalist Services Quality improvement Logistics in medicine Patient Safety

Referred Journal Article

1. deFilippi CR, Thorn EM, Aggarwal M, Joy A, Christenson RH, Duh SH, Jeudy J, Beache G. Frequency and cause of cardiac troponin T elevation in chronic hemodialysis patients from study of cardiovascular magnetic resonance. Am J Cardiol. 2007 Sep 1;100(5):885-9

Book Chapter

1. Joy, Abel, Kahan, Scott. Thrombocytopenia. Medicine...in a Page. 2002

2. Joy, Abel, Habicht, Robert. Interprofessional Collaboration, Hospital Medicine Perspectives, Practices, and professional Development. 2017