This week I was so happy to hear about some of our physicians gathering at a networking event for Mount Sinai Doctors Downtown. We have so many doctors who provide care at 14 locations throughout our Downtown network. Because they are spread out at different locations, they don’t always get to connect in person. I’m grateful to our Mount Sinai Doctors Downtown leaders for creating this opportunity. Likewise, we have an absolute army of exceptional voluntary physicians who are equally part of our family and community. I am grateful for each and every one.

We welcomed twenty brand new physicians to these practices this past year. You can see a list of them and their specialties here.

This connection among our physicians is vital in our transformation as we build a network of services that can fully support our community where they are, keeping patients healthy and out of the hospital. They provide compassionate, comprehensive care while staying at the top of their expertise and education. I’m so proud of all the work they do to engage their patients, often trying new ways to connect our patients and make their Mount Sinai journey seamless.

We also took time to honor physicians in these practices who have been with us for more than 20 years:

• Samuel Altstein, DO: Family Medicine, West 23rd Street
• Kristine Chu, MD: Gynecology, East 34th Street
• Maki Kano, MD: Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Japanese Medical Practice
• Yuichiro Kuwama, MD: Internal Medicine, Japanese Medical Practice
• Rowena Rosales, MD: Internal Medicine, Japanese Medical Practice

This week I would like to feature our Emergency Department registrars. They have such an important role in helping us gather patient information while helping patients move through emergency care. They help bring order to a sometimes chaotic and always fast-paced environment.

Even during the rush of the day, they do a great job of connecting with our patients. This isn’t an easy task since patients frequently come to us during the most stressful time in their lives. Many of the registrars agree that the relationships with the patients are the highlight of their work.

A registrar must gather a lot of detailed information for a new or returning patient. This task can be more complicated than you think for many reasons. One time one of our registrars was helping a patient who was already in the electronic registration system using the two patient identifiers: name and date of birth. Luckily, the registrar connected with the mother who noticed that the phone number was wrong on the chart. It turns out that two twins with the same name and date of birth had both been to our ED. In this case, we needed three identifiers, and our registrars did not miss a beat!

Click below to see photos of many of our registrars.

A registrar must gather a lot of detailed information for a new or returning patient. This task can be more complicated than you think for many reasons. One time one of our registrars was helping a patient who was already in the electronic registration system using the two patient identifiers: name and date of birth. Luckily, the registrar connected with the mother who noticed that the phone number was wrong on the chart. It turns out that two twins with the same name and date of birth had both been to our ED. In this case, we needed three identifiers, and our registrars did not miss a beat!

Our registrars are the very best at what they do, and we are incredibly grateful to them.