Resident finds smooth transition as house officers arrive

Chydubem Nwaiwu, MD – “Bemz,” to his friends – arrived at UNMC excited to start his residency in the medical center’s nationally recognized internal medicine department.

A Maryland native raised in Nigeria from the Igbo tribe, who attended the Ross University School of Medicine in Barbados, Dr. Nwaiwu was setting foot in Omaha for the first time when he arrived earlier this summer. Nevertheless, he found it a smooth transition.

“Even before I came here, I started feeling welcome,” he said. “The whole process, it’s easy to get confused, but Erin Snow (of Graduate Medical Education) reached out to me on multiple occasions, helping me stay on top of certain materials, so that when I got here, my transition was smooth as possible.”

Each year, the UNMC Office of Graduate Medical Education onboards more than 200 new residents, who arrive in June and July. This year, 218 new house officers arrived, 49 of them matching from UNMC.

“Making this a smooth transition goes a long way toward setting the tone for a nurturing and productive learning environment for our house officers,” said Chandra Are, MBBS, associate dean for graduate medical education.

Dr. Nwaiwu gives the office’s effort a big thumbs-up.

“The onboarding process has been smooth,” he said. “As far as administrative aspects are concerned, we had a two-day orientation where we received a lot of information. The people are approachable. If you do not understand something, it’s very easy to reach out.

“Being an international medical student, I’ve gone into different hospitals, and I’ve onboarded multiple times. This process has been seamless. Right after being matched, there were Twitter and Instagram posts from the residency program congratulating me — it made me very happy to share that with my family. Things like that really make you feel like you’ve reached this point in your life where things are beginning to happen after spending years in the classroom for clinical training. I’m grateful and humble.”

Another resource Dr. Nwaiwu noted? His fellow house officers who matched from UNMC.

“They’ve kind of taken the lead as far as getting us settled. It’s been a nice time,” he said. “There is a sense of camaraderie with my fellow internal medicine residents as we get to know each other more, as well.”

Dr. Are commended the entire team in the GME Office for ensuring that this year’s orientation occurred in a seamless fashion.

“To onboard even one new employee these days can be a chore with the evolving regulations and ongoing impact of the pandemic,” he said. “To onboard more than 220 employees hailing from different cities, states and countries is a Herculean task. The administrative, regulatory, immigration/visa and licensing tasks can be extremely labor-intensive.”

He credited the GME team — Erin Snow, Rachel Nelsen, Amy Guziec and Arianne Marcoux – for the success of the process. “I cannot thank them enough for their dedication to our house officers.”