Tufts MC True Blue Recipient: Fred Cobey, MD, MPH, FASE, Division Chief of Cardiac Anesthesia
Five nominations from Chair of Anesthesia and Anesthesiologist-in-Chief Ruben Azocar, MD; Director, Cardiovascular Critical Care Services Adel Ghuloom, MD; Adult Cardiac Anesthesiologist Stefan Ianchulev, MD; Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology Fellow Joshua Quick, MD; and Director of New England Cardiac Arrhythmia Center N.A. Mark Estes, MD:
Excerpts from Ruben Azocar, MD’s nomination:
“Dr. Cobey fulfills all aspects of our three-part mission by providing safe and high-quality care to all of his patients, devoting time and energy to the education of the future generation of anesthesiologists and cardiac anesthesiologists, and advancing knowledge with his research efforts. A great example is his efforts around the TAVR cases where he’s orchestrated changes for better pain control and initiatives to remove breathing tubes earlier. With Dr. Cobey’s well-recognized Transesophogeal Echocardiogram expertise, our fellows are now excellent echocardiographists by the time they leave Tufts MC.
Excerpts from Adel Ghuloom, MD’s nomination:
“In research, he’s been involved in 10 national abstracts this year at national meetings. In doing so, he’s promoting Tufts MC on a national level. At Tufts MC, he’s very involved in teaching residents and fellows. He understands the crucial role of teamwork in the care of cardiac patients and has worked tirelessly to bring people together, encouraging them to see eye-to-eye focusing on the care of the patient. ICU hand-offs is one example of this, Dr. Cobey persuaded colleagues to try his idea to decrease the time to transfer care from anesthesia to the ICU. His change lowered the time from more than 45 minutes to 5 minutes.
Excerpts from Stefan Ianchulev, MD’s nomination:
“Dr. Cobey has pushed for speeding up time from the holding area through getting the patient ready for incision while maintaining patient safety and comfort. He has pushed for efficiency in the cardiac operating room (OR), initiating data collection and benchmarking individual performance in speed and effectiveness. After comparing our times with other centers in the region, we identified other related processes which we could improve significantly and work towards efficient cardiac OR turnover times and safe patient care.”
Excerpts from Joshua D. Quick, MD’s nomination:
“Dr. Cobey also exhibits an extraordinary amount of selflessness in his relationship with the fellows. It’s not uncommon when you’re working with him, for him to say, ‘You've got more educational things to do so I'll do this case and call you if I need you.’ He’s also the first to volunteer to cover a fellow if his or her schedule interferes with educational opportunities. I can honestly say no other attending I work with would do as much in the interest of the fellows’ learning as Dr. Cobey.”
Excerpts from N.A. Mark Estes, MD’s nomination:
“Dr. Cobey has demonstrated exceptional commitment to meeting the anesthesia needs of the cardiology patients in the Cardiac Arrhythmia Center. His flexibility and willingness to do whatever it takes to ensure the best possible care of cardiology patients requiring anesthesia has resulted in a marked improvement in patient satisfaction. In addition to his superb clinical skills, he has an exceptional capacity for proactively, creatively and collaboratively improving clinical efficiency.”
