NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center recently selected its two honorees for Employee of the Month for February 2015. The Department of Anesthesiology is proud to note that one these recipients was Ilan Margulis, M.D., a CA-2, PGY-3 Resident in the Anesthesiology Residency Program. Dr. Margulis is a member of the Residency Program’s Class of 2016.
Dr. Margulis was nominated for the award for a strong record of service and care to the patients at NYP/WCMC. In particular, he recently took personal charge of a pain management case to oversee that the patient got the best course of care for her condition. An elderly woman in her nineties was recently admitted with acute pain caused by broken ribs. Dr. Margulis suggested forgoing the usual treatment, intravenous patient-controlled analgesia, knowing that it could cause adverse side effects for a patient of this age and condition. He recommended a thoracic epidural because it could provide superior analgesia with less side effects. Dr. Eric Brumberger, the Associate Program Director of the Anesthesiology Residency, in evaluating Dr. Margulis’s performance in this case, noted that, “improved pain control, in particular for this patient, would not simply mean she would feel better, but that she might actually do better.” After consulting with the anesthesiologist-on-call, and discussing at length the risks, benefits, and alternatives with the patient and her family, he then spent a few hours coordinating the transport, staffing, sedation, and implementation of the epidural placement. Dr. Margulis went on to help oversee the elderly woman’s improvement over the course of a three-day epidural. Dr. Brumberger observed that, “Dr. Margulis truly put patients first on this day, and exemplified that at all hours, all patients at NYP can receive outstanding care.”