No. 344,
May 2002
Editor: Gregory Vercellotti,
M.D., verce001@umn.edu
Editorial Assistant: Allison
Campbell, aac@umn.edu
Taking
notes to a new level
With the
launch of the curriculum database, we now have electronic access to class
notes, syllabi, and course descriptions. Stuart Speedie and his colleagues
could not have put together this boon to our medical education efforts without
materials donated from the student note-taking co-op. Students can use the
key-word searchable database as a study tool, for coursework as well as
preparing for board exams. And a faculty member, for example, teaching about
blood is able to find out where else in the curriculum iron metabolism is
discussed. The database project has been in process for a year and is making
good progress on the goal of including materials for all four years of medical
school. Access with your University e-mail ID and password at http://labmed47.labmed.umn.edu/~david/notesearch_login.php
If you have questions, please contact Stuart Speedie at speed002@umn.edu
Think
globally
International
medical education comes home May 5-6, when Karolinska Institute researchers
join us at the University of Minnesota for a symposium on inflammation and
infection. The symposium, which is funded by a generous endowment set up by the
late Curt Carlson, begins at 1 p.m. on Sunday, May 5 at the McNamara Alumni
Center. It continues through mid-day Monday. There is no fee for the symposium;
however, registration is required. To register, please contact Susan Jackson at
imer@umn.edu or 612-625-7933. For more details, see www.meded.umn.edu/imer/
Kudos
to our great teachers
Among
the highlights of the Minnesota Medical Foundation awards ceremony April 23 was
the naming of Glenn Geisler, neuroscience, Outstanding Medical School Teacher
of the Year. As previously noted in News Capsules and Dialogue with the Dean,
Paul Iaizzo, anesthesiology and physiology, and James Pacala, family practice
and community health, received the University's 2002 Outstanding Contributions
to Post-Baccalaureate, Graduate and Professional Education Awards. Leslie
Schiff, microbiology, received the 2002 Horace T. Morse-University of Minnesota
Alumni Award for Outstanding Contributions to Undergraduate Education.
Outcomes
retreat
A
retreat on the Outcomes Project, an ACGME initiative on educational outcomes
and accreditation of residency programs, takes place 8 a.m.-noon, Saturday,
June 1, 2002, in 450 CCRB. This retreat launches the Medical School's
definitive work on the Outcomes Project. For more information, call Lori Moses,
612-626-3479.
Celebration
of our American Indian graduates
On May
9, friends, family, faculty, and associates gather to honor our graduating
American Indian medical students: Azra Babar-Weber, Amanda Chisum-Price,
Danielle Doro, Julie Pazdernik, Jessica Pike, and Donnie Peterson. Also honored
at the Center of American Indian & Minority Health event will be three
American Indian physicians receiving their masters' degrees in Public Health:
Tiffany Beckman, Jennifer Giroux, and Patrick Rock. For more information on
this seventh annual celebration, call 624-0465.
Moving
day, in a sense
On
Transition Day, June 4, students moving from Year 2 to Year 3 clerkships learn all
the practical aspects of going into the clinical wards. Professionalism,
confidentiality, and OR techniques are among the topics to be covered in a very
full day of lectures and workshops. Students will see positive role models in
the six residents who receive Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism Awards for
their compassionate patient treatment and excellent teaching: Keith Eidman,
D.O., Thomas Flaig, M.D., William Hays, M.D., Eugene Lee, M.D., Jordan Marmet,
M.D., and Jamie Pelzel, M.D.
Health
disparities conference: a success
Educators
from throughout the region gained insights from our University researchers and
physicians about health disparities during the National Association of Medical
Minority Educators conference April 4-7. Hosted by our Medical School Office of
Minority Affairs and Diversity, the conference was made possible in part by
generous support from the Minnesota Department of Health, the Office of the
Senior Vice President of the Academic Health Center, the Medical School's Deans
Office, the Office of the Senior Associate Dean of Education, and Continuing
Medical Education.
A CME
report from the field
Themes
of maintaining certification and knowledge management, relevant for the entire
spectrum of medical education, dominated discussions at the spring meeting of
the Society of Academic Continuing Medical Education, according to Bart Galle,
Midwest Representative to the Board. To maintain specialty certification,
physicians will be expected to reflect on their practice and develop plans to
improve or maintain core competencies. This effort also demands managing a vast
array of knowledge.
TEL
us about it
A guest editorial from R.J. McCollister, M.D.
Did you know
that the term technology enhanced learning (TEL) is all about incorporating technology
into teaching and learning at the University? TEL is aimed at enhancing
instruction using technology. But TEL does not mean online learning or distance
education. TEL by medical students involves use of computers in the learning
center, reviewing sets of histology slides on videodiscs, looking at CT scans
to reinforce learning of anatomy or using hand-held computers to record
observations or to access tables and data. Faculty should give thought to how
technology could enhance the education of their students. TEL is growing and
soon will come to include: virtual reality exercises for instruction, drill in
learning interviewing skills, and, learning surgical and other procedures.