No. 354, March
2003
Editor: Gregory Vercellotti,
M.D., verce001@umn.edu
Editorial Assistant: Allison
Campbell, aac@umn.edu
Making the cut
Nothing is simple about the $185 million cut to the
University of Minnesota that Gov. Pawlenty proposed last month. Issues yet to
be decided include the final depth of the cut, which will be negotiated in the
Legislature, and the impact on the Medical School, which will take at least a
month to become clear. Nonetheless, some first-year medical students have
decided to lobby their hometown legislators about the need to avoid tuition
increases so that graduates can afford to return to practice in Minnesota
communities, especially small towns. For more information, contact first-year
president Tara O'Connell taraaoconnell@yahoo.com.
Student-oriented lobbying days are being planned; if you're interested, contact
Deb Schreiner, schre038@umn.edu or call
625-1185. For more information on contacting your legislator or the U's effort
at the Legislature, see http://www1.umn.edu/urelate/govrel/.
Active learning,
active faculty
Active learning, resident duty hours, continuing medical education,
ACGME core competencies, cultural competency, and the CurrMIT system are
highlights of the Central Region Group on Educational Affairs meeting, Active
Learning in Medicine: Principles into Practice, March 20-23 in Iowa City, Iowa.
The University of Iowa offers state-of-the-art facilities, including a
top-caliber skills lab. We have national medical education leaders attending:
Ilene Harris, Ph.D., director of educational development and research, who will
be chair of the Central Region Group after this meeting, Bart Galle, Ph.D.,
chair of the Continuing Medical Education section; and, Sara Axtell, Ph.D.,
chair of the Culture and Health special interest group. We hope that more of
our educational leaders and faculty will attend this valuable meeting. For a
detailed agenda, see http://shaw.medlib.iupui.edu/cgea/cgeabroc03.doc.
Active students
The
American Medical Student Association established the Paul R. Wright Excellence
in Medical Education Award in 1992 to recognize annually a medical school whose
achievements in medical education best foster the development of socially
responsive physicians. Candidates are nominated by the nation's medical
students. This year's focus was "Activism in Medicine: Integration of
Advocacy Skills Training into the Medical Education Curriculum" and we are
proud to report that our medical school received an honorable mention for 2003.
Our AMSA students Cuong Pham, Quy Ton, Celia Garner, Josh Rhein, and Caleb
Schultz submitted a 33-page application noting extensive student involvement
within the community and the Medical School's commitment to serve the
community, state, and nation. Among the many activities they cited were
educational events focusing on HIV in resource-poor countries, World AIDS Day,
and a week of activities leading up to Human Rights Day. Congratulations---and
keep up the good work!
Continuing Medical
Education: Mission and Vision
Strategic planning for Continuing Medical Education is
being carried out by a dedicated group led by Marc Swiontkowski, M.D. Last
month, he presented mission and vision statements to the Education Council. Its
mission: "The Office of Continuing Medical Education will provide the highest
quality continuing educational activities to the community of health care
professionals and the public through provision of local, regional, national,
and international programs, which are responsive to specific practitioner,
patient, and public health needs." Its vision: "The Office of CME will
positively influence patient care practice and outcomes throughout the State of
Minnesota by providing continuing education courses for primary care
practitioners and specialists. As a core component of the Medical School, the
Office of CME will function as a part of the learning continuum extending from
undergraduate education through graduate medical education, and into the
professional lives of our community of practitioners."
HIPAA training
launches
Medical students eager to complete their training for Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) had trouble accessing the Web CT
training site recently. That problem has been taken care of, according to the
technical team on HIPAA. Also, the training can be accessed from computers in
the Bio-Medical Library, Coffman Union, and the computer lab in
Phillips-Wangensteen. Training needs to be completed by April 14, 2003, to
comply with federal law. Questions? See the Web site, www.privacysecurity.umn.edu, call
the Privacy Office at 612-624-7447, or email privacy@umn.edu.
Social medicine
award
One medical student each year, on the Twin Cities campus, at Duluth, or
at Mayo, will receive the Max Seham Student Award in Child-Related Social
Medicine. The award winner receives $1,000 and recognition at the Department of
Pediatrics banquet in June for work investigating childhood disease or
promoting measures to prevent disease or disorders among children. April 1 is
the deadline to apply. Application forms are
available by calling the Max Seham Committee Office at (612) 624-1966. Forms
can be mailed, e-mailed or faxed to applicants. Applicants can apply directly
or be nominated by a member of the faculty.
Mastering
informatics
The University Regents recently approved
a new joint degree program, the M.D./M.H.I., or master's of health informatics.
Health informatics applies technological solutions to health care problems. It
is a field driven by the escalating costs of medical care, a growing knowledge
base, and evidence of deficient quality. Health informatics seeks to develop
information systems that lead to more effective decisions and more efficient
actions. If you are interested in applying to the program, contact Stuart M.
Speedie, Ph.D., B608 Mayo Building, (612) 624-4657, speed002@umn.edu.
Panel discusses the
uninsured
With the framework of ethics versus economics, a panel will examine the
plight of the uninsured and discuss ways to expand health-care coverage March
11, 12:30-2 p.m., in Moos 2-690. Moderated by Jeffrey Kahn, Ph.D., M.P.H., head
of the Center for Bioethics, the panel includes Mac Baird, M.D., head of the
Department of Family Practice and chairman of the board of UCare. Nearly 15
percent of Americans---and almost 400,000 Minnesotans---do not have health
insurance. Poor people, blacks and Hispanics are among those less likely to be
insured, although job losses recently have caused numbers of uninsured to
increase in all income and racial groups. This
event is part of a week of activities in the Twin Cities and around the
country. For more information, see the Web site: www.covertheuninsured.org.
Research
Day: Pandemics and posters
A presentation on "Viruses and Human Pandemics" by Dr. Gary Nabel, director of the
Vaccine Research Center at the NIH, caps an afternoon devoted to research,
March 17. Students present posters from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the second-floor
corridor of Phillips-Wangensteen during this second annual Alfred F. Michael
Student Research Colloquium. A reception begins at 3:30 p.m. and Nabel speaks
starting at 4:30 p.m.
Match Day
On Monday, March 17, 2003, members of the class of 2003 will find out whether or not they matched to a residency program in the NRMP. The following morning, at 11 a.m. Central Standard Time, unmatched students may begin to contact residency programs that have unfilled positions. On Thursday, March 20, 2003, the class will gather with their family, friends, and faculty advisors in the Great Hall at Coffman Union to receive their residency match results. Everyone is invited to join in the excitement. Refreshments will be served starting at 10 a.m. Envelopes containing match results will be distributed to the class at 11 a.m. (The results also will be available on the NRMP website at noon.) A light lunch will follow. Starting at 8 in the evening, those matched and their significant others can celebrate at Solera Event Center, 900 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis, at an event sponsored by Park Nicollet.
On Doctoring: From
poodle skirts to body piercing
Adolescent health is the topic for On Doctoring April 8. The latest
forum in the series on science, medicine, and the social fabric starts at 1:30
p.m. in Moos 2-650. Class of 2005 students from Duluth, on the Twin Cities
campus for Collegiality Day, will join their peers here for the forum. Leading
off the discussion with "Adolescence: a stage of development, a field of
medicine" will be Robert Blum, M.D., Ph.D., professor and director of the
University of Minnesota's Center for Adolescent Health and Development Program.
Neurodevelopment, health care from a youth perspective, and major health issues
of adolescents will also be discussed; the program ends at about 4:30 p.m.
Seeking prospects
April 5 is Pre-Med Day. Tell your friends and family members who are
considering medical school to attend this 45th annual event. Pre-med
advisors are also welcome. Register is required. Register online via www.meded.umn.edu or call 612-625-7977.
Pre-Med Day takes place 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in 3-120 MCB.
Editor's
Note: Meeting LCME standards
As we prepare for our LCME accreditation site visit March 28, 2004, we
are pulling together in a couple of senses. We are compiling a great deal of
data that will help show where our Medical School is today and where our
program stands in comparison to others. We also are gathering our recollections
of what happened during the 1997 site visit and the 1999 return visit, and the
progress we have made since.
LCME standards provide clear lenses to see where we have been and where
we are now. Under the topic of Educational Resources, the LCME sets out the
following on General Facilities: "A medical school must have, or be assured use
of, buildings and equipment appropriate to achieve its educational and other
goals." Some problems with infrastructure noted in 1997 were addressed in 1999
by the opening of the Medical School computer lab, which then had 15 computers.
In 2003, that computer lab has 45 workstations and 5 e-mail only stations.
Other technology improvements to facilities include the wireless networking
installed throughout the second-floor learning spaces in Moos, PWB, Diehl, Weaver-Densford,
CHIP, Sostanza and the personal response system installed in 2-470 PWB.
Technology-based programs initiated since 1997 also support student
learning: the online curriculum database, hosting of other secure information
on the Med Ed Web site, the primary care clerkship PDA project, the Minnesota
Virtual Clinic, and the medical student portal.
We continue to make notable progress by leveraging the power of
technology.