No. 357,
June 2003
Editor: Gregory Vercellotti,
M.D., verce001@umn.edu
Editorial Assistant: Allison
Campbell, aac@umn.edu
Holding the line on Medical School
tuition increases
While
the ripple effect from the state's budget shortfall hits our medical school (to
some of our community partners, it will feel like a tsunami), we are trying at
least to keep students' heads above water. Despite budget challenges, Dean
Deborah Powell told the faculty senate in May that she plans to maintain
tuition at the same level for the 2003-2004 academic year. Most medical
students already graduate with significant debt loads and we do not want to add
more than necessary to that burden. Medical students will still, however, face
increases in University of Minnesota fees.
New members for the Academy of
Medical Educators
On June
18 at Eastcliff, the Academy of Medical Educators gathers to install its new
members. They are Arthur Aufderheide, M.D., Marc Jenkins, Ph.D., Virginia Lupo,
M.D., Deborah Powell, M.D., David Power, M.B., M.P.H., and Gregory Vercellotti,
M.D., F.A.C.P. Please join me in congratulating those chosen for this elite
group.
Transition Day June 3
Helping
to ease the transition to clinical rotations for soon-to-be Year Three students
is the goal of Transition Day June 3, according to Theodore Thompson, M.D.,
Year 3-4 clinical director. The day begins at 8:30 a.m. in Moos Tower 2-650.
Along with awards to outstanding teachers, morning topics include cultivating
professionalism, preventing infections, and coping with stress. Medical
students will also reaffirm the physicians' oath they took at the White Coat
Ceremony. In the afternoon, students will rotate through small groups as they
learn how to determine who's sicker in the emergency room, how to survive
surgery, and how to approach oral presentations and written records. It will be
a day packed with information and inspiration for students.
Taking advantage of (summer)
opportunities
The
Class of 2006 is the first to have a nine-week summer break. A quarter of the
class expressed interest in taking advantage of this summer opportunity. The
Hennepin and Ramsey county medical societies and the Minnesota Medical
Foundation are supporting more than 20 students in clinical preceptorships.
Among the students doing research, 14 have received Minnesota Medical
Foundation research grants, while several others have signed up for an
experience with rural preceptors.
Three receive Judd Fellowships
Medical
students received three of this year's 19 Judd Fellowships, administered by the
University's Office of International Programs. The fellowships are designed to
increase opportunities for master's and professional students to study,
undertake internships, and conduct research projects abroad. Walter H. Judd was
a U.S. representative from Minnesota, as well as a physician who did missionary
work in China. Similar to others receiving a Judd Fellowship, Jane Brumbaugh's
goals for the experience are to improve her medical Spanish, to increase her
cross-cultural awareness, and to understand the health-care policies and
practices of a developing country. Brumbaugh goes to Ecuador to participate in
a health-care team. She will attend hospital rounds, take patient histories in
Spanish, and participate in community-oriented primary care and patient health
education. Parissa Delavari also heads to Ecuador to join two programs
organized by Child and Family Health International. First, she will spend eight
weeks in Quito completing rotations in local hospitals and clinics and taking
medical and conversational Spanish classes. Next, she will be based in Cuenca
working on a mobile surgical unit and rotating in clinics affiliated with the
University of Cuenca. Sam Goblirsch goes the San Alfonso Mission in Juarez,
Mexico, to provide basic medical care and also educate youth about HIV/AIDS and
sexual education.
Farewell to Bart Galle, June 24
Bart
Galle steps down as director of Continuing Medical Education this month. For
more than 20 years, he has been an outstanding head for the program, which last
year hosted more than 25,000 physicians and other health professionals in more
than a hundred events. We are grateful for his service and will honor him with
a farewell party June 24, 3 to 6 p.m., at the Riverview Gallery, Weisman Art
Museum, 333 E. River Rd., Minneapolis. Questions? Call the CME office,
612-626-7600.
Kudos to HHMI Scholar
One of our medical students, Kyle Williams, was among the 60 chosen this year for a Howard Hughes Medical Institute research scholarship. He will spend the coming year working with Patrick Schlievert, Ph.D., in Microbiology and S.W. Kim, M.D., in Psychiatry learning what it means to be a physician-scientist, with support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The goal of their project is to see if Streptococcal toxins are capable of producing autoimmune antibodies that cross-react with human brain structures. These antibodies may play a role in diseases such as Sydenham's Chorea, Pediatric Autoimmune Neurological Disease Associated with Streptococcal Infections (PANDAS), and some types of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder seen in children. We wish Kyle success in his research project.
Editor's note: Fallibility
In his
memoir/social commentary Complications, surgeon in training Atul Gawande
has given all of us---medical students, practicing physicians, and the
public---exceptionally clear and inspiring views of the making of a doctor today.
He tells
readers about Lee, a young boy with a suddenly dire breathing problem caused by
a tumor. As Lee's condition worsens, Dr. Gawande, then a resident, and the rest
of the medical team decide to drain off fluid in the boy's chest---a radical
approach. "Bloody fluid poured out of the tube by the quart, and for a moment I
was afraid we'd done something terrible. But as it turned out, we'd done more
good than we could have hoped for. The tumor shifted rightward and somehow the
airways to both lungs opened up. Instantly, Lee's breathing became
easier and quiet. After watching him a few minutes, so did ours.
"Not
until later did I wonder about our choice. It was little more than a guess
about what to do---a stab in the dark, almost literally. We had no backup plan
should disaster have occurred. And when I looked up reports of similar cases in
the library afterward, I learned that other options did in fact exist."
As Dr.
Gawande illustrates through anecdote after story, medicine "is an imperfect
science, an enterprise of constantly changing knowledge, uncertain information,
fallible individuals, and at the same time lives on the line."
A new twist on the LCME
accreditation process
This
LCME visit will, for the first time, jointly accredit the Medical School in the
Twin Cities and School of Medicine-Duluth. We recognize the two schools have
distinct missions and programs, which ensures their continued identities. Yet
this change was advocated by the LCME because Duluth's program has been the
only two-year medical school accredited in North America. Subcommittee members
working on reports for the LCME will be blending their results; watch for the
drafts in e-mail late this month.
An LCME
retreat slated for Sept. 20 brings together students and faculty from Duluth
and the Twin Cities. While the meeting place has yet to be decided, the topics
retreat participants will address include the self-study, how we will address
concerns, and how we will maintain our strengths.