No. 362,
November 2003
Editor: Gregory Vercellotti,
M.D., verce001@umn.edu
Editorial Assistant: Allison
Campbell, aac@umn.edu
Draft LCME executive summary
The Web
site for the draft executive summary for the LCME Self-Study was distributed to
faculty this week (http://meded1.ahc.umn.edu/LCME/ExecSummary/ES.cfm).
The executive summary will ultimately be sent to the LCME accreditation team.
It was compiled from self-study reports prepared by subcommittees on both
campuses that involved more than 180 faculty, staff, and students. Self-study
reports were initially reviewed at a retreat in September. After the retreat,
this executive summary was prepared under the guidance of the joint chairs of
the LCME self-study, Jim Boulger, Ph.D., Glenn Giesler, Ph.D., and Charles Schulz,
M.D. Comments are welcome; please send them via e-mail to lcme@mail.ahc.umn.edu. The deadline
for submissions is Nov. 17. Responding by this deadline will allow the
three joint chairs time to digest suggestions and make any necessary revisions
before submitting the report to the LCME in December.
Rural Physician Associate Program
honors two
Two participants in the Rural Physician Associate Program were honored on Oct. 6 at an event launching the latest RPAP crew of 32 medical students. David Christenson, M.D., of the Winona Clinic was given the RPAP Preceptor Achievement Award for his outstanding medical teaching, serving as a strong role model, and exemplifying the life of a rural physician through family and community involvement. "Education is a life-long experience," he told the RPAP students. "You're not going to be done when you get your medical degree." Since 1980, he has served as a preceptor for 12 RPAP students. Christenson is the father of three sons, one of whom is a University of Minnesota medical student. Receiving the RPAP Student Achievement Award for her work last academic year at the Fairmont Medical Center in Fairmont, Minn., was Wendy Wallskog, now a fourth-year medical student at the University of Minnesota. "Patients are the best teachers," Wallskog told the students. The student award is based on excellence in academic accomplishment and noteworthy community involvement. Applications for next year's RPAP program will be available in mid-December. For more information, e-mail rpapumn@umn.edu.
Professionalism site visit
To
assess a new professionalism program grant, a four-person team from the
American Medical Association visited the Medical School this week. The
principal investigator on the professionalism grant is John Song, M.D., M.P.H.,
M.A.T. The team was favorably impressed by the school's innovative approach to
teaching professionalism and ethics, according to Theodore Thompson, M.D. The
team also indicated that this AMA grant may lead to other opportunities to seek
grants for major educational initiatives. This fits in well with the long-term
goal expressed by Dean Deborah Powell, M.D., in the State of the Medical School
speech, to have the Medical School be nationally recognized as a leader and an
innovator in new paradigms of medical education.
Family-practice, family connection
On Oct.
30, 55 Duluth medical students met with their family practice preceptors and
began seeing patients in the offices of their mentors for the first time. The
preceptorship program, now entering its 31st year, pairs each student with a
family practitioner in the communities of Cloquet, Duluth, Hermantown, Proctor,
Superior, and Two Harbors. This year, each student also will be working with an
assigned family in the community as part of The Family Connection program
supported by a grant obtained by Ruth Westra, D.O., interim head of the
Department of Family Medicine at Duluth. Students will follow health events
occurring within their assigned family and compare these experiences with those
of a virtual family being developed at Duluth.
A second
cohort of Pre-Med Scholars, five exceptionally talented undergraduates from the
Twin Cities campus of the University of Minnesota, recently joined the five
selected in 2002. These students will enjoy monthly seminars with members of
the Academy of Medical Educators on topics such as substance abuse and
pregnancy, international medical research, and the Visible Heart Project.
On Doctoring, Nov. 5
"Emerging
Infections: Public versus individual rights" is the latest topic in the On
Doctoring series on science, medicine, and the social fabric. Medical historian
John Eyler, Ph.D., speaks on Infection, Isolation and the State. Patricia
Ferrieri, M.D., Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, speaks on
SARS: Medical and Societal Issues. An overview of emerging infections and
smallpox is provided by Ruth Lynfield, M.D., of the Minnesota Department of
Health. Medical Ethics and Human Rights: Physicians in a time of terror is
discussed by Steven Miles, M.D., professor of medicine and a member of the
Center for Bioethics. Joining the panel discussion led by Gregory Vercellotti,
M.D., is infectious disease expert Paul Quie, M.D., of the pediatrics faculty.
The program begins at 3 p.m. in Moos 2-650.
Deans letters in the mail
Formerly
known as "deans letters," the Medical School Performance Evaluations (MSPE)
were loaded into the Electronic Residency Application Services (ERAS) and
mailed to the early match programs for release on Nov. 1. Two hundred and seven
seniors and 20 previous graduates are going through the 2004 residency match.
IERC Training and Faculty
Development
Introduction
to SimMan, Teaching and Assessing with Standardized Patients, and Writing and
Teaching with Cases are some of the courses offered through the
Interprofessional Education and Resource Center. Some sessions are available
via videoconferencing, on request. For more information or to register, contact
Anne Woll, 612-624-9691 or visit the Web site,
www.ierc.umn.edu/FacultyWorkshops.
New Alpha Omega Alpha members
The
following students were elected to Alpha Omega Alpha in their senior year:
Heather Buchholz, Chandra Castro, Thomas Christenson, Graham Clark, Michael
Darin, Suzanne Darnell, Roseann Ekstrom, Ross Filice, Carrie Flanagan, Jeremy
Fogelson, Amy Fox, Jennifer Halverson, Abigail Hestness, David Kaisaki, Lance
Kansas, David Larsen, Erin Osterholm, Keith Peterson, David Pond, Erik
Severson, Nicole Strand, Flynn Trinity, Noah Ure, Carrie Johnson Waller, Adam
Weisbrod. One sixth of the class is elected each year. For the Class of 2004, a
total of 36 students were elected: 11 as juniors, the remaining 25 as seniors.
AIDS expert is AOA Visiting
Professor
Inspiring
Alpha Omega Alpha seniors will be Paul Volberding, M.D., a graduate of the
University of Minnesota and an international expert on AIDS. Along with meeting
new members of AOA Nov. 19, Volberding will talk at Medicine Grand Rounds at 8
a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 20. Another talk to medical students may also be
arranged; watch for an announcement.
Think globally: International
Education Day
Betty
McCollum, U.S. House of Representatives, speaks for the Medical School
International Education Day Tuesday, Nov. 18, 12:15 p.m., at Moos 2-650.
Students who have had international experience---Caleb Schultz in Haiti and
Chandra Guy in India---also will share their experiences. Pizza and beverages
will be served.
Act globally: Community-based health
programs
A group
of eight physicians, government officials, and a journalist from Tomsk, Russia,
toured the University of Minnesota Duluth School of Medicine and the Min No Aya
Win Health Care Clinic on the Fond du Lac reservation on Oct. 28. The
delegation spent a week in Duluth observing community based health programs and
services as participants in the 2003 Open World Leadership Program which brings
emerging Russian leaders to the United States for intensive working visits. The
delegation observed the latest technology for education and research and met
with faculty to discuss the educational program, research activities, and
community outreach activities. The visit is part of their effort to learn more
about developing community health programs for Tomsk, a city of 500,000 in northern
Russia.
"The
Healer's Art" is a new second-year elective for the Department of Family
Medicine at the School of Medicine Duluth this fall. The course is being
directed by Jen Pearson, M.D. The Healer's Art course was created 12 years ago
by Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen at the UCSF Medical School in San Francisco and is
now part of the curriculum at many schools. The course targets issues essential
to the art of practicing medicine. Students and faculty have been enthusiastic
about this new course addition to the curriculum.