No. 369,
June 2004
Editor: Gregory Vercellotti,
M.D., verce001@umn.edu
Editorial Assistant: Allison
Campbell, aac@umn.edu
Successful IHI medical school
teaching collaborative meeting
"We
really had a chance to shine," says Karyn Baum, M.D., of the Institute for
Healthcare Improvement's medical school teaching collaborative meeting held at
the
Residents as Teachers
During a
recent residents-as-teachers session, 23 residents from a variety of
departments, including medicine, pediatrics, ob/gyn, urology and plastic
surgery, learned how to give effective feedback. The session is part of a
year-long voluntary program (formally known as Resident Educator Development)
that residents and fellows are encouraged to attend, as they perform a great
deal of medical student teaching. Evaluations indicated the residents found the
program very worthwhile. The next session: How to give a 10-minute talk on
anything; 4 p.m., June 17, location yet to be decided. Interested residents
should respond to Susan Mowbray, smowbray@umn.edu, by Monday June 14.
Student leader
Our Medical School's students are outstanding, as
shown by their leadership in national organizations. Drew Dietz, year four
medical student, has been serving a national student representative to the
Board of Directors of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association for the last year
and a half. "I represent the voice of all GLBT students nationwide to that
board," says Dietz, who will continue to serve through October. The GLMA is a
nonprofit organization dedicated to ending discrimination and homophobia in the
medical community.
Finding balance in a medical life
Surviving
transitions, managing stress, gaining emotional intelligence, deepening
interpersonal connections---these and other topics were covered by Lee
Lipsenthal, M.D., during a weekend physician well-being conference last month
in St. Paul. Sponsored by the University of Minnesota Center for Spirituality
and Healing and Hennepin County Faculty Associates, the conference aimed to "to
give [physicians, medical students, and residents] a tool kit for [their] own
process of growth, change, and thriving," according to Lipsenthal. An expert on
the effects of lifestyle modifications on reversing heart disease, he was
recently selected as a member of the American Medical Association's Physician
Wellness Committee. Intense and detailed analysis and discussion during the
conference were peppered with data, studies, and frank talk. The transition to
residency is so stressful, for instance, that some 35 percent of residents
experience depression. Burnout, Lipsenthal recognizes, happens to almost all
physicians during training or after, yet is often unrecognized by the person
suffering from it, with sorry results. "For example," he says, "if someone is
bothering you, it takes less time and effort to tell them to 'bug-off' than it
would to try to resolve the issues at hand. In the long run [telling someone to
bug off] does not serve your relationship with that person and generally
creates more trouble for you and them. If you find yourself blaming others for
your unhappiness---watch out!" A follow-up physician well-being workshop for
those who could not attend is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 30-Oct. 1. Those
interested should e-mail Karen Lawson, M.D., at lawsonk@umn.edu.
For more information on wellness, see the Center for Spirituality and Healing
Web site, www.csh.umn.edu.
Duluth makes its mark at Minnesota
Academy of Family Physicians' meeting
Medical
school graduates who began their education in the Duluth program continue to
make their mark. The National Family Physician of the Year, Eric Ossowski,
M.D., entered the Duluth program in 1973. He now works for the Indian Health
Service in Arizona. At the Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians' spring
meeting, Dennis Peterson, M.D., entering class of 1985, who also did his
residency in Duluth, was named Minnesota Family Physician of the Year. He
practices in Willmar. Another outstanding
MAFP Resident of the Year
The
Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians gave their 2004 Resident of the Year
Award to David Satin, M.D. Satin is finishing his training with the
Fairview-University of Minnesota Smiley's Residency Program in Minneapolis. The
Resident of the Year Award recognizes a third-year resident for significant
contributions to family medicine in the community, including teaching, leadership,
and educational activities. In a nomination letter, a colleague wrote: "Dr.
Satin is an astute clinician with a wonderful bedside manner, sound clinical
reasoning skills and an inquisitive mind."
Cross Cultural Workshop benefits
American Indian students
Providing
Traditional Medicine in a Modern Health Facility was just one of the many
presentations during the recent Cross Cultural Medicine Workshop in Santa Fe,
New Mexico. Eight medical students from the University of Minnesota and three
staff members from the Center of American Indian and Minority Health attended
the yearly workshop, which is hosted by the Association of American Indian
Physicians. Workshop sessions were designed to help physicians, medical
students, and other health care professionals identify strategies to improve
communication between American Indian clients and identify current health issues
facing Indian communities. The two-day workshop included presentations by
American Indian physicians and researchers, staff from Indian Health Service,
and traditional Indian healers. Student reactions were positive, says CAIMH
Assistant Director Monica Roth Day. "They said that they really enjoyed
connecting with other American Indian physicians...and they learned a great deal
about alternative and traditional methods of healing from the Indian elders."
Continuing Medical Education's
agreement with HCMC
The
head of Continuing Medical Education, Steve Hillson, M.D., has facilitated a
collaboration with
Orientation day for residents
Orientation
for new residents is expanding to a one-day program offered this summer on June
23 and July 2. Dean Powell will welcome new residents and fellows to the
June 2: Transition to clerkships
Gregory
Vercellotti, M.D., administering the physicians' oath and a panel of
fourth-year students talking about their transitions from classroom to clinic are
among the highlights of Transition Day June 2. The morning program also
features infection-prevention strategies and a discussion of professionalism by
Jennifer Welsh, M.D., James Pacala, M.D., M.S., and John Song, M.D. In
addition, awards for humanism and excellence in teaching from the Arnold P.
Gold Foundation will be presented to eight residents: Christian Capitini, M.D.,
pediatrics; Peter Ching, M.D., surgery; Stella Evans, M.D., pediatrics; Susan
Lewis, M.D., ob/gyn; Jennifer McKeand, M.D., ob/gyn; James Ogilvie, M.D.,
surgery; Randall Taylor, M.D., Ph.D., otolaryngology; and, Ramachandra Tummala,
M.D., neurosurgery.
Stellar students and faculty
Tzu-Fei
Wang, a year one student, won the Wallace D. Armstrong Memorial Award from the
Minnesota Medical Foundation recently. Faculty winning MMF teaching awards on
the Duluth campus include Omelan Lukasewycz, Ph.D., Art Aufderheide, M.D., Kent
Froberg, M.D., and Jeff Adams, M.D. Those honored for distinguished teaching on
the Twin Cities campus include Kelli M. Bullard, M.D.,
Kudos to summer urban preceptors
Through
a joint initiative of the