med ed
A newsletter for faculty, staff, and students of the University of Minnesota Medical School

No. 372, September 2004

Editor: Kathleen Watson, M.D., drwatson@umn.edu

Editorial Assistant: Allison Campbell, aac@umn.edu

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Join a celebration of the profession: White Coat ceremonies Oct. 2, Oct. 23

The White Coat Ceremony honors all of us in the medical profession because this rite of passage celebrates our professional values, which include compassion, duty to others, humility, and excellence. Along with faculty, friends, and family members, medical students in years two through four, residents, and community physicians are invited to take part in the White Coat celebration. Join your Medical School community Oct. 2 on the Twin Cities campus and Oct. 23 on the Duluth campus as our first-year students wear their white coats for the first time. The Oct. 2 event starts at 1 p.m. in Northrop Auditorium on the Twin Cities campus of the Medical School; the ceremony will be followed by a reception. The Oct. 23 event starts at 2 p.m. in the Kirby Ballroom, with a reception following.

Seeing RED: Resident Educator Development

An important part of residents' everyday job is that of educator. Residents teach medical students, patients, and each other. In order to be effective teachers, though, residents need to be equipped with new skills---important skills that may not have been covered in their own medical school training. Fortunately, there is a program to help them. Resident Educator Development (RED) originated in the Department of Internal Medicine's Residency Program to improve the quality of teaching done by its residents. Internal medicine residents helped to chose the topics for learning modules; along with residency program directors and others, Theodore Thompson, M.D., contributed to the development of the program. When the medical schools' accrediting agency, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), cited the Medical School for lacking preparation for residents to teach, school leaders decided to open up RED to residents in other programs. Led by Heather Thompson, M.D., with assistance from James Nixon, M.D., the RED program offers monthly presentations on six core topics: team leadership; how to give effective feedback; how to construct a 10-minute teaching session; professionalism; case-based teaching; how to teach evidence-based medicine; patient safety and medical errors; and how to teach at the bedside. All residents are encouraged to take part in this program. Upcoming sessions are: 7 a.m., Sept. 17, How to Teach at the Bedside---Heather Thompson, James Nixon; 7 a.m., Oct. 15, Teaching Professionalism---Joe Arcuri, James Nixon. To register for sessions or for more information contact Ewa Ushio at EDRmed@umn.edu or (612) 625-4114.

Attending the Association of American Indian Physicians annual conference

The Center of American Indian and Minority Health (CAIMH) sponsored 10 medical students who attended "Developing Mind, Body, and Spirit: Focus on Native Adolescent Health," the Association of American Indian Physicians (AAIP) annual conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma, July 28 through Aug. 1. This national conference is a key event for Native medical students wishing to connect with American Indian physicians and classmates and learn about health issues affecting American Indian communities. Topics ranged from diabetes prevention to health careers recruitment and retention in Native communities. Amy DeLong, a 1998 graduate of the University of Minnesota Medical School, presented her research, Factors Associated with Overweight Among American Indian Adolescents.

"I really enjoyed this conference and being with my classmates from around the country," said one participant. "There was a great deal of unity among the pre-medical and medical students, and we were able to spend time with the physicians and learn from their experiences." Twenty-two pre-medical students attended the pre-admissions workshop held two days prior to the annual conference. The workshop, co-hosted by AAIP and CAIMH, provided information on opportunities at the University of Minnesota Medical School. Eleven American Indian medical students facilitated small group discussions to share tips for a successful medical school application and interview process. Participants also had the opportunity during a panel discussion and mock interviews to hear from American Indian alumni and physicians, including Minnesota alumni Alan Johns (1976), Joycelyn Dorscher (1994), Amy DeLong (1998), and Kansas DuBray (1998), as well as former Faculty Fellow Patrick Rock (2002).

Center of American Indian and Minority Health Director recognized

During the Association of American Indian Physicians Annual Conference in July 2004, Joycelyn (Joy) Dorscher, M.D., was named president-elect of the AAIP Executive Board. Dorscher currently serves as the director of Center of American Indian and Minority Health and assistant professor in Family Practice at the University of Minnesota Medical School. In August 2005, she will succeed renowned physician and researcher Everett Ronald Rhoades, M.D., F.A.C.P, current President at the AAIP Annual Conference. Other Executive Board Officers include: Everett Ronald Rhoades, M.D., F.A.C.P, president; Jim Thompson, M.D., immediate past president; Orrenzo B. Snyder, M.D., treasurer; Susan Sloan M.D., secretary; and, members-at-large Shanda Louse, M.D., and Phil Smith, M.D. Dorscher, Sloan, and Louse are all graduates of the University of Minnesota Medical School.

Empowering multicultural students for careers in medicine

Know a multicultural student currently studying for a bachelor's degree who is considering medicine? Encourage her or him to take part in the Empowering Multicultural Students for Careers in Medicine, a seminar that meets eight times from Sept. 28 to Nov. 16. For one-and-a-half hours weekly, these students will learn about the process of applying to medical school, including crucial steps like writing the personal statement, interviewing successfully, and finding financing. Application deadline for the empowering seminar is Sept. 10 and space is limited; for information and an application, go to www.meded.umn.edu/minority/empowerment_seminar.html. Accepted participants will pay a $25 fee for the seminar. Questions? Call Lola Galvan at (612) 626-2173.

A good start: Orientations on both campuses

During August, we welcomed the new class of 2008 to our Medical School. On the Twin Cities campus, the school for the first time hosted a three-day orientation, Aug. 8-11. A survey of the students afterwards revealed that more than half felt the length of the program was "just right"; overall, their reactions were positive, with the overwhelming majority saying they learned the important information they needed, they felt welcomed into the medical profession, and they got to know their classmates. Of the 165 Twin Cities students, 127 are Minnesota residents; 36 are multicultural. On the Duluth campus, 53 students took part in their first day of orientation August 31. During their next few days as medical students with a rural focus, they will prepare for and then visit one of three sites: Grand Rapids, Hibbing, or Moose Lake. They will spend the whole day in these communities, visiting hospitals, nursing homes, and schools, and talking with the mayor and others. Later in September, they will develop PowerPoint presentations about their experiences to share with their classmates.

Summer outside the Cities: summer opportunities, part II

Medical students from the Duluth and Twin Cities campuses also took advantage of the nine-week break between years one and two this summer to study with preceptors or to carry out research. Thanks to everyone who welcomed our medical students in their communities, clinics, labs, and hospitals. Three students visited Alaskan communities: Danielle Baker went to Cordova; Kristin Loewe to Homer; and, Greg Seftick to Seward. One medical student, Rebecca Baudoin, divided her summer break between Aberdeen, S. D., and Winona. Two others, Sarah Sprengeler and Jasmine Folger, divided theirs between Moose Lake and Sandstone. Moose Lake also hosted Peter Sanders and Harrison Hanson. Amy Moeller was in St. Cloud; Christine Athmann, White Earth; and Justin Quade, Two Harbors. Neal Boeder spent his summer break in Brainerd; Brianne Brandt-Griffith was in Ely; and Jeff Pinnow was in Cloquet. The Iron Range communities of Virginia and Hibbing welcomed respectively Ross Perko and Darin Skaudis.

Duluth faculty activities

"Students demonstrated interprofessional group synergy and significant creativity in addressing multiple community health care issues and needs, within time constraints of only 10 to 12 days in which to develop and implement a service-learning project," wrote Daniel Mareck, M.D., and his colleagues in the July issue of Academic Medicine. They were describing the Minnesota Rural Health School, precursor to Minnesota Area Health Education Center that now coordinates interprofessional rural clinical education at the Academic Health Center level for the University. Two project examples are described in detail to illustrate the challenges and successes of this type of civic engagement in the article, "Rural Interprofessional Service-Learning: The Minnesota Experience." Mareck's co-authors are Donald L. Uden, Pharm.D., Tom A. Larson, Pharm.D., Melanie F. Shepard, Ph.D., and Roger J. Reinert, M.S.

The effect of copper deficiency on central nervous system development is a research focus for Duluth campus faculty member, Joseph R. Prohaska, Ph.D., Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology. He was invited to speak on "Genomic and Proteomic Indices of Copper Status." at the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology conference in June 2004. With J. Penland, he also recently published "Abnormal motor function persists following recovery from perinatal copper deficiency in rats" in the Journal of Nutrition 134 (2004).