No. 385,
October 2005
Editor: Kathleen Watson,
M.D., drwatson@umn.edu
Editorial Assistant: Allison
Campbell Jensen, aac@umn.edu
LCME consultative visit September
22-23
Two
representatives of the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, Robert Eaglen,
M.D., and Frank Simon, M.D., were invited to visit the
White Coat ceremonies, October 1 and
15
Dean
Powell welcomed the medical profession's newest members, future physicians in
their first year of medical school, during the White Coat ceremony October 1 on
the Twin Cities campus. They will encounter, she said, "society's expectations
of service: service to patients, services to our communities, and service to
our society as a whole." With 45 million people without health insurance
nationwide, she added, there is a lot to be done. Keynote speaker Kristin
Stinar, a television reporter, told her story of having ovarian cancer. She
reminded the new class that they will change people's lives, and "patients will
change your lives." Stinar dubbed the white coat the "cloak of compassion." On
the
Alme, alum and HCMC resident, to serve
Gold Humanism Honor Society
Carrie
Alme, M.D., a 2005 graduate of the University of Minnesota Medical School, is
one of two residents nationwide to be named to an advisory council of the Gold
Humanism Honor Society. She now is an internal medicine resident at
http://www.humanism-in-medicine.org/
Congratulations to another alum
Congratulations
to Al Carlson, M.D., who was recently named
Student Council fall event
Getting acquainted and setting goals for the coming year are among
the student representatives' activities at the annual Medical Student Council
Fall Conference, 8:45a.m.-2:00 p.m., October 15, Minnesota Room at the
Annette Boman Translational Cancer
Research Symposium in
Breast cancer will be the focus of the second annual Annette Boman Translational Cancer Research
Symposium hosted by
Get to know your library October 11
On
October 11, visit the Bio-Medical Library's fall open house. During the all-day
event, meet new library director Linda Watson, watch research demonstrations,
take a tour, talk to library staff, sign up for library classes, and test drive
library resources while you enjoy refreshments, giveaways, and prizes. For more
information, call 612-626-3260 or e-mail medref@umn.edu.
Military
Medicine and Torture: Learning from Abu Ghraib, a talk by Steve Miles, M.D.,
noon, October 14,
Pondering cultural difference in
medicine
What is
the role of medicine in different societies and communities? That was a
question posed by a first-year medical student last month during a Physician
and Society discussion led by master tutor Brian Sick, M.D., following a
lecture on race and ethnicity. With medical students preparing to face an
increasingly diverse society, students addressed concerns regarding their role
as doctors in different cultural settings. The lecture encouraged students to
step back from their immersion in Western education and medicine to consider
alternative cultural perspectives, such as traditional Hmong approach to
healing. The students focused on communication, how they can increase informed
decision-making and comfort for their patients from any culture. The discussion,
an exercise in problem solving, covered a variety of student concerns as they
addressed an essential issue in medicine--cultural difference. "The main
objective was to get the students thinking about the cultural baggage they
bring to the doctor-patient interaction and how that interacts with the baggage
of their patients," says Sick. "As always, the goal is more to make the
students think and allow them to come to their own conclusions rather than
provide them with the 'answer.'"
Clinical Research Conferences offer
opportunities to learn
Hone
clinical research skills or learn about careers in clinical research at the new
Twin Cities Clinical Research Conference, 8-9 a.m., the first and third Fridays
of each month. The new conferences results from the combination of the VA CECR
Clinical Research Conference and the GCRC K23 discussion group. Conference
sites will alternate in four-month blocks between the VA and the University,
beginning at VA, in the third floor Medicine Service conference room 3B-108. Parking is free at VA and will
be provided at UMN. To get on the mailing list or to learn more about these
conferences, contact Julie Mulvihill at 612 467 1979 or Julie.Mulvihill@va.gov.
Docs back on-call
Docs-on-Call,
a
Resident Educator Development (R.E.D.) this month; faculty development, May
Residents can further develop their teaching skills this month
when R.E.D. offers a special session 12:30-4:30 p.m., Oct. 12, in Mayo B-620.
The session includes four learning modules: Team
Leadership, The 10-minute Talk, How to Teach at the Bedside, and Effective
Feedback. On the faculty development side, the program
has replaced monthly Best Practices in Medical Teaching offerings with a
two-day Best Practices in Medical Teaching Institute on May 11 and 12. The
institute will include three themes: 1) enhancing key teaching skills; 2)
teaching ethics in the classroom and the clinic; and, 3) teaching about
physician self-care. Faculty on the Twin Cities campus, at affiliated sites,
and in
Gold Society student writing contest
The Gold
Society is offering a $1,000 first prize in its 2005 student essay contest. The
topic this year: Providing at least one real-life experience, please share how
you feel humanism in medicine is impacted by service. For details and an entry
form, see the Arnold P. Gold Foundation Web site, humanism-in-medicine.org.
Meet the course director: June
LaValleur, M.D.
Communication
needs to be emphasized, says Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Women's Health Course Director
June LaValleur, M.D. In the required six-week rotation, problem-based learning
and effective communication with patients currently are featured. The current
problem-based learning scenario includes 10 case studies where students working
in teams assess the patient, provide a diagnosis, and plan the appropriate
therapy. It's a way for students to self-learn using a team approach, LaValleur
says, and they are evaluated by their facilitators. While these skills are
undoubtedly important for future physicians, an assessment a year ago
highlighted issues in communication around women's health, says LaValleur.
"Communication was considered by students as an 'add-on,' not as important as
core scientific principles. While in reality it's critical to have knowledge of
core scientific principles, it's just as critical is your ability to
communication with patients," she adds. "If you can't, patient care suffers." To
address this, LaValleur and colleagues Gwen Halaas (Rural Physician Associate
Program), Sharon Allen (family medicine and community health), Karyn Baum
(internal medicine), Linda Perkowski (Dean's office), and Kathleen Beenen (Deborah
E. Powell Center for Women's Health) have submitted a multi-disciplinary
proposal to train students in effective patient communication. If the grant
application is successful, LaValleur and the others would reduce the current
load of ten case studies to five or six, with 50 percent of the evaluation
focusing on effective, culturally sensitive communication with patients. In
addition, the grant also would enhance Physician and Society, Physician and
Patient, and the Rural Physician Association Program, with a focus on improving
communication to provide better health care for women.
Literary inspiration
The Goose
Do you
want to know why I am alive today?
I will
tell you.
Early
on, during the food-shortage,
Some of
us were miraculously presented
Each
with a goose that laid a golden egg.
Myself,
I killed the cackling thing and I ate.
Alas,
many and many of the other recipients
Died of
gold-dust poisoning.
--Muriel
Spark