No. 408, September 2007
Editor: Kathleen Watson, M.D., drwatson@umn.edu
Editorial Assistant: Allison Campbell Jensen, aac@umn.edu
In this issue:
NEWS
STUDENTS
FACULTY
EVENTS and NOTICES
RECOMMENDED READING
NEWS
Care for chronic disease patients is focus of PAS pilot
"As medical students, you'll have a time crunch from now until you retire," said David Satin, M.D. He was explaining to a group of year-one students that they might have to spend a few more hours than their peers in Physician and Society small groups because, under the guidance of himself and fellow master tutor Brian Sick, M.D., they are piloting a new approach that focuses on care for the increasing numbers of patients with chronic illnesses. The group will follow a chronic disease curriculum that has been developed through our Medical School's participation with nine other schools in the Association of American Medical College's Chronic Illness Care Educational grant, obtained by Kathy Watson, M.D., Sick, Jennifer Welsh, M.D., Joe Brocato, Ph.D., and Linda Perkowski, Ph.D., on behalf of the Medical School. Sick, who also is medical director for Chronic Disease Management in University of Minnesota Physicians, says: "We realize that although we need to change the way that practicing physicians practice, there is going to be little headway in changing the system unless we teach a different way of practicing medicine in medical school." Satin adds: "I believe we are at a point in medical history that will be seen as the dawn of the 'quality revolution,' in which doctors started to learn from their data regarding the care they provide for patients with chronic disease." Sick and Satin expect the students and particularly their patients to benefit in the long run. The eight medical students volunteered and were chosen randomly from a larger group. They are: Kathryn Brown, Adam Chapweske, Noelle Ekwochi, Suzanne Garber, Elizabeth Hielscher, Dean Langenfeld, Justin Miles, and Adam Zhang.
Appreciation for all who pitched in after the 35W bridge collapse
Medical students Heather Nelson, Melissa Wayne, and Nicole Kopari were among the many in our Medical School and wider community who dropped everything and pitched in to help after the 35W bridge collapse on Aug. 1. They drove through traffic in downtown Minneapolis until they had to stop and make their way on foot to the edge of the river. Most of the victims were on the opposite bank, and they caught a ride across the river on a rescue boat. The three worked to check pulses, respiration and cervical spine stability on the people the rescue workers had pulled to safety. In addition to these basic first aid services, the students spent time comforting and reassuring the victims. "We had eight to ten patients, one was critically injured," Kopari said. "We hadn't been hurt; we had services to give," Wayne said. "I just figure, if the situation was reversed, any of those people would have come to help us. That's the way this community is."
Session on responding to traumatic events
After offering aid in such a disaster, medical students might want to understand how people react after such an event or even need help coping themselves. To that end, a special session for physicians in training on reactions and responses to traumatic events will take place 12:15-1:15 p.m., Sept. 6, 2-650 Moos Tower. Lunch will be provided. Please RSVP to Marilyn Becker becke024@umn.edu .
Native American pre-admissions workshop at AAIP national meeting
The Center of American Indian and Minority Health in conjunction with the Association of American Indian Physicians (AAIP) sponsored a pre-admissions workshop on July 26-27 in Nashville, Tenn. Nineteen pre-medical undergraduate students from around the United States successfully competed for scholarships to this program, held at the 37th Annual Meeting of AAIP. The workshop was partially funded with a grant from the Medtronic Foundation. The workshop covered topics essential to a successful application to medical school, including discussions on health disparities in Native American communities, financial aid and scholarships, MCAT preparation, personal statements development, and mock interviews. Attendees also participated in medical student and physician panels. University of Minnesota Medical School speakers included: Joycelyn Dorscher, M.D., Director of CAIMH, Marilyn Becker, Ph.D., Director of Learner Development, and Paul T. White J.D., Assistant Dean of Admissions. University of Minnesota Medical School graduates who attended include: Bret R. Benally Thompson, M.D, Susan Sloan, M.D., Amy DeLong, M.D., M.P.H, Michael Arredondo, M.D., Shanda Lohse, M.D., Albert Allick, M.D., and Lana White King, M.D. Evan Moore, M.D., a participant in the CAIMH Faculty in Training Program, also took part.
Grants received in Duluth for education and research
Improving training in primary care medicine and in better preparing students for careers in academic science are being supported by new grants to the Medical School. The Duluth Campus Family Medicine program has received a more than $710,000 grant from HRSA for training in primary care medicine. The grant supports programs with four objectives: improving the teaching of diagnostic methods using portable or hand-carried ultrasound devices; increasing interprofessional education with a pilot program that will include students from the College of Pharmacy branch on the Duluth campus; implementing an Images and Cultures program that enhances cultural understanding; and, supporting efforts to recruit students into family medicine by increasing the activities of the Family Medicine Interest Group. In addition, the NIH National Institute of General Medical Sciences has given a three-year Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award supporting a Postdoctoral Training Program in Duluth. The grant of more than $970,000 is designed to train young scientists to be more effective researchers and teachers at traditional academic institutions and schools with disadvantaged populations. The research involves a collaboration with the Medical School, Lake Superior College in Duluth, and Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College in Cloquet. George Trachte, Ph.D., and Horace Loh, Ph.D., are the principal investigators.
STUDENTS
Medical and Pharmacy students taste rural medicine together
What do 58 first-year Duluth campus medical students do their first week of class? Take a field trip with their future colleagues, 55 first-year students from the Duluth branch of the College of Pharmacy. The excursion was part of the Introduction to Rural Family Medicine course that underscores the importance of this campus's mission. Students visited hospitals, emergency services, businesses, and community groups in Two Harbors, Aitkin, Cloquet, Grand Rapids, Hibbing, and Moose Lake. The course exposed new medical and pharmacy students to rural communities and to the leaders most knowledgeable about rural health care and community issues. The students divided into teams, and after visits and completing other course requirements, present their assessment of what they learned about the importance of primary care and the impact of the primary care physician on the health of rural Minnesota to their classmates. This is the second year that the College of Pharmacy students went on the field trip and the first year they participated in the 20-hour course.
Ten Native American students enter Medical School this fall
The Center of American Indian and Minority Health reports that 10 Native American students started at our Medical School this fall: seven in Duluth and three in the Twin Cities. The center is one of four Native American Centers of Excellence around the country; it focuses on educating Native American physicians who will integrate traditional medicine with western medicine. It attracts Native American students who plan to become physicians and return to their reservations and urban communities to treat Native American people. In July, the Center concluded its summer program directed at high school students, college undergraduates, and first-year medical students to prepare them for health-care careers and entering medical school.
Thank you to State Fair volunteers
Introducing fairgoers to tools of the profession and their future physicians were the tasks of members of the Student National Medical Association who represented the Medical School at the Minnesota State Fair on Aug. 24. Many thanks to organizers Michael Parrot and Zeke McKinney and to these medical students who came out to the fair to meet the public: Charlie Billington, Claudia Campo Soria, Nicole Smith, Junior Tshibangu, Brenda Olson, Mia Wintheiser, Ryan Scheurer, Jessica Christensen, Steffany Ward, and Justin Laube.
Fill the GAP (Global Assistance Project)
Medical students are working with the International Medical Education and Research Program to collect re-usable medical supplies and materials for use in developing countries. For more information, contact Benji Mathews (mathe058@umn.edu) or Samatha Pace (pace0003@umn.edu).
Research opportunities: departmental contacts added
Medical students seeking research opportunities are encouraged to check out the listings on the Medical Education Web site. New to the page: A list of faculty contacts, by department, who will guide students to faculty members with specific interests.
Fellowship opportunity in cardiology research
The Sarnoff Fellowship Program is designed to give medical students the opportunity to spend a year conducting intensive work in a biomedical research laboratory located at an institution other than the medical school in which they are enrolled. The application will be available online in September; deadline for application is Jan. 9, 2008. Fellows generally have completed their second or third year of medical school. They are chosen by the Foundation's Scientific Committee each year on the basis of a national competition. In selecting its 18 fellows, the Scientific Committee seeks individuals with demonstrated intellectual and academic achievement and leadership ability.
Calling all students: For future issues, we'd love to hear your news about volunteer efforts, research work, or medical experiences in new environments. Send an e-mail to Allison Campbell Jensen, aac@umn.edu.
FACULTY
New: One-on-one reviews for first-year medical students and master tutors
In recent years, first-year medical students have met with master tutors in small group discussion sessions supporting Physician and Society and Physician and Patient. This year, the Medical School is adding a new component to the student-Master Tutor relationship: one-on-one reviews. Three times during the academic year, each first-year student will meet for one hour with his or her Master Tutor. These reviews will be formative, not summative, and are intended as a strategy for increasing student-faculty interaction and satisfaction. Feedback from both students and faculty will be used to measure the effectiveness of the sessions.
Workshops for medical educators
Now is the time to schedule which faculty development offerings to attend this academic year. All workshops are free to educators who are involved in teaching our medical students and residents. For complete details and to register, please visit the Medical Educator Development and Scholarship (MEDS) Web site (also accessible from www.meded.umn.edu, via workshops links).
Doctors and lawyers, together on television
The Medical School -- Duluth Campus is starting its 26th season of Doctors on Call and for the first time in 10 years, the planners are producing a joint program with doctors and lawyers. Scheduled for 7 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 6, on the public television station in Duluth, WDSE-TV, the program brings two separate programs together, Doctors on Call and Lawyers on the Line. Program planners selected the topic "End of Life Planning and Decisions" because many people find it difficult to begin discussions about end of life issues. Panelists include: lawyers James Abelsen and Mark Signorelli, as well as physicians Patricia Mayer, M.D., and Jonathan Sande, M.D. Fielding calls will be Ray Christensen, M.D., University of Minnesota Medical School, and Fred Friedman, Chief Public Defender for the Sixth District. In addition, Lori Isaacson, Cheryl Pearson, and program coordinator Linda Liskiewicz from the Medical School will answer phones.
Symposium on proteomics and nanomedicine, Nov. 12-14
Peter Agre, M.D., a Minnesota native who was a recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, will give the keynote speech at "Frontiers in Proteomics and Nanomedicine," November 12-14, in Mayo Auditorium. This collaborative symposium, with faculty from the University of Minnesota, Mayo Clinic, and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, is open to all faculty and students. Please watch for more information regarding this event. Or for required but free registration, go to www.cmecourses.umn.edu or call 612-626-7600.
White Coat Ceremony
Symbolizing the professionalism and responsibilities of becoming a physician, the White Coat Ceremony is an important event for first-year students. Families and friends are welcome. On the Twin Cities campus, the event takes place Nov. 17 in Northrop Auditorium; on the Duluth campus, it takes place Oct. 6. Watch for details.
Doctors without Borders bring a refugee camp to Minneapolis
Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres is bringing a refugee camp to Minneapolis's Loring Park Sept. 27-30. A Refugee Camp to the Heart of the City is an outdoor, interactive educational exhibit made up of the actual structures and materials you would find in a real refugee camp. The exhibit asks visitors to imagine experiencing what it is like to be one of the world's 33 million refugees or internally displaced persons forced to leave their homes because of war or conflict. For more information, visit http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/education/refugeecamp/ .
Medical Bulletin available online
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RECOMMENDED READING
A new look at self-assessment from Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research
Excerpted from the abstract: "One of the cornerstones of autonomy for any profession is the claim to self-regulation. To be effectively self-regulating, the profession generally depends on the individual practitioner to self-regulate his own maintenance of competence activities. This model of individual self-regulation, in turn, depends on the practitioner's ability to self-assess gapes in competence and willingness to seek out opportunities to redress those gaps when identified. The literature relevant to these processes, however, would suggest this model of individual self-regulation is overly optimistic... 1)self-assessment is not an effective mechanism to identify areas of personal weakness and that 2) even when areas of weakness are obvious to the adult learner, we often avoid engaging in learning in these areas because such learning often takes more energy and commitment than we are willing to expend..."
Poem
CHILDREN IMAGINING A HOSPITAL
(verse 1)
I would like kindness, assurance,
A wide selection of books;
Lots of visitors, and a friend
To come and see me:
A bed by the window so I could look at
All the trees and fields, where I could go for a walk.
I'd like a hospital with popcorn to eat.
A place where I have my own way.
By U.A. Fanthorpe