In the midst of the pandemic, Michael R. Bloomberg is focusing on a unique way to improve the health of Black communities: by giving money to Black students studying to become doctors.

Mr. Bloomberg, the billionaire and former mayor of New York, announced on Thursday that his philanthropic organization would give $100 million to four historically Black medical schools.

The immediate goal is to reduce medical students financial burdens by giving about 800 of them up to $100,000 in grants. The bigger goal, architects of the gift say, is to improve the health and wealth of Black Americans.

If the goal of the portfolio is to create intergenerational wealth, we have to think about the mortality and the life span of the Black community, said Garnesha Ezediaro, program lead for the Greenwood Initiative, Mr. Bloombergs philanthropic effort meant to address the systemic economic inequity faced by Black Americans.

The gift is the first major donation by the Greenwood Initiative, which is named after the Tulsa district where hundreds of Black Oklahomans were massacred in 1921. Mr. Bloomberg introduced the initiative as part of his presidential campaign, during which he was forced to apologize for policies he instituted as mayor, most notably the aggressive stop-and-frisk policing strategy that disproportionately disadvantaged Black and Hispanic New Yorkers.

Leaders of the four institutions Charles R. Drew University of Science and Medicine, in Los Angeles; Howard University College of Medicine, in Washington; Meharry Medical College, in Nashville; and Morehouse School of Medicine, in Atlanta say the donation is one of the biggest by a single donor to historically Black schools. They hope that it highlights the importance of their institutions to the well-being of Black communities.

Mr. Bloombergs donation follows others to historically Black colleges, like the $120 million pledge by the Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings and his wife, Patty Quillin, and a series of multimillion-dollar gifts from MacKenzie Scott, the author and philanthropist who was once married to the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. In 2013, Mr. Bloomberg gave $1.1 billion to his alma mater, Johns Hopkins University, with a key focus on its public health school.

After Mr. Bloomberg abandoned his electoral ambitions, he began canvassing for ways to lift up Black communities. One concern that emerged as the coronavirus spread was the disproportionate devastation in Black communities.

The data is clear: Black patients over all have better outcomes when they get treatment from Black doctors, the famously data-driven Mr. Bloomberg wrote in an email. By increasing the number of Black doctors, we hope the gift will help to save more Black lives and reduce the health problems that limit economic opportunity in Black communities.

Mr. Bloombergs representatives began reaching out to the schools officials around four weeks ago, asking how to best improve Black communities wealth, said Dr. Wayne Frederick, the president of Howard University. The answer: Increase the number of Black doctors.

And free from a pressing need to repay student debt the average burden on graduating students from these institutions is about $285,000 more of the doctors may choose to become primary care physicians in needy communities, said Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice, the president and dean of Morehouse School of Medicine.

What we will have the opportunity to do with this reward is relieve the stress of those students, she said.

Under the terms of the gift, students graduating between 2021 and 2024 are eligible for the grants. The donation does not require students to choose a particular specialty.

In the longer term, school officials hope Mr. Bloombergs donation helps raise awareness, particularly for other potential donors, of the institutions and the role they play. Dr. James E.K. Hildreth, the president of Meharry, noted that the schools alumni often lacked the opportunity to earn as much as their white counterparts, limiting how much they could donate to their alma maters.

One ambition is to make education at these institutions free, as New York Universitys School of Medicine announced it would do in 2018 after raising $450 million from benefactors.

Dr. David M. Carlisle, the president and chief executive of Charles R. Drew, said that these funds are really going to shout to the world that historically Black medical schools are not just there, but that theyre there in a big, meaningful way.

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Bloomberg to Give $100 Million to Black Medical Schools - The New York Times

Medical school is a launching path to a career as a physician. No decision a medical student makes will affect where that career ends up more than picking a medical specialty.

There are some important questions and criteria surrounding that decision, and those questions are further complicated by medical training taking place during a pandemic. One of those key questions pertains to timing. One medical school faculty member and dean offered advice about when a student should pick a specialty.

The first and second year of medical school, typically the years during which students are doing their preclinical training, are a time to keep your mind open to possibilities, according to Lindia J. Willies-Jacobo, MD, associate dean for admissions and professor at Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine, which welcomed its first class of medical students this fall.

We find that students come into medical school thinking they want to pursue a particular career without having truly explored it, said Dr. Willies-Jacobo, who has been working with medical students for more than a decade. Its really amazing how many students will change their career path as a direct result of doing a much deeper dive into it.

As far as students who dont have a specialty in mind, the majority will come in truly not knowing. Some will come in thinking they know, then there is that five or 10% percent that know they want to be the thing, a pediatrician, a neurosurgeon, and they stay the course.

After months off the wards due tosafety precautions put in place to curb potential exposure during the COVID-19 pandemic, many medical students are returning to patient-facing roles.That means most medical students are resuming or beginning clinical clerkships.

Lasting between four and eight weeks, at most schools, the core clinical clerkships consist of internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, family medicine, psychiatry, neurology and radiology. Those rotations take place in the third year of training at most schools.

They have an opportunity to engage in clinical settings those first two years, but a deeper level of engagement happens during the third year of medical school, said Dr. Willies-Jacobo.

Your clinical clerkship may serve to reinforce your specialty choice, if you happened to be leaning one way, or expose you to something new. One potential pitfall to picking a specialty during your third year is the amount of free time students have.

Core rotations tend to be a busy and stressful time for students, Dr. Willies-Jacobo added. They are being evaluated frequently.

Learn thesix factors that dictate the resumption of clinical training.

With residency applications for most students going out in the fall of year four, most students pick a specialty at the end of their third year of medical school.

For students who are still deciding, subinternships rotations that typically take place at a hospital affiliated with your training institution during your fourth year of medical schooloffer one last chance to get specialty exposure before sending out applications.

Subinternships allow students to work in a more autonomous way, Dr. Willies-Jacobo said. Most subinterns will work similarly to the way an intern would work. They are fairly independent in their engagement with the stations. In that autonomy and being in that role in a pretty intense way is a way in which students can use that fourth year to settle on a specialty.

Learn how residency programs will view applications in 2021.

Some students who are truly undecided will apply to more than one specialty, Dr. Willies-Jacobo advises against that. Instead, she is seeing more students take an extra yearoften to pursue an additional advanced degreewhile they pick their physician career path.

I often will sit in my office with my student and have them put on paper the reasons they are attracted to one specialty versus the other, she said. There are times students decide for themselves they will take an additional year to figure it out.

I dont think theres one approach that every student should utilize. Doing that legwork and putting it on paper can help. Sometimes exploring a field a bit more can be the secret sauce to making a decision, Dr. Willies-Jacobo said.

Avani Patel, MD, is a first-year psychiatry resident at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi. Torn between two specialties during her fourth year of medical school, she decided to withdraw from the Match, delay graduation, and take an interim year to pursue a Masters in Healthcare Administration degree before beginning residency.

I wanted to go through the Match and graduation because thats what everyone in my class was doing, Patel said. But I needed to take this time and learning opportunity for myself to make sure of what I really wanted.

Once the pressure was off, Patel elected to pursue psychiatry as a specialty.

One thing Ive learned is that having this time of being away from patients and clinical care, it made me realize I do want to be a physician more than anything, said Patel, who graduated this past spring and began residency in July. Although this past year has been very fulfilling, none of it matters without the patient care. Im excited about residency, and I know Im in the right mind-set.

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When's the right time to choose a medical specialty? - American Medical Association

By N.C. Education Lottery

Raleigh, N.C. On Saturday night, Kaila Moore of Durham had a dream that shed bought a scratch-off ticket. Acting on that dream led her to buy her first lottery ticket and a $100,000 win.

Ive never bought a lottery ticket ever in my entire life, said Moore. I literally had a dream that I bought a scratch-off. So, when I woke up I went and bought one.

She went to the Food Lion on West Main Street in Durham Sunday morning, paid $20 for the $4,000,000 Gold Rush game, then took her ticket home to scratch it.

Her reaction to realizing shed won? Excitement.

I was with my mom, said the East Carolina University student. She was more excited about it than me!

They both knew this money was going to go toward Moores education.

I plan to go to medical school and medical school is not cheap! she said. Im going to invest some of it in a mutual fund and the rest Im just going to save.

Moore claimed her prize Wednesday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. After required federal and state tax withholdings she took home $70,756 but said she wouldnt celebrate until after her physics class and studying.

The $4,000,000 Gold Rush game launched in August with three top prizes of $4,000,000 and six $100,000. Two $4,000,000 and three $100,000 prizes remain.

Ticket sales from scratch-off games make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $725 million per year for education. For details on how $13.1 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Durham County in 2019, visit http://www.nclottery.com and click on the Impact section.

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Durham student with dreams of med school wins $100,000 in lottery game - WRAL.com

Researchers say so far SARS-CoV-2 has not been found in any of the samples, but the research could be used as a tool to monitor community infection among beachgoers.

DULUTH, Minn. Dr. Richard Melvin has made many visits to the beach this summer, but not for the reason most do.

"So, Ill collect 100 millilitres from every beach," he said, while standing knee-deep in Lake Superior and holding a tube filled with lake water.

The assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Minnesota Medical Schools Duluth campus has been taking water samples from eight beaches along Lake Superior every weekend since the Fourth of July.

"Usually during the warm time of the day ... when people are out trying to enjoy themselves on the beach," he said.

He and a team back at the lab then test the water samples SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes COVID-19.

Melvin says the virus in a person with COVID-19 is shed in their waste for up to a month after they are no longer showing symptoms.

"Its known that beaches can be contaminated by fecal matter due to human activity," said Melvin. "Its also possible that the virus, if people are shedding, that could wind up in the water at the beach [too]."

It's not a pleasant picture, but one worthwhile to study. Melvin said he and associates at Minnesota Sea Grant, which gave him a $10,000 grant for the research, don't know of this type of study being done anywhere else.

Melvin said so far SARS-CoV-2 has not been found in any of the samples, but their research could be used as a tool to monitor community infection among beachgoers.

"It also tells us how the disease spreads. It tells us how we can best fight the disease," he said. "With the information we gather this time, well be able to make a better response in the future to a pandemic. Well know where to look for the virus. Well know what is a risky activity."

Melvin says they will continue taking samples through the end of September. He says while they have not found the virus in the beach water yet, even if they did, they don't think the viral particles would still be infectious.

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U of M Medical School researchers look to beach water for COVID community infection - KARE11.com

The ongoing pandemic is putting a spotlight on mental health as depression and anxiety continues to affect millions of Americans. But even before COVID-19, concern about the well-being of medical students was on the rise. About one in three medical students report symptoms of depression, and one in nine experiences suicidal ideation.

The University of New Mexico School of Medicine (UNM) recognized the need for some sort of intervention and developed a multilevel approach to help destigmatize mental illness among health care workers and raise awareness about support opportunities. UNM wanted to make it normal for medical students to talk about mental health and make it culturally acceptable to ask for help.

To make that happen, UNM had to start the conversation early. Before the schools formal white coat ceremony, the assistant dean for professional well-being would spend almost an hour talking about mental health with the family members of UNMs incoming students.

During that conversation, family members would receive a booklet about supporting their loved one during medical school. The booklet shares important things to know about medical schoolranging from the expected time commitment to the fact that it will likely be an emotional roller coasteras well as tips for communicating with medical students and suggestions for spouses, partners, or significant others. There is a page on random acts of kindness and support, and two pages breaking down the alphabet soup that is the language of medical training and medicine.

There also is a page titled When Students Should Seek Help. Included in the list of 14 scenarios are more obvious signs such as using alcohol or illicit drugs to self-medicate or having thoughts of self-harm, but also included are subtler signs such as when:

The success of UNMs work is spotlighted in an AMA STEPS Forward module, Normalizing Mental Health Care During Medical Student Training.

During orientation, medical students hear from upper-level students who have accessed the schools health and wellness resources about why they felt they needed help, whether they found the experience helpful and whether they faced any repercussions for seeking assistance.

First-year students have taken part in an annual wellness retreat that features a panel of three or four physicians who are in recovery from addiction. These panelists have been primary care physicians, cardiologists, residents, psychiatrists, anesthesiologists and infectious disease specialists, demonstrating that addiction can strike anyone. The first-year students hear firsthand about the signs and symptoms of substance-use disorder, as well as the recovery process.

In addition, the wellness dean would meet with small groups of students to discuss the adjustment to medical school and remind them of the resources available to all students.

Students also have had the opportunity to meet with the CEO and chief medical officer of the New Mexico Medical Board, as well as with program directors and the associate dean for graduate medical education to discuss concerns over reporting mental health history as well as ongoing issues they face related to mental health. These conversations led the director of graduate medical education to craft a list of frequently asked questions about mental illness and whether there are any subsequent repercussions handed down.

Overall, feedback for the schools wellness work has been positive, and in the past five years, the program has grown from three part-time positions to six part-time rolesfour faculty, one psychiatrist and one psychologistas well as a full-time program coordinator.

TheAMAs STEPS Forward open-access modules offerinnovative strategies that allow physicians and their staff to thrive in the new health care environment. STEPS Forward is part of theAMA Ed Hub,an online platform that brings together allthe high-quality CME, maintenance of certification,and educational contentyou needin one placewith activities relevant to you, automated credit tracking and reporting forsome states and specialty boards.

Learn more aboutAMA CME accreditation.

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How to help medical students keep tabs on their mental health - American Medical Association

At a young age, Malone Mukwende developed an interest in science, and how people operate when they are well and unwell.

That kind of curiosity on a scientific level along with my people skills brought me into medicine, Mukwende told Healthline.

However, when he entered medical school at St Georges, University of London, 3 years ago, Mukwende noticed that a large portion of people were left out of study materials, and that medical students were only taught how to diagnose conditions on white patients.

There was a lack of signs and symptoms on Black and Brown skin and I didnt understand why we werent getting taught the full spectrum of people. Id ask people for answers and I couldnt get the answer I decided I needed to do something to challenge this issue myself, he said.

He approached one of his professors who connected him with another professor, and together the three developed the Mind the Gap handbook as part of a student-staff partnership project.

The online handbook includes images and descriptions of clinical signs and symptoms in Black and Brown skin.

We looked for pictures and clinical descriptors that we could use to define them, understanding that there needs to be a difference in the communication aspect of the descriptors that we use. It was very hard and intense because there are a lack of images of Black and Brown skin across the internet. Thankfully, we were able to source them and here we are today, Mukwende said.

His work spread worldwide. Since its publication in August, the handbook has been read in 102 countries and added to recommended reading lists at many universities and hospitals in the U.K.

Margot Turner, senior lecturer in diversity and medical education at St Georges, University of London, worked with Mukwende on the project.

When we first started doing the project, I knew that medical schools would be very interested, but I didnt imagine my children would be coming in to let me know I was on social media and Instagram. I think the timing of the launch was crucial. Black Lives Matter has hopefully made everyone question their practices. Mind the Gap gave medical schools and medics something very concrete they could do and focus on, Turner told Healthline.

News about the handbook caught the attention of Dr. J. Nwando Olayiwola in Columbus, Ohio, who read about it on Twitter.

As a family physician, Olayiwola provides care to patients who are underserved or marginalized, and treats refugees and asylees from all over the world. Over a decade ago, she started using a software program that allows physicians to enter symptoms people experience. She worked with the software company to include skin conditions in Black and Brown skin.

We have long struggled with the proper imagery of darker skin people in medicine; not just in dermatology, but in the representation of how we are trained to do many things, Olayiwola told Healthline.

For instance, she says when physicians learn CPR, it is almost always taught on a white mannequin.

You are constantly bombarded with images or models of people in books who may not look like you or like the patients you are taking care of. As a doctor, if you want to be good at understanding something, you want to see all different variations that are possible. Its exciting to see a medical student like [Malone] working to change this. His work is a great contribution to medicine, and its helpful because of the patient populations I serve, she said.

Olayiwola also knows personally how lack of information affects patients. When her son was born, he experienced skin-related issues.

I took him to the doctor who was great, but didnt know what he was looking at, so I showed it to a colleague of mine. Turns out my son had eczema. Eczema on a Black child looks different than on a white child. No fault to the doctor who saw my kid, but he had not seen enough of dark skin in text books and only had white skin as a norm for diagnosis, she said.

Since then Olayiwola has been even more diligent about finding proper clinical representation for the various nationalities and ethnicities in her patient population.

Mukwende created the website Black and Brown Skin in hopes of growing the content of the handbook. The site allows people to submit their own images or personal stories anonymously to build a portfolio of images.

The aim of the website is to allow people who have been silenced for many years to be able to add and provide resources, which will be collated in one place to a bank of pictures. We also have a feature if they are not able to share their photo, they can share their stories, said Mukwende.

The handbook and website are not focused on dermatology issues only, but rather include presentations of different conditions.

Turner sees Mukwendes efforts as a way to unpack years of institutional racism and biases.

When it comes to healthcare, lives are at stake, and it would be dangerous if we stopped at only having pictures of Black and Brown skins. Far more still needs to be done to provide more equitable treatment, she said.

Like many moments of progress, she adds that there can still be some resistance to change.

We want this book to be the start of a debate and changes in medical education, with a view to working with the community to reduce inequalities in healthcare, said Turner.

Olayiwola agrees, noting that people like her who have been trying to repair health disparities for years are happy that the rest of world is catching on to systemic racism and inequalities in health.

Its not that the problem is new, but its that a lot of new people are understanding the scope and the challenges of health disparities and why it contributes to poor health for all of us. Timing is everything. I will call this the beginning of the destruction and ultimate reconstruction of medical education, she said.

Olayiwola hopes that every specialty and area of medicine examines how it is missing perspectives of different populations, and works to reconstruct education curricula to reflect broader diversity.

Mukwende knows that many healthcare professionals like Olayiwola have been addressing these healthcare disparities for years, and in some cases have been ignored or silenced. With more attention about health disparities making their way across the world, he believes healthcare professionals as a whole will be in a better place to treat patients.

Now that there is a voice for these people its important that we listen and we are able to implement change so that tomorrow we dont have the same problems that we have today, Mukwende said.

He is hopeful that Mind the Gap will be a part of history someday.

The work does not stop here. The aim is that in about 10 to 15 years we can look back and say that 2020 was the year that the shift to reduce some of these healthcare disparities and increase representation of images in medical education happened, said Mukwende.

Cathy Cassata is a freelance writer who specializes in stories around health, mental health, and human behavior. She has a knack for writing with emotion and connecting with readers in an insightful and engaging way. Read more of her work here.

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This Med Student Wrote the Book on Diagnosing Disease on Darker Skin - Healthline

As physicians, we are immediately thrust into a leadership position from the moment we finish medical school. Despite this, most medical students will obtain little formal leadership training. We seek to improve our leadership abilities as burgeoning physicians. We developed this podcast to challenge ourselves to explore ideas in leadership development and how they apply to medical training. We hope to educate and motivate others to further develop themselves as leaders in healthcare. We have three episode types:

Inside-Out Leadership: In order to be an effective leader an individual must seek first to improve themselves. In this category, we compile and discuss seminal works in personal development, literature we have personally found impactful and recent publications that we feel have helped us as as growing leaders.

The Main Course: The Main Course is our leadership development series where we learn from leaders around the world about what it takes to improve leadership skills. These discussions will not only draw from healthcare leaders, but also leaders in other professional fields. We hope that by learning from those in leadership already, we will be better prepared for entering healthcare team as leaders ourselves.

Healthcare 101: In order to be an effective healthcare leader, you must first understand the system to which you belong.We will be working to learn more about the healthcare system from leaders within it, books, and our own endeavors. We will focus on growing our listeners basic understanding of the the system of healthcare in the United States, the changes that may occur in the coming years, and how this will impact our future as physicians.

Image Credit: Provided by Caleb Sokolowski and Peter Dimitrion

Leading the Rounds: The Medical Leadership Podcast

As physicians, we are immediately thrust into a leadership position from the moment we finish medical school. Despite this, most medical students will obtain little formal leadership training. We seek to improve our leadership abilities as burgeoning physicians. We developed this podcast to challenge ourselves to explore ideas in leadership development and how they apply to medical training. We hope to educate and motivate others to further develop themselves as leaders in healthcare.

Columnist

Wayne State University School of Medicine

Peter is a second-year MD/PhD Candidate at Wayne State University School of Medicine. In 2016, he graduated with Honors from the University of Pittsburgh double majoring in chemistry and molecular biology. He then earned an M.S. in Biotechnology from Johns Hopkins in 2018. Peter currently holds a Thomas C. Rumble Fellowship and the Jerry A & Mary D Martin Memorial Scholarship from the AHEPA Educational Foundation. In his free time, he enjoys rock-climbing, cooking and hiking. After graduating from medical school, Peter would like to pursue a career in Dermatology as a physician-scientist and pursue a career as a physician-writer as well.

Leading the Rounds: The Medical Leadership Podcast

As physicians, we are immediately thrust into a leadership position from the moment we finish medical school. Despite this, most medical students will obtain little formal leadership training. We seek to improve our leadership abilities as burgeoning physicians. We developed this podcast to challenge ourselves to explore ideas in leadership development and how they apply to medical training. We hope to educate and motivate others to further develop themselves as leaders in healthcare.

Writer-in-Training and Columnist

Wayne State University School of Medicine

Caleb Sokolowski is a second-year medical student at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan. In 2018, he graduated from Michigan State University with a Bachelor of science in Human Biology. Caleb is interested in medical ethics, policy, and education. In his free time, Caleb participates in number of activities including sports, CrossFit, paddle boarding and cycling.

Leading the Rounds: The Medical Leadership Podcast

As physicians, we are immediately thrust into a leadership position from the moment we finish medical school. Despite this, most medical students will obtain little formal leadership training. We seek to improve our leadership abilities as burgeoning physicians. We developed this podcast to challenge ourselves to explore ideas in leadership development and how they apply to medical training. We hope to educate and motivate others to further develop themselves as leaders in healthcare.

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Leading the Rounds: The Medical Leadership Podcast in-Training, the online peer-reviewed publication for medical students - Pager Publications, Inc.

The Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine is taking the next step to create a welcoming environment for all of its students with the creation of the Office of Medical Student Success. The office will be led by Dr. Rynn Ziller, who has been appointed Assistant Dean for Medical Student Success, the college said in a news release.

Melva Landrum, who had been the Assistant Director of Advising and Career Development, will assume the role of Director of Medical Student Success within this office.

I am excited about the opportunity to have a more comprehensive impact on our students success and well-being while they are in medical school, Ziller said. Our goal is to provide the support needed to ensure each student reaches his or her full potential, both personally and professionally.The Office for Medical Student Success was created to provide TCOM students a welcoming environment, timely and accurate advising, and programming designed to enhance their professional development. It will oversee an expansion of its career advising services for current students as well as past graduates.

We are so excited to expand the services for our medical students, Landrum said. As the needs of medical students grow for them to find success in both undergraduate and graduate medical education, the services that our department offers have become more extensive in the areas of advising and career development and through programmatic efforts.The Office for Medical Student Success also will lead TCOMs plans and commitment to increase Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion initiatives, provide strategies to promote medical student well-being and organize those major school events that celebrate the milestones of their medical school careers.The creation of this new office will create additional value within TCOM and provide resources needed by TCOMs medical students to achieve success.

A medical schools success can only be measure through the success, experiences and supportive environment of our students who have entrusted us in guiding them to their ultimate goal, TCOM Dean Dr. Frank Filipetto said. I look forward to the leadership Dr. Ziller will bring in her new role and the team she will lead in support of our students. FWBP Staff

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TCOM creates office of student success - fortworthbusiness.com

The medical community agreed to end the ongoing strike, as the government and the ruling party promised to put on hold plans of increasing doctors and establishing a state-run medical school. The agreement between the doctors group and the ruling party stated that they would discuss key healthcare policy issues from scratch.

According to the Korean Medical Association and the Democratic Party, the two sides on Friday morning agreed to work together to fight the Covid-19 pandemic and advance the public healthcare sector.

According to the accord, the Democratic Party and the KMA decided to hold discussions on increasing medical school admissions and setting up a new public medical school until the Covid-19 outbreak eases. They said the sides would form a consultation body after stabilizing the pandemic and reviewing related issues with all possibilities open.

The agreement also included that the ruling party and the government would not push related legislation during the consultation period.

The Democratic Party said it would endeavor to secure a sufficient budget to improve public healthcare institutions' competitiveness and their quality of medical services.

The ruling party also said it would provide administrative and financial support to improve the medical training environment for interns and residents and working conditions for fellow doctors through law revisions.

The health and welfare ministry and the KMA agreed to work together to provide better medical services for rural areas and essential medical care, enhance medical education and training, and battle Covid-19.

The ministry and the doctors group were scheduled to hold the signing ceremony on Friday afternoon.

The agreement between the KMA and the health and welfare ministry, released before the signing event, includes forming a special commission to develop plans to support medical care in provincial areas, nurture essential medical care, improve the training environment for junior doctors, discuss enhancing the structure of the national health insurance review committee, and establish a better medical delivery system.

They agreed that the health and welfare ministry would actively reflect the result of discussions at the special commission in the governments plan to advance the public health sector.

They also agreed that the commission of health ministry officials and medical professionals would discuss issues involving four healthcare policies increasing doctors, establishing a public medical school, allowing insurance benefits for traditional herbal medicines, and allowing telemedicine.

After reaching the agreement, the health and welfare ministry asked medical school students who refused to take the state medical licensing exam, to apply for the test.

Following the agreement, interns, residents, and fellow doctors are likely to return to work from the two-week strike nationwide.

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Doctors to end strike as government puts healthcare policy on hold - Korea Biomedical Review

COVID-19 is disrupting just about every students 2020 education, but medical students have it particularly hard right now.

Its a nightmare scenario for the class of 2021, said Jake Berg, a fourth-year student at the Kentucky College of Osteopathic Medicine in Pikeville. In March, students were abruptly pulled out of hospitals and medical offices, where they normally work with professionals to learn about treating patients. Over the space of less than two weeks, he said, medical students in pretty much the entire country transitioned from seeing patients in person to learning online.

Everyone goes along with the idea that were all in the same boat together, he said. But, really, its like were all on the Titanic and its sinking.

Megan Messinger, in her fourth year at the Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California, calculates she has lost about 400 hours of patient time. She worries the class of 2021 is going to be the dumb class of interns, said Messinger, who hopes to do a combined residency in pediatrics and psychiatry. I feel very behind.

The problem is most acute for medical students in their third and fourth years of study. Year three is when most medical students do their core clinical clerkships. These are one- or two-month stints in hospitals and clinics, through which they get the flavor of specialties such as internal medicine, pediatrics, surgery and obstetrics/gynecology.

Fourth-year students tend to spend time in more specialized options, often traveling to get experience in specialties in short supply at their own medical schools affiliated hospitals, and also to informally audition at places they might like to apply to for residency. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, however, away rotations have been suspended, and residency interviews for next years graduating class will be done virtually.

Schools and hospitals are trying to restore the core clerkships but, in many areas, this is a work in progress. The uncertainty adds considerably to students stress levels.

I have no idea how I will learn about the culture of the hospitals Im applying to, said Garrett Johnson, a fourth-year student at Harvard Medical School. On one hand, this years class of doctors-to-be will save a lot of money typically, travel and housing costs for away rotations and in-person residency interviews are paid by the students. On the other hand, he said, you dont get to meet any of the people or get a feel for the place.

Karissa LeClair, a fourth-year student at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, agreed. I was looking forward to getting to know places I had not been to previously, she said.

LeClair, who wants to become an ear, nose and throat specialist, said clerkships she applied to in New York City, Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Boston were all canceled.

Since she was not planning to be in New Hampshire for most of this year, LeClair now has no place to live near Dartmouth. Im piecing together sublets and staying with friends, she said. Unless something changes, she will spend her final year of medical school only in facilities formally affiliated with Dartmouth.

Messinger is facing similar problems in Southern California. Im at Cedars right now, and loving it, she said, referring to Los Angeless Cedars Sinai medical center. But you can only do one rotation there. I dont have anything scheduled after this. My only audition rotation, at Tulane, was canceled.

Administrators are sympathetic. They have had major disruption, said Dr. Alison Whelan, chief medical education officer for the Association of American Medical Colleges, which oversees M.D.-degree programs. Medical school is stressful, and with COVID its even more stressful.

I feel for the students, theyre really in a tough position, said Dr. Robert Cain, president, and CEO of the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine, which oversees osteopathy programs. About 1 in 4 U.S. medical students pursue a doctorate in osteopathy, which is similar to an M.D. degree but includes training in hands-on manipulative techniques and more emphasis on whole-body health.

Starting this year, M.D. and D.O. students are competing for the same residency training programs and work side by side, a change planned before the pandemic.

One hurdle is that all these students, in order to become well-rounded doctors, need to see a broad mix of patients with a diverse group of medical issues. But even at hospitals and clinics that have resumed general care, patients with ailments other than those associated with COVID-19 are not showing up, because they are afraid of catching the coronavirus. Elsewhere elective procedures have been canceled or postponed.

That has become a challenge, Whelan said. In areas with high COVID-19 rates, hospitals and other facilities often do not have enough personal protective equipment for even essential health personnel, so students are kept out.

The AAMC in August updated its guidance on student participation in clinical rotations. It continued to leave decisions about allowing students into patient care areas up to individual teaching hospitals and medical schools. But it also noted that while students are not technically essential in day-to-day care activities, medical students are the essential, emerging physician workforce whose learning is necessary to prevent future medical shortages.

The progression of students over time for relatively on-time graduation is essential to the physician workforce, Whelan said. Enabling students to finish their education in the COVID-19 era is an ongoing, complex, jigsaw puzzle.

Both the M.D. and D.O. organizations said third-year students can still complete most of their required rotations, although perhaps not in the usual order, and schools have dramatically increased their use of online teaching of diagnostics and care.

A fair amount of what students do is observation, she said. So schools have created step-by-step videos.

And some educators are confident these students will catch up eventually. Most learning goes on during your residency, said Dr. Art Papier, who teaches dermatology at the University of Rochester medical school. I think it can all be made up.

In addition to losing in-person patient contact, medical students face obstacles in taking required national board examinations there are several types and are not always conveniently offered near their training sites.

After having one required test canceled on short notice, student Jake Berg had to reschedule. The first open seat was three hours away and a couple of weeks later; then his canceled test was reinstated.

The exam that tests clinical skills has been postponed for all M.D. students but is expected to be rescheduled.

The comparable exam for osteopathic students, however, has been made optional. Thats partly because D.O. students must demonstrate not only clinical skills, but also proficiency in physical manipulation techniques, which means they need to work with patients under the supervision of doctors as part of their test. But the D.O. clinical skills exam is offered only in two places: Chicago and outside Philadelphia.

If theres a self-isolation period, who can afford to spend two weeks in a hotel in Chicago or Philadelphia? asked Messinger, of Western University.

While the travel may be a burden, the exams are needed to protect the public from doctors who have not demonstrated competence, said Cain, of the osteopathic colleges association.

Whelan and Cain said details are being worked out and changes are possible as the COVID situation evolves.

In the end, Cain said, this crop of students may emerge from COVID as better doctors than those who didnt face such challenges.

Hopefully, well look back and see them as the class of resilience, he said. That they were able to work through some very hard times.

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Med Students 'Feel Very Behind' Because of COVID-Induced Disruptions in Training - The Southern Maryland Chronicle

College football will look a bit like Major League Baseball this fall with periodic stoppages due to COVID-19 positives, the dean of UAB's medical school told CBS Sports. Selwyn Vickers said there was "better than a probably 80% chance" the ACC, Big 12 and SEC will play this fall limited by those interruptions.

"I think it will look a little bit like Major League Baseball," Vickers said. "You're invariably going to have a team that will be quarantined for some reason or not."

MLB's 60-game season has been interrupted most significantly by COVID-19 breakouts among the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals. The Marlins didn't play for eight days in July and August. The Cardinals had to stop for 15. Other smaller outbreaks among other teams have caused other games to be postponed.

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby has continually warned that there could be what calls "disruptions" that will occur in the fall season due to COVID-19. Next to having to cancel the season altogether, having to postpone or interrupt it is the next-highest concern of the stakeholders.

Those stakeholders are aware that not all teams from all conferences will play the same amount of games. Especially as there are still 40,000 new COVID-19 cases and 1,000 new COVID-19 deaths per day across the United States.

"I think they'll have enough pressure after a couple of teams have to quarantine," Vickers said. "I would say there's not a great chance that you'll have transmission on the field because people will be tested 24 hours before a game, and they'll be in a hotel.

"I think it's just the surrounding atmosphere outside of practice that puts the risk [into play]. But I honestly think it looks like Major League Baseball, which gets its stride after a couple of teams realize, 'You know what, we have to shut the whole team down. Cancel a game or take one of our bye weeks in order for some people to recover.'"

UAB has the largest public academic medical center in the Southeast. Vickers has been dean of the medical school since 2013. His university's team plays in Conference USA. While UAB advises the University of Alabama in its coronavirus protocols, Vickers stressed that -- in terms of sports -- each SEC school has its own medical team.

Periodic disruptions would be the next hurdle for a game that his hoping to fit a season in amid the pandemic. The ACC and Big 12 have built in three bye weeks for their teams to make up games before the conference championship game. The SEC has two possible bye weeks but is starting two weeks after their aforementioned Power Five counterparts.

The Big Ten is in the process of deciding when it will play football again. Last month, the Big Ten and Pac-12 said they would attempt to play a spring 2021 schedule. The Big Ten is reportedly considering a late November that would stretch the season over both semesters. The Pac-12 is mulling a late 2020 start but aims to play sports again around Jan. 1, 2021.

Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren has come under fire for overseeing the process that postponed the 2020 season on Aug. 11, six days after the conference released a fall schedule.

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As college football forges ahead, why MLB-like postponements and delays may be in its future - CBS Sports